Carrick Knowe delighted to win the Edinburgh Cup

Carrick Knowe's impact on the Edinburgh Bowling League is fast becoming one of giant proportions with the club's second season of membership highlighted by their capture of the Specsavers-sponsored Edinburgh Cup.
Carrick Knowe's Paul O'Donnell, James Hogg, Darren Hush, Richard Tough and Colin Mitchell  - pictured celebrating last year's Top Five success  were in winning form againCarrick Knowe's Paul O'Donnell, James Hogg, Darren Hush, Richard Tough and Colin Mitchell  - pictured celebrating last year's Top Five success  were in winning form again
Carrick Knowe's Paul O'Donnell, James Hogg, Darren Hush, Richard Tough and Colin Mitchell - pictured celebrating last year's Top Five success were in winning form again

The runaway champions of Division 4 – having powered their way out of Division 5 in last year’s debut season – faced what looked like a daunting task against Division 1 title contenders Maitland in the final at Tanfield. Wins on the rinks skipped by Richard Tough, Colin Mitchell, Darren Hush, Paul O’Donnell and James Hogg triggered a 10-2 victory salute that came close to a full-house triumph with the defeat of John Ramsay only being by a single shot. The six-rink head-to-head knockout format of the Edinburgh Cup is a sound reflection of strength in depth and wins over Dean of Division 4 then top-flight clubs Tanfield, Parkside, Hillside and Maitland reflects a tremendous campaign for Carrick Knowe.

Whilst the outcome in the final was by a substantial margin, the battle for supremacy was hard won and it’s to Maitland’s frustration that a couple of their significant defeats were by narrow margins.

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Carrick Knowe’s current club champion Hogg entered his final end trailing by two shots but the Scotland cap and former national champion conjured up a magic count of three to skip Ray Smith, Trevor Matheson and Graham Pringle to a 17-16 victory. Snatching victory on the line was a psychological boost as it came at the expense of Maitland champion Alan Trotter and his front three of George Trotter, Ross Barclay and Jim Robertson.

O’Donnell was 19-16 down with two ends to play but the former Edinburgh Open campion skipped Robbie Smith, Cameron Tennant and Colin Spence to an explosive 5, 1 finish and a 21-19 win over Gordon Clark.

Both results were a massive tipping of the match scales given that Gary Stout skipped his Maitland rink of Jim Duncan, Iain Cairns and Harry McLaughlin to a 17-16 win over Chris Crawford, Alan McIntyre, Alan Poole and Ramsay.

Richard Tough had blazed a 19-5 trail – included a sizzling count of six – and he went on to skip Rab Hush, Colin Tough and Bob Mitchell to a 23-9 win over Alan Sharp.

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Mitchell carded a mighty five to cross 16-12 then skipped Ralph Henderson, John Mitchell and Craig Aitken to a 23-12 win over Graeme McIntosh.

Hush roared from 9-8 to 21-9 then skipped Andy Beath, Keith Elder and Kevin Tennant to a 22-13 win over Brian Higgins.

“The club joined the EBL from the Water of Leith League to give us the chance to experience major trophy successes – and to do so in our second season is just great,” said Mitchell.

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