THE Welsh National Bowls Championships at Llandrindod were a case of so near and yet so far for the Barry Athletic pair of Glyn Thomas and Martin Clarke, as they lost a pulsating final by two shots.

Having comfortably seen off the challenge of Ely Valley’s Chris Ashman and Phil Robbins in the county final, hopes were high for the Barry duo to lift the title, won previously by Glyn and his former pairs partner Robert Horgan in 2003 and 2005.

The performance and results began promisingly for the Barry pair, as they comfortably disposed of Pontrhydyfen’s Barrie Evans by 20 shots to 15 in the last 16.

This was swiftly followed up with a match against a home club pairing skipped by Chris Martin in the quarter final. This was a more tense affair but with superb bowls from the two Athletic players as the match reached its climax, Glyn and Martin held their nerve to win a tight encounter by 20 shots to 19.

A new day saw a semi-final against the Carmarthenshire pair of Mark Watkins and Jake Hancock, who had progressed with narrow victories over the Ferndale and Gilfach pairs. However Glyn and Martin were in no mood to miss the main event and powered through the semi to win 23-19 and set up a final against top Welsh international Mark Wyatt and his partner Chris Doidge from Caerphilly – with the prize of qualification for the British finals in 2018 at stake.

As with previous matches this was a tight encounter with Martin Clarke consistently laying good heads for Glyn to develop and it was only the skill and an occasional element of good fortune from skip Mark Wyatt that kept the game tight in the early exchanges. With the scores locked at 14 shots each on the 18th end it was still all to play for, but a series of brilliant shots from skip Wyatt effectively turned the game in favour of the Caerphilly duo.

With the Barry pair holding four shots, Wyatt, with a deadly combination of running woods and draw shots, converted the head to score three shots, and provided an advantage that the Barry pair could not overcome. Needing three shots on the last end to take the match in to an extra end, and despite good bowls from lead Martin and skip Glyn they could not muster enough and narrowly lost out in an epic encounter by two shots.

A narrow defeat by 19 shots to 17 was not what the Barry pair and their travelling support had wanted, but they had to concede defeat to the top class Caerphilly pairing who will now go on to represent Wales in the British Isles championships next year.

The Barry pair can rue some missed chances but they will surely have caught the international selectors’ attention when the international trial teams are selected for the 2018 season.

Returning to league action, The PG1 side went in search of points against Carruthers shield semi finalists Ely Valley, who were also looking to assert themselves after their defeat at Llandrindod.

With the weather set fair, the 4Wood green at Barry looking and running at its very best this was all set up for a tight encounter.

It was the visitors that established a small advantage first with Paul Taylor racing in to an 8-1 lead over Richard Bowen, while John Applegate had built a 10-2 advantage over Glyn Thomas whose rink was finding the going tough. Dave Wright started well against the experienced Phil Robbins, racing to an 11-6 lead, and Rob Horgan also started well to establish a lead over Chris Ashman by eight shots to one.

As the game progressed it was the visitors that found the quick paced Barry green more to their liking. John Applegate’s rink applied the pressure to build a 20-8 lead after 13 ends and leave Glyn Thomas’s rink staring at defeat, eventually running out victors by 28 shots to 15. David Wright’s progress was halted as they dropped two fours and a five mid-game to trail by 13 shots to 21 and Robert Horgan also dropped two threes to fall 11-19 behind.

With the four rinks in deficit the writing was on the wall for the Barry outfit and the points gained from individual rink victories looked to be the only realistic possibility of success for the home side.

With three rinks well down it was left to Richard Bowen’s rink with superb consistency from Gary Gane, Mike Vaughan and Geoff Whittaker to apply the pressure against former Commonwealth star Paul Taylor in an attempt to avoid the whitewash.

Although in deficit 13-18 on 18 ends the Barry combination responded well to take a three and a four on the 19th and 20th ends respectively to lead by two going in to the final end.

Despite an exceptional shot with his last bowl from Paul Taylor, the visitors were only able to recoup one of the two shots needed on the final end and the Barry rink ran out victors by 20 shots to 19, earning a valuable two points for their ongoing relegation battle. However a creditable performance from the visitors saw them run out well deserved victors by 26 shots, 66-92.

The outcome of the Athletic’s PG2 side’s visit to Penarth Windsor was altogether a better outcome than the PG1 side. Still favourites for promotion but with a much depleted side, the battle with St Fagan’s to top the league is still very much on and points from this match against neighbours Penarth Windsor were vital for the run in.

And a good performance from all the players selected ensured that they claimed another important 12-2 victory to confirm promotion to the top division. Architect of the away win was skip Mike Jones, with Don Evans at his superlative best in the swan-song of his bowling career who put together a 30-13 win over the home team. The experienced Gareth Humphries also ground out a win by a single shot whilst Albert Mintern effectively turned the game with his 26-13 shots victory, scoring 13 shots without reply over the last five ends.

So with one match to go and promotion already secured, the selectors will be ensuring that a strong competitive side is fielded for the final fixture against Cardiff Athletic to give the Barry Athletic PG2 team the best opportunity to be crowned champions. The opening day defeat at Cardiff now seems a long way off and the team has gone from strength to strength under the captaincy of Paul Webley and the experience of his players, and irrespective of the result it will be remembered as a successful season for the club that restores them to the top division of the Private Greens Second Division.