The Noble’s Cup was held on Sunday with an entry of 22 pairs, with the men playing on Noble’s One with the green running well despite the recent heavy downpours.

The eventual winners were Marown duo Paul Dunn & Neil ‘Nev’ Withers, who went one better than the day before having lost in the final at Castletown, seeing off the strong challenge of Onchan pair Jordan Cain & Matthew Quirk 21-18. Neither pairing were able to get more than two points ahead of the other throughout the entire game. On the last end Cain & Quirk were lying three for game at 18-20, however Withers played a great last bowl to just sneak past the Onchan pairs two nearest bowls to take the all important point for game to win 21-18.

Losing out at the semi-final stage were two South Ramsey pairings, with David Bradford & Glynn Hargraves who were well beaten 8-21 by the Marown pair, whilst Alan Moore & Stefan Kelly couldn’t quite get over the line letting a good lead slip to lose out 20-21 to the Onchan pairing.

Losing quarter finalists were home greeners Reginald Temporaza & Steve Cook, Brian Kelly (Marown) & Stevie Kelly (Peel), Peel pair Mike Ashmole & Peter Greenlees along with Port St Mary men Wayne Roberts & Trevor Quayle.

The presentation was made by Clare Cooper, who thanked everyone who took part and the club members for assisting throughout the day. During his speech Neil Withers remarked on the good condition of the green.

Wow, crown green bowlers are hardy. 17 pairs braved storm Hannah on Saturday for the Cringle Fours held at Castletown. Between the entry fees, raffle money and donations £200 was made for Manx Blind Welfare Society. Despite the horrendous weather there was a great atmosphere on and around the green. The green was running really well and considering the amount of rain that had fallen no puddles developed.

Losing semi-finalists were Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) and Lee Dawson (South Ramsey) who went out to Marown pair Neil Withers & Paul Dunn. Also losing out in the semi-final were another Marown pairing Colin Kelly & Juan Killip who had a close game against the eventual winners Sam Clague (Castletown) and Glenn Boland (Noble’s).

The young pairing of Clague & Boland would have been outside favourites to overcome the experienced Marown pairing of Dunn & Withers, however they stormed into a 15-8 lead, and then led 18-12 only for the Marown men to pull the score back to 16-18 before the young pair dug deep to take a well deserved 21-17 win. Both pairs won eight ends in the final, with the difference being that the winners scored a three and four early in the game, whilst the opposition were limited to scoring no more than two throughout the game.

The presentation was done by Phil Taubman, club Chairman, who thanked Noel Cringle, the sponsor of the competition, and Shoprite for their voucher. Sam and Glenn accepted the trophy, thanked everyone and congratulated the amount raised for the charity. It was great seeing the young pair win, especially Sam who is coming back after been very poorly.

South Ramsey Bowling Club hosted the IPS Administration Jim Senior 4’s on another fine day with a fair entry of 14 teams (56) on Easter Sunday.

The competition was played as two doubles, with the team with the most chalks progressing to the next round.

In the early rounds the home pairing of Judy Kelly & Ryan Hargraves gave Caroline Parker & Janet Monk (Mooragh Park) a scare performing brilliantly to go 20-13 ahead, before cruelly losing out 20-21. In the second game Steve Kelly & Gillian Jopson lost out 11-21 to Shannon McMullan & Helen Martin allowing the Mooragh Park Ladies to progress into the next round.

The shock of the early rounds was undoubtedly the south team who put out last year’s winners to turn the tie around with Margaret Tasker & Caroline Whitehead losing out 16-21 to Alan Kelly & Stefan Kelly, only for their team mates Derek Allen & Bernard Thackrah to record a stunning 21-10 win over Jordan Cain & Dido Kelly.

Also worthy of a mention was the comeback of the mix and match team. Edward Carlyle & Dave McCabe were well beaten 11-21 by Paul Routledge & James Evans leaving team mates Steven Waters & Allan Callow a huge mountain to climb needing to win 21-10 or better against home greeners Tony Hart & Anthony Kelly to progress into the next round. Waters & Callow did just that winning 21-10 to win the tie 32-31.

The winning team on the day were home greeners Austin Hart, James Teare, Alan Moore & Glynn Hargraves who defeated club mates Kim Hargraves, Jenny Moore, Fiona Kennish & Elaine Moore in the final (42-27).

Losing out at the semi-final stage to the eventual winners were the husband and wife pairings of Derek & Lynda Cadamy, who were teamed up with Alec & Philippa Taylor. The Cadamy’s lost out to 9-21 to Hargraves & Moore, whilst the Taylor’s lost out 12-21 to Hart & Teare.

Also falling at the semi-final stage was the south team made up of Derek Allen, Bernard Thackrah, Margaret Tasker and Caroline Whitehead who just lost out to the South Ramsey Ladies team in a finely balanced tie. Elaine Moore & Fiona Kennish got over the line 21-18 against Allen & Thackrah, whilst Jenny Moore & Kim Hargraves lost out 19-21 to Tasker & Whitehead but in doing so the South Ramsey team scored enough to book their place in the final (40-39).

