INDOOR BOWLING

Kildare West Wicklow Indoor Bowling Association (KWWIBA)

Kildare Town Bowling Tournament - The Kildare Town bowling tournament recent semi-finals in the Cup and Shield didn’t live up to expectations with the exception of one Shield semi-final.

Cup Semi-Finals - In the first Cup semi it was Ardclough against Baltinglass that started the ball rolling. With both of those sides in the earlier rounds brushing aside all opposition it was believed that this clash would provide a real close and exciting contest. Sadly it turned out to be anything but, as from the start Baltinglass continued to show the form that brought them to this stage of the competition, whereas Ardclough failed to produce any kind of form or challenge at all at any time in the game.

This was very uncharacteristic of Ardclough, who are always competitive and usually very hard to beat. Baltinglass themselves would not have expected such an easy and comprehensively victory on a score of 24/5.

The second Cup semi-final between the hosts and Straffan was also a very much one-sided affair with Kildare always the masters throughout the game. Straffan no matter how hard they tried were never really in contention against a superior force, with Kildare running out easy winners on a score of 22/10.

Shield Semi-Finals - The first of these semi-finals saw Kill pitted against Rathcoffey. This match was a good and well contested game up to the eight end with little or nothing between either team.

It was from here that the Kill side began to falter and allow their opponents to dominate for the rest of the game and run out convincing winners by a score of 18/8.

The second Shield semi-final between Ryston and Rathangan was the game that really salvaged the night for the spectators. This game was a real treat, after the disappointment of what had gone before. Ryston were first of the mark with a score of one, but on the next end the Rathangan side levelled matters, and then took the lead in the third end, and scored again on the next end.

On the fifth it was the turn of Ryston and they reduced the lead to two. This was as close as they managed to get, as Rathangan began to score more frequently and with only a quarter of the match remaining they had moved ahead by six. Ryston proved they were far from finished and fought their way back into contention on the next few ends to reduce the margin to three.

We were now down to the last end and there was still a chance for Ryston to overhaul their opponents, but Rathangan were not to be denied and secured a score of two, and won on a final score of 10/5 after a hard fought and exciting game.