Twice former winner, Alan Moore was triumphant again in the delayed Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling club championship, which took place on Sunday, beating Phil Kerruish who himself had won the title back in 2005.

A 24 hour delay due to the weather didn’t deter most of those who had entered and from the 38 who competed on the day, two former champions fought out a closely contested final, having earlier seen a number of potential winners go out in their opening games.

Kerruish began his afternoon with victory in the prelims, before a repeat of the 2005 final against Margaret Tasker saw him through to the second round, where he was pushed all the way in a 21-20 result by Cliff Clague.

Moore meanwhile, got through his opening encounter by just three chalks, before a repeat of the 2017 final when he defeated Frank Watson.

The only junior member in the competition, Shannon McMullan, was successful in her first game, before losing out on 19 in her second to Derek Allen, who then went down in the quarters 21-20 to Kerruish.

Also missing out at this stage were Steve Parker, beaten to 19 by Edward Carlyle; Tony Hart who fell short on a score of 18 against Reg Temporaza and Tricia Bull, the last lady entrant who went out to the eventual winner.

The four semi-finalists who had endured a tough afternoon in the cold wind, took to the green in front of a dwindling crowd of spectators, Kerruish knocking out Carlyle and Temporaza losing to Moore, both results 21-12.

The final had no more than two points between the opponents at any point of the game, then at 16 across Kerruish took the next two ends to lead 19-16, but Moore fought back with three singles and a double to take the title he had won previously in 2016 and 2017.

Moore remains as only the third player to have won this honour more than once, following Kevin Quirk on five titles and John Kennish on four; keeping it at only nine different winners over 18 seasons.

Results – quarter-finals: Edward Carlyle 21, Steve Parker 19; Phil Kerruish 21, Derek Allen 20; Tony Hart 18, Reg Temporaza 21; Tricia Bull 12, Alan Moore 21. Semi-finals: Carlyle 12, Kerruish 21; Temporaza 12, Moore 21. Final: Kerruish 19, Moore 21.

Just a few days earlier the midweek round robin had a relatively small gang of 25 split into two sections, with the trio of Kevin Firth, Mark Kelly and Tricia Bull romping to victory ahead of Sefton Dent, Dougie Allan and Jeff Wilson. 

Things were closer in the doubles group with the eventual winners being Ken Karran and Maureen Payne, with second spot going to Peter Karran and Peter Kelly.

This weekend will see the final two days of the winter season, beginning with a round robin on Saturday, followed 24 hours later by the Best versus Rest event and prize presentations for which raffle prizes would be very much appreciated.

Proceedings begin at 1pm and taking part in Sunday’s contest will be league champions, Outsiders, supported by double merit winner, Helen Martin; junior merit champ, Austin Hart and newly crowned club champion, Alan Moore who will make up the Best team.

The individual team merit winners, or representatives, will form the Rest and turning out for the challengers will be Steve Parker (Mooragh Lakers); Mark Kelly (Seven-Up); Stefan Kelly (A-Team); Matthew Keggen (Louie’s Angels); Terry Moore or Colin Spence (Parkers); Derek Allen (Erin Porters); Bryan Corner (Govags); Lil Smith (Bowl Rollers); Sam Aherne or Nathan Hamilton (Castletown Corkers); Alan Phair (Castletown Cannons) and Franz ten-Donkelaar (Bits n Bobs).

League prizes will be awarded down to fifth position; from the quarter-finals onwards in the club championship and the finalists in the J&M Lee memorial doubles, which was held back in December, so if those concerned can be in attendance to collect their awards it would be very helpful.

Unfortunately the weather makes the headlines again this week as the wet stuff put paid to the latest three sessions planned by the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club, so let’s hope for better conditions this Saturday when the club championship takes place with an entry of over 40.

Things will get underway at 12noon prompt, however those attending must be aware that there will be parking restrictions in Nobles with the car park being closed from 2-5pm and with a lot of games to get through in daylight it will be a busy afternoon.

The eventual winner could possibly make it into the Best team, which will be competing against the Rest when the two sides meet at the season finale on Sunday, March 24, starting at 1pm; the prize presentations to all award winners throughout the season will also take place that afternoon.

League champions Outsiders will make up the majority of the Best and although captain Ben Dugdale is still out of action, the remainder of his squad – Tony Dugdale, Mike Alexander, Frank Watson, Steve Cook, Kevin Firth, Elaine Moore, Jenny Moore and James Teare will be included.

Double merit winner, Helen Martin and two other representatives will support this eight; one of which could be the club champion if they have not already qualified.

