Saturday saw a quality field of 29 pairs of all ages entered for the MannMade Men’s Doubles at Noble’s Number Two green, whilst the Ladies competed on Number One green, with the weather holding out for the duration of the competition.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Evan Leece & Glenn Boland (Noble’s), with Evan playing in one of his first competitions winning two games and playing some great bowls before losing out to the Marown pairing of Matthew Keggen & Paul Kelly. The Castletown duo of Sam Clague & Nathan Hamilton lost out to Finch Hill’s Dave McCabe & Zain Abideen, with Zain fairly new to the game and is getting himself around the open competitions to gain experience. Marown pair Paul Dunn & Neil Withers lost out to Onchan duo Jordan Cain & Matthew Quirk, whilst Alan Moore & Ryan Hargraves (South Ramsey) ended the challenge of Colin Kelly & Juan Killip (Marown).

Losing out in the semi-finals were Dave McCabe & Zain Abideen 13-21 to Jordan Cain & Matthew Quirk, whilst Alan Moore & Ryan Hargraves lost out to Matthew Keggen & Paul Kelly 15-21, despite a strong start on the first end with 12-year-old Ryan trailing the jack to count for three. Young Ryan is showing that his game is definitely moving in the right direction and will be one to watch in the future.

With both finalists off a handicap of +3 it was nip and tuck in the early stages. Both finalists went with the tactic of playing a long length, however neither pair were able to get away from the other with the scores finally balanced at 11-11 after 10 ends. From there Cain and Quirk took control over the next three ends scoring a single, a four, which was then compounded by a three to jump into a 19-11 lead. Both teams played some good bowls during what was an entertaining final, however Cain & Quirk then took a single to lead 20-11, before conceding one on the next end. On the last end the Onchan pair took a single to take a 21-12 victory to claim a deserved victory.

The presentation was made by Alison Keggen, Competition Secretary for Noble’s, who thanked everyone for entering and assisting throughout the day. Tina Hampson from sponsors MannMade Group was then introduced to present the prizes.

Special thanks must go to sponsors MannMade Group, to everyone who helped make the competition a success.

On Sunday Ballaugh Bowling Club hosted the Spar Mixed Pairs. There were 37 pairs entered and the weather was perfect for some really good play.

Bowing out in the quarter finals were Paula Firth & Sid Bolton (Noble’s/South Ramsey), Joyce Ogden & Wayne Roberts (Marown/Port St Mary), Sylvia Kennaugh & Terry Bates (Noble’s) and Madison McMullan & Lee Christian (North Ramsey). 

Losing semi-finalists were all South Ramsey pairings with Kim Hargraves & Stefan Kelly losing out 11-21 to Jenny Moore & James Teare, whilst Elaine Moore & Glynn Hargraves just lost out 20-21 to Gill Dixon & Alan Moore.

The final was between Gill Dixon & Alan Moore and last year’s winners,  Jenny Moore & James Teare. Gill & Alan had a four on the sixth end which proved to be the difference and came out winners 21-16. 

The presentations were made by Jonathon Kermode of Mannin Retail (Spar) who was introduced by Competition Secretary, Richard Faragher who thanked the members for organising the event, thanks especially to the ladies in the kitchen. Gill Dixon in her speech thanked the Spar, the Sponsors, Ballaugh members for organising the competition especially Richard Faragher for running the competition together with the measurers and markers.

This week seen the start of the Rayner Shield competition with 9 preliminary round matches taking place to decided who progressed to the next round.

On Monday evening South Ramsey B started their campaign with a 7-1 home win over Douglas B, who gave a good account of themselves with Rob Matthews losing out 17-21 to Edward Carlyle, whilst Andy Foster, Bob Callow and Pat O’Donohue each scored 18 chalks before losing out. South Ramsey’s reward is a tough home fixture against league champions Marown A in the following round.

Marown A hosted Ballaugh A at Crosby, the visitors would have been competing in Division One this season, having been promoted as runners up in division two last season. The Ballaugh men performed admirably with Steve Grant beating Dean Kipling 21-11, whilst John Maddrell romped home with a 21-8 victory over Matthew Keggen. Paul Kelly didn’t have it all his own way either, with a 21-19 win over John Keenan, whilst Richard Hainge rose to the challenge against Colin Kelly before losing out 17-21, a score matched by Paul Cubbon against Neil Withers. Ballaugh can take confidence from this match, will look to take it into the league next season with their new look team.

In the closest match of the week Finch Hill B hosted Ballaugh B in a high scoring match it was the Finch men who after drawing 4-4 on games progressed to the next round taking the win on chalks (152-143).

Onchan A made light work of Peel B with an 8-0 home victory, their new signing Reginald Temporaza won 21-6 against Michael Kavanagh. Coming closest for Peel were Gordon Corrin who lost 19-21 to Kevin Quirk, whilst Harry Kelly lost out 18-21 to Frank Watson.

