Bell shines in Cup victory for Larne against Ballymena

They went into the match sitting top of Division One, with their opposition bottom of Division Three.

However, with Witherspoon injured and regular skips McRandal and Robinson rested, the visitors knew, from experience, that they would have to be on their game.

Gavin Johnston returned to skip, with regular number two Bryan Smyth moving to third. Harry Millar and Joe McRandal made up Johnston’s frontend as this rink looked to keep their 100 per cent record intact. However, they struggled for consistency on a very heavy green and never got into their stride as they lost by eight.

Michael Murphy’s regular rink suffered a nightmare early on as they trailed 1-19. A count of seven reduced their deficit and they fought back impressively for the team.

Simon Bell came in at skip, with evergreen Eddie Wilson stepping up to play third. Brian Houston stepped in at second alongside Stephen Dalrymple, and performed well to help his rink win by five having trailed by 10 early on.

Jackie Bell, Raymond Lyness, Chris Snoddy and Alan McLean were Larne’s saviours on the night as they led all the way for a match-winning 20-plus success. Bell’s performance was the cornerstone for the team’s progress to the next round.

PGL Division One: On Tuesday (May 6) Larne travelled to Bangor for their third game of the campaign against last season’s surprise package, Pickie.

The Glenarm Road men were looking for a positive response following their last-end demise against Dunbarton in the previous outing.

Three rink wins and a draw meant Larne took six-and-a-half points from their trip, taking the season’s tally to fourteen-and-a-half from three very tough matches.

On Saturday Larne will look to enhance their growing reputation at home to newly- promoted Ewarts. Junior international Darren Witherspoon will be unavailable due to injury. Larne’s specialist lead has been selected for a Senior Trial, so his his team-mates all wish him a speedy recovery.