Their challengers will be a player from each of the 11 remaining teams and subject to confirmation they will be Steve Parker (Mooragh Lakers rep); Mark Kelly (Seven-Up); Alan Moore (A-Team rep); Matthew Keggen (Louie’s Angels); Terry Moore (Parkers); Wayne Roberts (Erin Porters); Bryan Corner (Govags); Lil Smith (Bowl Rollers); Sam Aherne (Corkers); Alan Phair (Cannons) and Franz ten Donkelaar (Bits n Bobs).

In last week’s report we covered the top 10 league players in the overall merit, so here follows the next 15: 11. Bernard Thackrah (Porters), 12. Dougie Allan (Govags), 13. Jenny Moore (Outsiders), 14. Terry Moore (Parkers), 15. Rob Monk (Lakers), 16. Frank Watson (Outsiders), 17. Brian Kelly (Lakers), 18. Mark Kelly (Seven-Up), 19. Alison Keggen (Angels), 20. Lil Smith (Rollers), 21. Mike Thomas (Parkers), 22. Colin Spence (Parkers), 23. Janet Monk (Lakers), 24. Margaret Tasker (Angels), 25. Paula Firth (Seven-Up).

Some winter club facts – the winning margin between the top two in the league last year was 85, this time the leading five were separated by less than that, with the margin from first to fifth places being just 83 points.

Mooragh Lakers have been pretty consistent over the past three seasons with averages of 117.3, 117.4 and 117.1; the 135 fixtures were completed on schedule for the first time in a number of years. 

All fixtures were played with no byes recorded, perhaps testament to the rule that members could play for more than one team (on no more than six occasions); 22 people took advantage of this and turned out for more than one side, with one competing for six different teams and another for five.

The same four teams have occupied positions six to nine in the league table for the past four seasons – but not in the same order – they are Parkers, Erin Porters, Govags and Bowl Rollers.

My apologies go to Glynn Hargraves who I mentioned last week as a twice winner of the Individual merit, when in fact he is a three-time winner having also won this award back in 2004 whilst playing for league champions Cruisers.

The weather did its best to spoil the final weekend of fixtures in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, when all outstanding issues were settled, including Lakers’ Helen Martin winning the two main merit titles.

Needing to match her closest rival’s total, or at worst dropping just one point, two victories in extremely tough conditions on a wet Sunday afternoon, were enough to see Martin become only the second player to win both the Derek Killey and Geoff Osborn memorial trophies in the same season.

This following in the footsteps of club president Marg Tasker (Louie’s Angels) who achieved the same double in the 2011-12 campaign.

Twice winner in 2013/16, runner-up in 2014/18 and with two third places in 2015/17, Glynn Hargraves (A-Team) was just two points adrift of the leader going into the weekend and in turn he was five ahead of last year’s winner Matthew Keggen (Louie’s Angels), with fourth placed Brian Corner (Govags) close behind.

Hargraves and Corner both won their games to leave Martin a target of 41 points or better, which was achieved in relative comfort and a sense of relief on a very wet playing surface.

Keggen also recorded maximum points to finish third, with fifth and sixth places going to his opponents on Sunday – Steve Parker (Lakers) and Wayne Roberts (Erin Porters).

Club treasurer Tricia Bull (Angels) is next on the list, just pipping Kevin Firth (Outsiders); with ninth and tenth places being taken by players who both missed two games – Alan Moore (A-Team) and Mike Alexander (Outsiders).

Although he hasn’t been able to play in the last two outings due to an ankle injury, Austin Hart (A-Team) had already done enough in the junior merit ahead of Sam Aherne and Shannon McMullan, both Castletown Corkers.

Saturday’s action had former champions A-Team needing to score enough points to lift them back above Angels in the table, a target they hit with the help of their fifth and the campaign’s 27th maximum win.

They also recorded a total of 120 against Govags, the only team participating over the weekend whose final position was already confirmed and who had earlier beaten Corkers; however the southern outfit racked enough chalks to finish above their stablemates Castletown Cannons.

Results for Saturday, March 2: Govags 106 (3), Castletown Corkers 94 (3); Castletown Corkers 65 (0), A-Team 126 (6); A-Team 120 (5), Govags 80 (1).

The three outfits competing on Sunday afternoon were all fighting to retain or improve their league positions – Lakers recorded two wins to secure second, Angels failed in their attempt to move back into fourth and Erin Porters slipped out of the top six, being replaced by Parkers.