Completing Monday’s matches Marown B performed admirably to take a deserved 5-3 win on the night, whilst also winning by 6 chalks.

On Tuesday evening South Ramsey A won 6-2 at home to Onchan B, despite missing three of their regular league players on the night. Instead of taking the easy decision of turning to the tried and trusted the A Team gave opportunities to players with one eye on the future, bringing in Steven Waters, Austin Hart and Ryan Hargraves. After the first half of the match it was finely balanced with David Bradford winning 21-7 against Brian Woodall, this was immediately cancelled out by Mike Kelly who defeated Ryan Hargraves to the same score. Allan Kennaugh won 21-18 against Austin Hart, whilst Steven Waters had to dig deep to see off Colin Spence 21-19. In the second half of the match Alan Moore, Glynn Hargraves & James Teare all won to single figures, whilst Stefan Kelly recovered from a dreadful start (0-9) to win 21-16 against Mike Alexander.

Port St Mary A got their revenge on Marown C who defeated them in last year’s Rayner Plate final, with the home winners for the Crosby men Darren Kerruish, Kevin Kelly and Jamie Joughin seeing off Rob Cooil, Paul Russell and Will Cain respectively. The visitors had four winners to single figures with Wayne Roberts, Trevor Quayle, Paul Skelly and Dan McCabe showing no mercy to their opponents.

Castletown A made no mistake with a 7-1 home win over Port Erin A, with the town men having a good mixture of youth and experience in their top team. The sole winner for the Breagle Glen men was Bernie Durcan.

The final match of the week was between South Ramsey C and Peel Sunset A, with the Peel men enjoying their visit to play on a green in fantastic condition with an 8-0 win, with nobody enjoying it more than visiting captain Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly who had a runaway 21-3 victory, backed up by three of his teammates Tom Kelly, Alec Taylor and Tommy McMeiken also winning to single figures.

The first round of the Rayner Shield commences next week, along with the Mixed Team competition group stages.

Sunday saw a quality field of 29 pairs of all ages entered for the R.H. Green Trophy at Finch Hill and they were blessed with a sunny albeit windy day and a very good green.

A number of Island players were entered including last year’s winning pairing of Paul Dunn and Neil Withers who dominated their first round opponents Karl Parker and Dan Smith. John Kennish who has previously won the competition on more than one occasion has been coaching Zain Abideen from Finch Hill at both bowls and snooker recently and paired with him for this competition they would eventually have a run all the way to the quarter finals.  

Paul Skelly and Dan McCabe had a good 21-10 win over Kevin Firth and Dave Pease as did Harry Barton and Steve Gregg as they cruised to a 21-8 win over Mark Kneen and Ian Moore. Glynn Hargraves and Jordan Cain looked to be heading for an easy win after winning eight of the first nine ends but it took another seven ends before they got over the line with a 21-15 win over Tony Hart and Lee Dawson. The home grudge match of John Harris and Frank Christian against Paddy Murphy and Dave McCabe proved to be a “no match” as Murphy and McCabe whitewashed their opponents and would eventually make it all the way to the quarter finals. Andy Kennish and Frank Watson were made to work hard as they overcame Jimmy Sansom and Paul Cowley but better things were to come for the winning pair. Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly completed the first round with a 21-14 win against Cliff Clague and Alan Phair.

Paul Dunn and Neil Withers got the second round underway and with some steady scoring overcame Jordan Cain and Glynn Hargraves 21-16. Paul Skelly and Dan McCabe ran out 21-17 winners over Peter Greenlees and Brian Lindsay. One of the closest matches of the day saw Eddie Carlyle and James Teare just edge out Dave Naughton and Steve Hampson 21-20. After a slow start John Kennish and Zain Abideen came back to win against Nathan Hamilton and Tom Kelly while Austin Hart and Alan Moore had a much easier match against George Brew and Brian Corner. Home team of Paddy Murphy and Dave McCabe continued their good form with a 21-14 win over Steve Rundle and Walter McCarthy. Andy Kennish and Frank Watson eased past Harry Barton and Steve Gregg 21-13 while home favourites Peter Hughes and Toni Epifani had no answer to the relentless scoring of Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly going down 21-11.

Amazingly, there were no really close matches in the quarter finals as Paul Dunn and Neil Withers beat Austin Hart and Alan Moore 21-14 and Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly got the better of John Kennish and Zain Abideen with a 21-11 win to complete the top half of the draw. The Finch Hill pairing of Paddy Murphy and Dave McCabe could not match the steady scoring of Paul Skelly and Dan McCabe as the latter won 21-14. The last quarter final saw Andy Kennish and Frank Watson come from 6-9 down to win 21-9 in just 6 ends, including a four pointer.

