South Ramsey Bowling Club hosted the Association Cup on Sunday with the competition attracting 63 entries. The green was in excellent condition with the green getting quicker throughout the day.

The quarter finals were well contested with home greener Glynn Hargraves losing out 18-21 to Marown’s Matthew Keggen, Bob Clark (Castletown) just lost 20-21 to Colin Kelly (Marown). Jordan Cain (Onchan) ended the challenge of Dave McCabe (Finch Hill) with a 21-16 win, whilst home greener David Bradford progressed with a 21-17 victory over the 2020 winner Sam Clague (Castletown).

In the semi-finals Bradford put paid to the run of Cain who had won the half mountain marathon the previous day, with a 21-13 win, whilst Kelly booked his place with a 21-18 win over Keggen.

The final got underway with Kelly winning the first eight ends in the corners, playing brilliantly with Bradford never far away, building what looked to be an unassailable 16-6 lead over Bradford, who got in with a single then cleared the jack off the green when lying one down on the following end, only to concede a two to trail 7-18. From there Bradford started to pull some points back to trail 12-18 only for Kelly to take two singles and within touching distance of picking up the title. Bradford got back in and headed for the corners playing them well to recover to 16-20 and was counting with two good bowls. Kelly made sure he reached and flicked away Bradford’s bowl and left himself counting for one to win the trophy he last won in 2019.

The presentation was made by competition committee officer Dave Kelly, who thanked South Ramsey for the excellent condition of the green, the club members for providing helpers and refreshments throughout the day and the competition committee for the smooth running of the competition.

The Rayner Shield got underway with the biggest shock of the week at Port St Mary in the preliminary round fixture between first division side Port St Mary A and second division Onchan B. The matched finished 4-4 with the four away wins coming from Bernie McPhee, who beat Wayne Roberts 21-10, Colin Spence who secured a hard fought 21-20 victory over Paul Skelly, whilst Mike Kelly beat Tom Collins 21-12, with Will Penhallurick seeing off Paul Russell 21-15. The match win was secured by just three chalks (141-144) with all the visitors reaching double figures to ensure they progressed to the next round with the home team now facing another year in the Rayner Plate.

In the first round, three teams won 8-0, with South Ramsey A seeing off Onchan C at the Park, with Jamie Clague impressing despite losing 15-21 to Peter Collister. Noble’s B were defeated by Douglas A at home, whilst Finch Hill A won at home against Ballaugh B.

There were five results which ended up 7-1, with Port Erin A beating Douglas C at Breagle Glen with Greg Brew preventing the whitewash with a fine 21-19 win over Steve Durcan. The other four wins were all away wins from first division teams all against lower league teams, with Peel B seeing off Marown D, Marown A overcame Port St Mary B with the result not reflecting how close some of the games were, with current Manx Champion Paul Dunn winning 21-17 against Andy Sykes, whilst Phil Kelly & John Gelling both won 21-20 against Derek Cain & Ken Karran respectively. Ballaugh A beat their C Team with Ray Parry recording a stunning 21-9 win over Barry McDonald, whilst Onchan A didn’t have to travel far for their win over Finch Hill B.

Elsewhere Marown C lost out 3-5 at home to Peel A, however there were a few interesting scores with Jamie Joughin beating Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly 21-14, Stephen Rundle seeing off Peter Greenlees 21-13, whilst Kevin Kelly took home the bragging rights after his 21-12 win over older brother Tom Kelly. Douglas B took a couple of games off Castletown A with Steve Gregg beating Dean Kinley 21-11, whilst Pat O’Donohue is still proving to be a tough opponent seeing off Jordan Drewett 21-18 in a 2-6 away defeat.

Noble’s A will have had their spirits lifted following their first win of the season with their visit to the sunset city resulting in a 2-6 victory over Peel C. For the away team Mark Quinn defeated Bob Berry 21-20, a result matched by Les Brookes with his win over Brian Lindsey, whilst David Pease also just made it home to the same score against Ian Pendlebury. Stephen Hampson won 21-17 against Mike Ashmole, whilst Steve Cook recorded a 21-4 win over Jeff Wilson, with Tommy Collister winning 21-11 against Paul Baker.

The first set of fixtures were rounded off on Thursday evening. It was second division Castletown B who travelled to Crosby to take on first division Marown B with the visitors securing a fantastic 3-5 win to progress to the next round. Winning for the visitors were Peter Oates, George Foy, George Peach, Ron Williams and Juan Kermode.

All teams who lost in the first round now go into the Rayner Plate, with handicaps applied based on previous years league positions.

In division one Peel A hosted Noble’s A on a fine evening for bowling, with the hosts handing out a 10-0 whitewash to the visitors to go top of the league. The biggest win of the night came from Tommy McMeiken who beat Martyn Hobson 21-1. For the visitors Mark Quinn lost out 18-21 to Peel captain Gary Smith, whilst Dave Naughton pushed Tom Kelly all the way before losing 20-21.

