St Fergus trio taste victory on home green
After the dust had settled from round one, both Rosebank teams and one each from Lybster and Thurso had departed the competition.
The Rosebank team of A. Cormack (skip), S. Grant and J. McWhirr lost to Lybster represented by J. Grant (skip), J. Cullop and D. Sutherland by 19 shots to 16. 18-7 down with three ends to play, a strong late rally wasn’t quite enough to complete what might have been a stunning comeback.
The St Fergus team of J. Robertson (skip), G. Bain and M. Mackay were too strong for the Lybster team of M. Bowman (skip) G. Campbell and S. Fraser, winning 18-6.
The other Rosebank team of T. Candiland (skip), J. Malcolm and A. Brown fell to the Thurso triple of D. Fraser (skip), K. Boden and J. Harris by 15 shots to 10.
The last of the first round ties saw Thurso’s M. Bain (skip), R. Bain and A. Morrison lose 21-9 to the St Fergus team of A. Thomson (skip) F. Henderson and T. Mulraine.
In the semis, Lybster romped to a 15-3 victory over the Thurso triple, while the all-St Fergus semi saw the Johnny Robertson combo get the better of their opponents by 17-13 after a rollercoaster game.
In the final, St Fergus opened with three shots at the first end and Lybster clawed back two at the next end. Thereafter, St Fergus put a stranglehold on proceedings and by halfway were 10 shots ahead. A late Lybster rally wasn’t enough to change things with the final score being 16-10 to the St Fergus team of Johnny Robertson (skip) Graham Bain (second) and Malky Mackay (lead), who were crowned county triples champions.
THE day before, St Fergus held the Smith Salver mixed pairs with the bad weather restricting the entry to nine.
A preliminary round between Andrew Sinclair and Sandy Bruce kicked off and it was close for all 17 ends, but the Bruce clan came out on top to go through to the quarter-final and meet Ann and Martin John. This was a very one-sided game, with mother and son winning comfortably 17-6.
The match between Frank Allan and Alec Thomson was also close, with Allan in front for most of the match and Alec and Fiona coming up with big bowls to stay in the match.
Margaret Bain played well with Frank and they held on to secure a 14-11 victory.
David Oliphant and Sandy Florence were very close, and the cold rain did not help Maureen Doull and Eileen Cowie, but Oliphant and Doull held on to win 14-12.
Thomas Mulraine against Malcolm Mackay was the final game in the quarters and again was a close match but Mackay and Nanette Munro came through.
The weather improved for the semis and it was agreed to cut the ends back to 14. Frank Allan and Margaret Bain took control of their match against Martin and Ann John and won through to the final.
Mackay and Munro played well in the other semi against David Oliphant and Maureen Doull, and Munro was on top of the jack for most of the game, going through to the final 16-8.
In the final, Allan took a 5-1 lead after four ends, but Mackay and Munro picked up a six at the fifth end, and with a fortunate flick of a bowl Mackay took out Frank’s only bowl in the head. Allan did have a bowl to throw but found the only gap and ran through.
Mackay went 10-6 ahead after nine ends, then Frank and Margaret picked up and got a three at end 10, but Mackay got a shot back on the next end. That was to be their last, as Frank played well and picked up a three and a four to win the Smith Salver 16-11.