Helensburgh held off a late Dumbarton surge to win the Kirkwood Cup at Greenacres curling club on Saturday 10 February 2024.

Dumbarton went into the competition as joint defending champions, following their temporary amalgamation with Cardross to win last seasons competition.

The Dumbarton rink consisting of Jim MacDonald (skip), Keith Hart (third), David Armstrong (second) and Mike Pearsall (lead) making his province debut for the the club, was drawn against Helensburgh in a Lennox District derby.

It was a tight affair with neither side giving much away, but the match turned in the 4th end.  Helensburgh were sitting shot but with it being the only blue stone in the house surrounded by multiple white stones, and Dumbarton with the hammer, the shot call was to remove the bluse stone to count a potential 5 or 6 shots.  Jim played a controlled weight but unfortunately the stone curled an inch or 2 too far, and although it did hit the target stone, it jammed on a white stone to retain shot for a steal of one.

Dumbarton were looking good to reduce the deficit, or even draw the match in the final end.  Sitting with 2 stones in scoring positions, and well protected with the chance to promote a 3rd stone.  An excellent double tap-up by the Helensburgh skip Malcolm Hyatt to promote his own stone to out-score the Dumbartong stones and well protected to ensure it could not be removed for a steal of one and a final score of 7-3 in favour of Helensburgh.  

At the time, nobody realised how significant the steal by Helensburgh in the final end would prove to be.  Had Malcolm failed to make that shot leaving Dumbarton scoring a 2, the final score would have ended 6-5 to Helensburgh, which would have resulted in the final standings being reversed.

The Dumbarton side for the afternoon session consisted of Gus Wallace (skip), David Shanks (third), David Armstrong (second) and David Campbell (lead) making his debut in an external competition.  Like the Cuthbert Cup earlier in the season when Dumbarton were drawn against and lost to Helensburgh in the early session, they were again drawn against Bearsden in the later session. 

Dumbarton won the toss and started strongly making good use of the hammer scoring a double in the first end.  Singles were then traded in the next 2 ends giving Dumbarton a 3-1 lead after 3 ends.

Dumbarton took a firm grip of the game with a steal of 3 in the 4th end, and single steal in the 5th putting them into a commanding 6-1 lead.

Bearsden stopped the rot with a single in the 6th end before gaining a steal of their own with a single in the 7th end.

Any thoughts of a Bearsden comeback were soon dashed with another triple score for Dumbarton in the 8th end for a final score of 10-3.

All eyes then fell on the match between Cawder House and Helensburgh.  With Dumbarton finishing on a net score of +3 any win by Cawdor House would result in Dumbarton being crowned champions.  Alas it was not to be as Helensburgh ran out 6-4 winners ending the competition on a net score of +6 and thereby winning the Kirkwood Cup by 3 shots.

Helensburgh were the only club to win both games and were deserved winners of the trophy, with Dumbarton being declared runners-up.

Overall, it was a strong performance by the Dumbarton sides that came within a whisker of winning the competition.  With strong performances by David Campbell and Mike Pearsall, and with other more experienced players absent from the competition, the strength in depth within the club is improving and bodes well for the future of the club.

The full results and final standings for the 2024 Kirkwood Cup can be found on the competition page.

Photographs courtesy of Gillian Campbell.