The most interesting tie of the night was between Douglas A and Marown A, who visited the Villa. The Crosby men would have been disappointed not to come away with a 2-8 away victory, however the Villa men had other ideas to win four games on the night losing out 4-6 with Ian Moore seeing off former teammate Paul Kelly 21-20, whilst Merv Sayle beat Matthew Keggen to the same score. Shaun Seal recorded a good 21-16 win over John Gelling, whilst Andy Cannell made light work of Juan Killip with a 21-9 victory. All the wins for the visitors were comfortable, with Colin Kelly taking the biggest win of the night 21-6 over Gary Conwell.

South Ramsey A jump up into second place following their 9-1 home win over Peel B, with five of the home team winning to single figures. The whitewash was spared by the hero of the night Dave Smith, who edged home 21-20 against James Teare.

The new look Castletown A hosted Onchan A at the Crofts with the matched tied on games 4-4 they took the aggregate on chalks by six (133-127) to record a 6-4 win against a team they will be looking to get close to this season. Bob Clark continued his run of form to lead the way for the Town men with a 21-8 win over Jordan Cain, backed up by Jordan Drewett, Dean Kinley and Sam Clague who beat the vastly experienced Phil Kerruish 21-10. Colin Spence stepped in to beat home captain Ian Watson 21-13, Kevin Quirk and Reginald Temporaza returned to winning ways with Peter Slinger also winning.

Port St Mary A visited Crosby to take on Marown B, with the visitors pleased to come away with a 3-7 victory. For the visitors Trevor Quayle just got over the line 21-20 against Bobby Thorne, Robbie Cooil took a fine 21-13 over new signing Glenn Boland, Wayne Roberts inflicted a 21-4 defeat on Peter Kelly. For the home team John Kelly made his return winning 21-19 against Tim Williams, whilst Darren Kerruish held his nerve to beat Tom Collins 21-20. The most notable result of the night was Brian Kelly’s outstanding 21-12 win over Paul Skelly.

Ballaugh A got their first win of the season under their belt, beating local rivals North Ramsey A at home with a 7-3 win. Young Patrick Grant did enough to see off Gary Merrill 21-20, whilst Barry McDonald kept up his 100% record for the season, whilst Richard Hainge recorded his first ever top flight win with a 21-12 victory over John Cannan.

In division two Finch Hill A took on their lower ranked B team, with the A showing their dominance with a 9-1 win. Four of the wins were to single figures with the other three victories being comfortable. Stephen Oates was the only winner for the B Team with a 21-16 win over John Harris.

Port Erin A had a mini disaster away to Onchan B with a 4-6 away loss, however Harry Minor and Bernie Durcan both managed to keep their winning run going to maintain their perfect records.

South Ramsey B are starting to get their act together, they took a solid 3-7 away win against Port St Mary A which could just as easily have been 10-0, having lost two games 18-21 and a further game 19-21. Edward Carlyle continued his good form, whilst I can’t see Tony Dugdale losing many games in division two this season.

Marown C having beaten South Ramsey B 7-3 on their own turf the previous week would have been expecting to do as well if not better against the lower ranked C Team with another visit north, however the home team showed their B team how to do it seeing off the visitors 7-3, whilst Peel C hosted Douglas B in a tight encounter with the home team taking a 6-4 win.

In division three Ballaugh C went top on 24 points from three games after their 9-1 home win over Peel D, whilst Ballaugh B sit in second following their 2-8 away win over Douglas D. Onchan C currently sit in third, hosted Port Erin B, with the home team claiming a 7-3 victory.

Marown D continue to impress sitting in fourth and claimed another win courtesy of an 8-2 home success over Douglas with Jay Waters leading the way with a 21-1 win. Castletown C rounded off the weeks round of fixtures with a 3-7 away win over Noble’s B.

Ballaugh Bowling Club hosted the Association Singles on Sunday afternoon with the competition attracting 53 entries. The green has continued to improve and was in excellent condition for those taking part in what started in very wet conditions, however as the day went on the conditions improved to end in glorious sunshine.

Losing out in the quarter finals were Glynn Hargraves to South Ramsey teammate David Bradford 13-21, Derek Allen (Port Erin) to the same score with his defeat to Bob Clark (Castletown), whilst Neil Withers lost out to Marown teammate Matthew Keggen 19-21, with Phil Kerruish (Onchan) being beaten by Peel man Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly to the same score.

In the semi-finals Bradford, who had played consistently well all day was up against Clark, with the former continuing to play extremely well, however Clark had an answer for everything playing some great bowls to turn two down into a two for himself on more than one occasion with Bradford only being guilty of playing too well, it was Clark who edged a fantastic game 21-20 to take his place in the final. The other semi-final was also close throughout, with the game not up to the standard of the first semi-final it still had plenty of good bowls with Kelly doing enough to get over the line 21-19 against Keggen to reach the final.

In the final Kelly upped his game considerably to take eight of the first 11 ends playing his favourite corners, whilst keeping his opponent to singles throughout the match. Clark had no answer for Kelly, who went on to score two quick-fire doubles to seal a resounding 21-10 victory to claim the Association Singles title and the winner’s prize of £100 for his efforts  

The presentation was made by Association Competition Committee Officer Steve Moore, who thanked Ballaugh and their club members for hosting the competition and providing refreshments throughout the day.