Western 38 Oriel 67 Western Men travelled to Corduff Community Centre with high hopes of getting into their eighth final of the Inter-zone competition but lost out to an excellent Oriel side who were deserving winners on the day. The first ends got off to a reasonable start with G McNabb’s rink securing two shots, M McGrade’s rink losing a shot and A Graham’s rink dropping three shots.

With three ends now played, Western were holding their own, on mat 1 A Graham’s rink were just losing by 4 shots to 1, G McNabb’s rink was up 4 – 2 and M McGrade’s rink was level at one apiece.

At the halfway stage of the first half, Alan Graham’s rink had now settled and got the run of the mat and were all tied at 5 shots each, Gary McNabb’s rink were holding their own with the score line sitting at 4 shots each and Michael McGrade’s rink was keeping things tight on their mat only being down 4 shots to 1.

In the sixth end, Western lost 5 shots across the three mats leaving the scoreline at 18 to 10 in favour of Oriel.

During the seventh end, A Graham’s rink secured three shots, G McNabb’s rink secured 2 shots and M McGrade’s rink picked up 1 shot. After the eighth end had been played, A Graham’s rink had picked up another superb three shots, G McNabb’s rink picked up one shot and M McGrade’s rink had dropped one shot.

Western were now in front for the first time in the game and unfortunately it was to be the only time in the overall match that they had gained the lead (20 – 19).

In the ninth end, Oriel drew level at 22 shots each with A Graham’s rink and M McGrade’s each securing one shot each and G McNabb’s rink losing a 3. With only one remaining end now to play, M McGrade’s rinked drop a four, A Graham’s rink lost one shot but still was the only Western rink to win on the day and G McNabb’s rink picked up one shot leaving a respectable scoreline at 23 shots to 27 down at the end of the first half.

At the start of the second half, confidence was still running through the Western men that yes they could make it through to the final but after the third end had been played, the difference in the scoreline told a different story with the visitors down by 27 – 47.

D Graham’s rink had lost another 5 shots on top of the 5 shots lost in the first end, G Burke’s rink went down 5 shots in there third end after leading 2 – 1, K Bradshaw’s rink lost 1 shot in there third end after drawing level at one shot each in there first two ends.

In the fourth end, Gary Burke’s rink secured 3 shots, Karol Bradshaw’s rink picked up 2 shots and Davy Graham’s rink lost a one.

After five ends had been played, both G Burke’s rink and D Graham’s rink picked up one shot apiece and K Bradshaw’s rink dropped three shots.

The overall scoreline now stood at Western 34 Oriel 51, now slowly running out of ends Western needed to start to pick up shots but it wasn’t to be because in the sixth end, D Graham’s rink and K Bradshaw’s rink both lost a shot each and G Burke’s rink dropped a three.

Now reaching the seventh end, over all the three mats the Western rinks each dropped two shots each. All hope gone it was only a matter of playing the last remaining ends as a consolation. The final scoreline was Western 38 Oriel 67. At the end of play, Mrs Jean Parkinson Zone Convener on behalf of Western congratulated Oriel on a superb display of bowls and wished them all the best in the final against Foyle.

A Browne, N Noble, I McElroy, A Graham (skip) 12 – 7 J Murnaghan W Stevenson, J Breadon, I Armstrong, G McNabb (skip) 8 – 10 G McCabe P Noble, D Dickson, N Cox, M McGrade jnr (skip) 3 – 10 P Duff D Ferguson, G Ferguson, W Harpur, G Burke (skip) 8 – 11 P Hanlon H Gawley, R Kelly, T Morrison, K Bradshaw (skip) 4 – 13 K Conroy D Gilliland, R Nixon, R Armstrong, D Graham (skip) 3 – 16 S Conroy