Marown Bowling Club hosted the Juan Kelly Cup last week with the competition now in its fifth year it had 48 pairs taking part. As is becoming the norm in these competitions there were some interesting pairings making use of the handicap system which was played over two qualifying nights (Tuesday and Wednesday), with four pairs qualifying each night, in order to qualify for the finals night on Thursday evening.

The format was any combination doubles, played over 15 ends with ends 5, 10 and 15 played as ‘power’ ends with the points scored counting double. The pairs were given a handicap based on their rankings in the Men’s and Ladies game. If scores were tied after 15 ends a one bowl shootout would take place to decide the winner.

Spot prizes were awarded on both qualifying nights to the pair with the highest break, we did get to see a one-bowl shoot on Wednesday evening between Douglas duo Nick Firth and John Ferguson who took on Peel pair Gordon Corrin and Dougie Allan with the score tied at 21-21 after 15 ends the Peel pair won the shootout to progress to the next round.

For finals night a re-draw took place to determine who the pairings would play on the night, with a good mixture of high and low handicaps still in the competition. The excellent floodlights came into good use for the duration of the competition.

Losing quarter finalists were South Ramsey’s James Teare and Jenny Moore (+2), who lost out heavily to Onchan pair Wil Penhallurick and Jamie Clague (+7) 13-24, while Reg Temporaza and Rob Monk (+2) looked to be going through to the next round against home greeners Phil Kelly and John Gelling (+1) only for a brilliant last bowl from Gelling which swung the game in their favour and ensured a stunning 18-17 win. Marown D team players Phil Dunn and Steve Rough (+8) agonisingly lost out due to the one bowl shootout against Port St Mary’s Steve and Mavis Franks (+7) after tying 23-23 after 15 ends. In the last quarter final, it was an all Marown affair with Withers and Dunn (+0) proving too strong for team mates Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly (+2) as they won 23-8.

The semi-finals were all one-way traffic in the first half of the game in favour of both Marown pairs, with Kelly and Gelling up against Penhallurick and Clague with the Onchan men clawing their way back into the game only to lose out 12-24. Dunn and Withers reached the final with a 29-14 win over the Port St Mary pair.

The final was well contested, with the score tied at 9-9 after nine ends played there was little to choose between the teams. On end 10 Dunn and Withers scored a two which was doubled up to count four to lead 13-9. The following four ends were exchanged with Dunn and Withers scoring another four, while Kelly and Gelling scored three to put the score at 17-12. On end 15 only a three – to score six would do for Kelly and Gelling to win the game, there was a shot on which they couldn’t quite pull off resulting in Dunn and Withers scoring a one to win 19-12 as they won this competition for the first time, carrying on the tradition of different winners every year since the competition was introduced.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Brian Kelly, who thanked Juan Kelly for once again sponsoring the competition, the Ladies for the refreshments over all three nights, the players for entering, and all those who came to support. The sponsor Juan Kelly was then introduced to present the prizes, with Juan paying tribute to everyone at the club including the green keepers for their work on the green.