Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Marown held the opening tournament of the highly anticipated 2025 season, with the Ian Kissack floodlight competition sponsored by Ardern & Druggan Limited attracting a healthy entry . The competition was played over four days, with two qualifiers from the four qualifying sessions.

The competition commenced on Sunday afternoon with home greeners dominating as Colin Kelly and Paul Kelly eased through their qualifying games to qualify for finals night.

Sunday evening saw current holder Peter Jones (Marown) defeating teammate Neil Withers 21-17 to qualify, whilst Reg Temporaza (Onchan) bucked the trend as he came back from a 12-17 deficit against Marown captain Paul Dunn to win in his second game, the Onchan man went on to beat another home greener Karl Parker 21-7 to qualify.

Monday evening saw South Ramsey’s David Bradford safely navigating his way through his qualifying games, as he beat Rob Monk (North Ramsey) 21-7 to qualify, whilst Glenn Boland held off Marown clubmate Phil Kelly 21-15 to qualify.

The last qualifying session took place on Tuesday evening, with Jamie Joughin earning his spot in the last eight with a 21-19 win over Dave McCabe (Douglas), whilst Matthew Quirk (Onchan) also had a tough battle as he held off Dave Naughton (Noble’s) 21-18 to qualify.

The competition was redrawn at the quarter final stage on Wednesday evening with Joughin, always up against it when drawn against Bradford, however he performed well before ducking out 16-21. Temporaza recorded a straightforward 21-13 against Paul Kelly.

In the other half of the draw Quirk performed brilliantly to end Jones’ hopes of retaining the Shield, with a 21-3 victory, whilst Glenn Boland was the highest scoring loser as he just lost out 17-21 to Colin Kelly.

Both semi-finals were never in doubt as Bradford beat Temporaza 21-11, whilst Kelly had a good run in the corners on his way to securing a 21-10 win over Quirk.

The final was played under floodlights on a green that is in superb condition, got underway with Bradford picking up a two on the first end, was then counting for two on the following end, only for Kelly to kill the end. A single was scored on the next end by Kelly, with the Marown man heading straight for the corners. Bradford had other ideas, as he got in, then went on to build up a 15-4 lead. A fightback looked to be on the cards, as Kelly got to within five chalks at 11-16, however the comeback was stopped there with Bradford finishing the game strongly to secure a 21-12 victory to pick up the Ian Kissack Shield for a fourth time.

The presentation was made by Marown President Peter Kelly, who thanked the sponsor Ardern & Druggan for their continued support, with thanks also given to the Marown ladies for the excellent refreshments provided over the duration of the competition. Ian Kissack’s sister Gill Kissack-Grundey was then introduced to present the prizes.