Results for Sunday, March 3: Erin Porters 89 (1), Mooragh Lakers 121 (5); Mooragh Lakers 124 (5), Louie’s Angels 91 (1); Louie’s Angels 112 (4), Erin Porters 98 (2).

Helen Martin will now represent the Best team on Sunday, March 24, whilst more names have been added to the Rest squad; they are Matthew Keggen, Brian Corner, Wayne Roberts, Alan Moore (A-Team, in the absence of Glynn Hargraves) and Sam Aherne; whilst Steve Parker will be Lakers representative.

Entries for the club championship on Saturday, March 16 close this Sunday; the winner of this competition will also be included in the Best team, which will take on the Rest at the Club’s prize presentation afternoon on Sunday, March 24.

A gang of 42 were split into three groups at the latest midweek round robin with the winners being Derek Allen, Bernie McPhee and Pauline Worrall; Geoff Mayles, Elaine Moore and Lynda Wilson; Julie Reilly and Mark Kelly.

After an action packed Saturday afternoon involving the top three teams, Outsiders racked up enough chalks in both fixtures to win the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League title.

The session also saw defeats for the leading two players in the individual merit – Helen Martin (Mooragh Lakers) dropped three points, whilst Glynn Hargraves (A-Team) scored 19 to move a little closer; both have two left to play with a gap of just two chalks.

Waiting for any slip-ups are Matthew Keggen (Louie’s Angels) who is seven adrift of the leader and eight behind is Brian Corner (Govags).

Moving back to the action, things began with leaders Outsiders easing to success against 2018 champions A-Team, although the 13 points dropped by the victors must have given the watching Mooragh Lakers a little glimmer of hope.

Lakers then joined the fray, as the weather took a turn for the worse and they sneaked home by just two chalks over A-Team, but also dropped the same amount of points as Outsiders, so the gap was back to where they started earlier.

The pair then went head to head with Lakers needing a similar performance to that from a few weeks previous when they won by nine against the same opponents; however Outsiders were in no mood to let this chance slip and recorded a 14 point advantage win to take one of the hottest contested titles in the club’s history.

Unfortunately Outsiders captain Ben Dugdale has not been able to play recently due to a back problem, but this is not the first time he will have had his hands on the shield, after he won with New Found Glory back in 2011.

The winning margin that year was 12 points, whereas just one year earlier his team, then named Angry Mob, missed out by only two to the Chancers. The next closest ending was in 2017 when Lakers pipped Seven-Up by the slender advantage of seven.

Results for Saturday, February 23: Outsiders 113 (5), A-Team 96 (1); A-Team 111 (3), Mooragh Lakers 113 (3); Mooragh Lakers 106 (3), Outsiders 120 (3).

Sunday’s opening fixture featured third placed Seven-Up and began on a foggy afternoon, with them needing as many points as possible – firstly to put some pressure on Lakers who are second on average and also to keep Louie’s Angels at bay as they were only nine behind at the start of play.

Finally to fend off A-Team who were keen to climb back up the table after slipping down two places just the day before.

Surprisingly they dropped 11 points in their opener against basement side Bits n Bobs, before they let another two slip when they played Castletown Corkers; however they did enough to remain above A-Team, but will have to wait for their final position to be decided.

The last outcome of the session saw Corkers just miss out on a full-house when they inflicted the twenty-second defeat of the campaign on Bits n Bobs and need to score just 126 points from their final outing to finish above their stablemates.

So all in all there are still nine league positions to be settled over the one weekend of fixtures yet to play, along with seven team merit winners.

Results for Sunday, February 24: Bits n Bobs 90 (2), Seven-Up 115 (4); Seven-Up 124 (5), Castletown Corkers 96 (1); Castletown Corkers 124 (5), Bits n Bobs 88 (1).

An entry of 24 took part in the midweek round robin, with one group having the top four separated by just one point at the end of play and after a roll-up it went in favour of David Clucas and Bernie McPhee, ahead of Allan Kennaugh and Marg Tasker.

The other section had Brian Kelly and Sefton Dent as clear winners, with second spot being taken by Frances Radcliffe and Ken Karran.

Two more names have been added to the team, which will take on the league champions in the end of season finale, they are Mark Kelly (Seven-Up) and Franz ten Donkelaar (Bits n Bobs).

The club heads into its final month with the league schedule almost complete and two major dates yet to come – the championship, for which entries are still being taken, will take place on Saturday, March 16 (and Sunday 17 if required), with the prize presentations afternoon the following Sunday, for which raffle prizes would be much appreciated.