Gary Kelly's Team NI call how 'you want destiny to be in your hands' after five-for-five Commonwealth Games run

Kelly trailed eight shots to nil at one stage in the first set but rallied before eventually going down 10-5.

Kelly took the second set 9-3 to force a tie break and he prevailed by a shot to take the win – admitting his sense of relief to come through a tight match.

“At the end of the day it is all about that W getting the win and I am grateful, thankfully, to come out on the right end of that one,” stated Kelly. “The format allows you to understand that there are enough ends left in the first set to potentially win it, you have go to stay trusting and believing in yourself but I also knew I had that second set up my sleeve.

“First set didn’t go my way but obviously you just refocus and go again in the second set.

“I was thankful to get over the line on that one, there are a lot of strategies and game plans involved so from that prospective it was just one of those tough games.

"And I actually went back to his length and that was slightly deliberate to see what would happen and I think it just went my way.”

Kelly showed his emotion at the end by saluting the vocal Team NI support.

“The crowd has been absolutely fantastic not just the Northern Ireland people but others as well have been very supportive towards our nation,” said Kelly. “It’s beautiful and it has been lovely to see that and there are some familiar faces.

“When you have Dame Mary Peters (1972 Olympic champion from Northern Ireland) in the crowd it is an amazing feeling, she’s a wonderful woman and it was just good to get that win.”

A win in his final group game will see Kelly contest the medal matches.

“At the end of the day you want destiny to be in your hands you don’t want to be relying on others,” he said. “I’m very thankful to be in that position and, hopefully, I can capitalise on it.”

Bowlers Chloe Wilson and Shauna O’Neill also have their medal density in their own hands ahead of their last two group games in the women’s pairs.

The duo stood as the only unbeaten team in Section A on Sunday afternoon aware a compressive win later that night against Zambia (7pm scheduled start) could seal their place in the medal matches for Tuesday morning.

Team NI faced a tricky tie in the Sunday morning session against Guernsey, who were previously unbeaten,

After a tense first set, Team NI prevailed 4-1 before turning on the style in the second and taking it 8-1 to have maximum points from their four games.

O’Neill finished delighted with how the tournament is going.

“We would have taken that before coming in,” she said. “We knew Guernsey was a ‘must-win’ game for us just with the way the game was panning out and, thankfully, we got the result that we were after.”

Glasgow marks the first time bowls has been played indoors at the Commonwealth Games and also a shot clock now introduced.

“Obviously it was a wee bit weird at the start but we had prepared for it, we knew what to expect with the surface and the shot clock and everything like that,” she said. “I think we have started well and just got better as the tournament went on which is really nice.”

Wilson was happy to get the job done in straight sets against the Channel Islands team.

“We’re absolutely delighted with that win,” she said. “We are just going into each game taking it as it comes we knew that was massive and we are just relieved to get over the line and focus for the next one.

“Having your destiny in your own hands is what you want when you are in the groups.”

Elsewhere, Team NI put up a spirited performance against Malawi in their second netball game of the tournament before going down 64-48.