The presentation was made by South Ramsey Chairman Steve Moore who thanked IPS Administration for their continued sponsorship, those who had helped prepare the green, the club members for assisting throughout the day, the ladies for providing an excellent selection of refreshments and all the new players who participated.

Onchan Bowling Club was the host venue for the seasons first Association singles competition which attracted an entry of 52 to play on a fantastic surface which was running well on a fine day.

At the conclusion Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly was the winner, defeating home greener Rob Monk convincingly 21-8 in the final with Monk not hitting the same form he had in previous rounds.

Losing out at the semi final stage were Colin Kelly (Marown) to Monk who performed well to end the Marown mans challenge 21-16. In the other semi-final Barney ended the good run of Reginald Temporaza (Noble’s) with a 21-14 win to book his spot in the final.

Losing out at the quarter final stages were home greener Kevin Quirk to Colin Kelly 18-21, Marown man Juan Killip lost 10-21 to Monk, Nathan Hamilton (Castletown) who lost 18-21 to Temporaza in a close encounter, whilst South Ramsey’s Stefan Kelly lost 14-21 to Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly.

The presentation was made by Association Competition Secretary Matthew Keggen who thanked Onchan for hosting the competition, their club members for assisting throughout the day and the ladies for providing a good selection of refreshments. The excellent condition of the green was also mentioned along with the improvements made during the winter, most notably the new floodlights along with the sponsor boards placed around the corners of the green.

North Ramsey A made the long journey to the south of the island in Ellan Vannin Fuels division one to take on Port St Mary A, with the visitors pulling off a shock 3-7 win over their rivals to record one of their best wins in recent history. For the visitors Steve Walmsley got off to a good start defeating Dave McCabe 21-9, with captain Allan Callow & John Cannan beating Dan McCabe & Bernard Thackrah respectively. Gary Merrill pulled off a stunning 21-17 win to inflict a first home league loss since August 2017 on Trevor Quayle. Geoff Porter also recorded an equally good win to see off Paul Skelly in a close game 21-19. Hitting back for Port St Mary were Wayne Roberts, Rob Cooil and Tim Williams who all won fairly comfortably, but couldn’t manage to stop the visitors from taking the aggregate two points having lost out by six chalks (138-144).

Marown B had a tough night in their home fixture against Douglas A with the experienced Arnie Withers the only winner (21-12) against Gary Conwell, whilst Peter Kelly lost out 18-21 to Ian Moore.

Marown A remain top of the league after their visit to the Crofts to take on Castletown A, coming away with a respectable 2-8 win. The two winners for Castletown were Captain Ian Watson who beat Matthew Keggen 21-16, backed up by the experienced Juan Kermode who had a fine win over former team mate Paul Kelly 21-10. For the Crosby men John Gelling won 21-4 against Dean Kinley, whilst Neil Withers and Phil Kelly had to work hard to record their wins over Nathan Hamilton & Jordan Drewett respectively.

Onchan A occupy second place, they closed the gap on the league leaders by a point following a fairly straightforward 1-9 away win over South Ramsey B. The lone winner for the home team was Steven Waters with a 21-13 win over Frank Watson. Tony Dugdale came closest to taking a second win off the visitors before losing out 19-21 to Matthew Quirk.

South Ramsey A climbed up to third place following their 1-9 away win against Noble’s A, with Reginald Temporaza continuing to perform well in his debut season in the top division recording a 21-15 win over Alan Moore. The visitors won four games to single figures, whilst James Teare was pushed hard by Steve Cook before getting over the line to win 21-18 to maintain his 100% record.

Peel A sit in fourth place following their 8-2 home win over Castletown B. Ste Kelly and Andy Kennish both won to single figures for Peel, whilst for Castletown Ross Moore won 21-16 against David Proctor, with Bob Clark maintaining his 100% start to the season following his 21-16 win over Gary Smith. Clark is one of just nine players to have won their first four games in division one.

In division two Ballaugh A took a massive stride forward in their quest to return to division one recording a 10-0 home win over league leaders Port St Mary B. Thomas Keggen came closest to snatching a point for the visitors, however Edgar Cowin just got over the line to win 21-20. The result meant Ballaugh A leapfrogged Port St Mary to go top on 30 points, whilst the Port men fell to fourth spot.

Finch Hill A sit in second place level on points with Ballaugh A following a good 2-8 away win against Port St Mary C. The Finch Hill men have started the season strongly with four of their players having 100% records.

Douglas B are in third place following a good 9-1 home win over Ballaugh B, who had John Kneen to thank for sparing the whitewash with a good 21-11 win over Rob Matthews.

In division three this week league leaders South Ramsey C had another solid performance with an 8-2 home win over Ballaugh C to jump up to 33 points after four games played.

Noble’s B sit in second place on 23 points following their 2-8 away win against Peel D, with Ballaugh C sat in third place on the same number of points.