Ulster Transport A took half a point from a very tough first home league match against the 2023 league runners up Belmont A.
Match Videos
Rink 1: Jim Young, Jerry O'Hara, Alex Munoz, Davy McCartney
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Rink 3: Neal Dodds, Tommy Brown, Ian McKinven, Mark Devlin
Rink 4: ...
Scoreboard
Upcoming Matches, Other Results and the NIPGL Division 1 Table
NIPGL Divison 1 is a big step up from Division 2 and the key objective for the Ulster Transport A team this season is to stay up and consolidate their position next year.
After playing the 2023 league runners up in their opening fixture, the next 5 opponents for the A team were 9th, 4th, 1st, 5th and 6th last year and the match against NICS away on 4th May presents an opportunity to gain valuable points against a team that only avoided relegation last year because Dunbarton B did not wish to move up from Division 2.
Result Card
A tough Division 1 baptism and while the Ulster Transport A team put in a very good performance, Belmont A are a top quality side and won the match comfortably 49 - 102.
Ulster Transport A took an early 15 - 11 lead but once Belmont A got used to the pace of the green, that early lead disappeared and Belmont were 4 up after 5 ends, 17 up after 10 ends, 35 up after 15 ends and finished the match with a 53 shot victory.
Mark Trew's rink had a nip and tuck battle against Ryan Cavan with only a few shots between them throughout the game. The lead changing 3 times before Belmont picked up a 4 on the 16th to go 2 up, followed by a double to increase the gap to 4 shots.
However Ulster Transport tied the scores with a treble and a single and after dropping a shot on the 20th end, Mark Trew's final bowl finished beside the jack for a point in a deserved 19 - 19 draw.
Player Team Statistics
It is only the start of the season and will take a few games for the players to become comfortable with regular matches against higher quality opposition than they were used to after a number of season in the lower divisions.
There are 20 payers in the squad and 3 were not available for the first match.
Next League Match
NICS lost by 43 shots away to Larne (7th last season) in their first game and finished 9th in the 10 team NIPGL Division 1 table last year.
Although NICS have won all 4 previous matches against Ulster Transport (2 in 2017 and 2 in 2019), those results have no bearing on the game next week, which Ulster Transport can win with a strong perfomance across all four rinks.
