BARRY Athletic retained the Alun Martin trophy with a gritty performance against neighbours Penarth Windsor, in a final played out at the Sully Sports green this weekend.

The game was tight from the start as both sides tried to master the challenging surface, and it was the Penarth side that built an early advantage with former Athletic star Matthew Woodcock building a lead over Richard Bowen’s rink by nine shots to two.

However, Peter Rogers with the experienced Gary Jones, Russ Harris, making his debut in the competition and Chris Wright started steadily against the veteran Ken McLeod, accumulating shots to cancel out the Penarth Windsor advantage.

It was a trend that was to continue as they continued to build up an unassailable lead on the unpredictable green, stretching their advantage to 18 shots to five by the 12th end. In the other contest, Richard Bowen was slowly but surely pegging back the early Windsor lead, and with Dave Snelling, Mike Vaughan and Geoff Whittaker beginning to show greater consistency, it was a only a matter of time before the the Barry combination overhauled their opposition.

By the 14th end, the Barry rink were level at 10 shots apiece, and then took a further six shots over the next three ends to put themselves in to a winning position with just one end to play. Peter Rogers’ rink had also continued their dominance and established a 23 shots to six lead over the opposition, causing the Penarth Windsor captain Woodcock to concede defeat after 17 ends.

Twenty-three winning ends from the 34 played proved the foundation for the Athletic win by 39 shots to 17, and was a testament to focus and determination from all the selected players to bring the trophy back to the 4Wood green at Barry Island.

An overall 22 shot victory allowed the Barry team to reclaim the Alun Martin Trophy, their ninth victory in this event in sixteen years, and the generous prize money offered by the Martin family in memory of former Vale of Glamorgan stalwart Alun Martin.

The Athletic selectors will be pleased that their faith in a blend of experience and youth has paid off in this competition and has allowed some of the Athletic’s newer players to gain valuable match experience, experience that will stand the club in good stead as they look to close their 2017 league season on a high.