Last bowl measure deprives Western of All-Ireland semi-final place

Editorial Department • Published 12 Jan 2012 13:00 0 Comments

Western 54 West Down 55

Bowling, like many other sports can be very cruel, as was the case for Western Ladies on Saturday in the quarter-final game against West Down in Unionist Hall Enniskillen.

After leading for the majority of this encounter it went down to the official umpire to measure the last bowl delivered by Western skip Pamela Harpur, in the last end of the final game, which unfortunately for Western went against them to give West Down the coveted semi-final place.

Western Lades had the perfect opening to this game and across the three mats had went into an impressive 13 shot advantage after the first five ends.

Caroline Scott's rink were completely on top of their game, dictated play throughout and after chalking two impressive fours on the way, ended up with Western's best result of the day by winning by 16 shots to 6.

Ellen Brogan's rink were cruising on mat two and had a comfortable 9 shots to 4 lead at the end of the eighth end only to drop a four in the penultimate end followed by a single in the last and had to settle for a share of the spoils at 9 shots each.

In the final game of the first half, Katrine Bradshaw's rink had taken a three shot lead at the end of the fifth end only to drop a four in the sixth and never really recovered to go down by 11 shots to 7.

With a lead of six shots at the interval, the remaining three Western rinks were fully aware that across three mats

this advantage had to be protected and a close eye being kept on the overall score rather than individual games.

On mat one, Western skip Jean Carson and her rink were drawn against what seamed to be the opposition's strongest four and skipped by the experienced Ann Polin. After the first two ends the home rink were under pressure having dropped seven shots and never really recovered to eventually lose out by 16 shots to 7.

Esther Forster's Western rink had the perfect start in their game, having taken a five shot lead at the end of the fourth end. The opposition rink fought back and reduced the deficit to a single shot at the end of the penultimate end but in a brilliant last end, Esther's rink secured victory with a very useful two shots in the last end to win by a 9 shots to 6 margin.

In the final game of the afternoon Pamela Harpur's Western rink had edged into the lead by 6 shots to 3 at the end of seventh end. After dropping a single followed by a two in the ninth end, the score in this match was locked at 6 shots each, as was the overall score at 54 shots each, with the other two games having ended.

In one of the closest finishes in a zone game for years, both Pamela and the opposing skip S Dunn played superb bowls right up to the end with the official umpire having to give a decision of a single shot to the visitors after measuring.

A major disappointment to Western Ladies but judging on the performances of all the players and with the inclusion of some very young bowlers this year, the future of this ladies team seems to be very encouraging for next season

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 12 Jan 12

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