The semi-finals started with Paul Dunn and Neil Withers taking on Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly and this proved to be one of the closest matches of the day. Dunn and Withers went into a 12-6 lead but Waters and Kelly came back to win the next five ends and with the help of two four pointers  were leading 19-12 but the opposition fought back to level at 20-20 only to see Waters and Kelly edge the match with a single point on the final end. Andy Kennish and Frank Watson had a slightly easier match, thanks to a couple of four pointers, as they ran out winners 21-15 against Paul Skelly and Dan McCabe.

The final was the second longest match of the day running to 20 ends and kept everyone enthralled to the very end. Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly just edged the first 10 ends to lead 13-11 and after 14 ends were leading 19-13 but Andy Kennish and Frank Watson fought back and with the help of a four pointer levelled the match at 20-20 after 19 ends. The last few ends produced some of the best bowls of the day particularly over the longer lengths being played and the match could have gone either way but in that final end it was Steven Waters and Stefan Kelly who got the final single point they needed to take the win 21-20.

The prize presentation was made by Ken Kinrade, Competition Secretary for Finch Hill with the losing semi-finalists receiving £20 Newsbeat vouchers, the Runners Up receiving £50 Newsbeat vouchers and the winners £100 Newsbeat vouchers and the R.H. Green Cup.

Special thanks go to our generous sponsors Newsbeat, to our wonderful ladies for keeping everyone fed and watered throughout the afternoon and to all those stewards, measurers and markers who helped make this a very successful competition.

Peel Sunset Bowling club hosted the second men’s singles open competition of the 2020 season, attracting a good entry of 67 men for the ever popular Peel Town Cup. The condition of the green appears to heading in the right direction, with the surface being a lot smoother than last year.

With handicaps ranging from +3 to +9 it certainly made for an interesting day with some shock results. Continuing the trend of the previous week, a number of favourites lost out in the early rounds.

Losing out at the quarter-final stage were Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey), who was comfortably beaten 13-21 by home greener Dougie Allan, Mick Kavanagh (Peel) had his run ended by Neil Withers (Marown) 16-21, whilst Karl Parker (Marown) reached 17 before losing out to Tom Kelly (Peel). South Ramsey’s Stefan Kelly also battled well before losing out 17-21 to club mate Lee Dawson, who knows the Peel green well having played for Peel back in the 90’s.

In the semi-finals Withers ended the run of Dawson with a comfortable 21-15 win to take his place in the final whilst Tom Kelly got over the line 21-17 against club mate Dougie Allan.

The final was both players sixth game of the day, with Withers (+3) making his second final appearance in a week, however it was home greener Kelly (+4) who started well, taking five of the first seven ends to take a 10-5 lead, Withers responded to turn the game around at 14-12 over the next nine ends. Kelly dug deep to take control taking three doubles and three singles over the next nine ends, whilst keeping Withers down to three singles, Kelly ran out with a deserved 21-17 victory to claim his first Peel Town Cup and second open win in the space of a year.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition secretary Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked the sponsors IOM Seafoods for their support, the greenkeeper for the improvement in the green, everyone who had entered and the club members for assisting throughout the day. With over £500 paid out in prize money the winner was presented with the trophy and £180 first prize.

Marown favourite Colin Kelly put the icing on the cake of a great season on Saturday winning the Champion of Champions at the Waterloo Hotel in Blackpool to write his name into Manx and UK bowls history.

This season Kelly has won five singles titles, the Manx Championship, Association Cup, Manx Masters, Peel Town Cup and the opening competition of the season the Marown Floodlit, not forgetting winning the individual merit in division one.

Kelly was representing the Isle of Man and qualified for the Champion of Champions courtesy of his Manx Championship win in May when he defeated Onchan man Jordan Cain in the final 21-11. He was in the mix with 15 other County Merit winners, whilst the rest of the field was made up by those who had won some of the games biggest competitions that are played throughout the season or through winning the Junior or Senior BCGBA merit.

At the start of play in a field of 32 players Kelly was priced at 40-1 by the bookies and was by no means the favourite with some of the games biggest names taking part in Callum Wraight, Graeme Wilson, Ryan Prosser and John Bailey to name a few.

In the first round Colin was drawn against Lancashire merit winner Damian Morrison and managed to build up a comfortable lead early on playing a fairly long straight peg around the crown. Kelly led 13-3 and managed to maintain his lead after Morrison started to work his way back into the game before Kelly finished the game off to win 21-13.

In the second round Kelly faced the Greater Manchester Merit winner Jack Hargreaves, who had disposed of Craig Gant, a player well known on the Island. Kelly went for a longer length mark in this game, with Hargreaves preferring to play the edges and short round pegs and playing them really well. Kelly led well on the longer marks in difficult conditions. Kelly battled well to take a hard earned 21-17 victory.

In the quarter finals Kelly was up against South Yorkshire merit winner James Higgins with Kelly trailing 6-13, Higgins was leading well over 35 yards playing sweeping round pegs across the crown. Once again this forced Kelly to go for a longer length and in doing so not giving his opponent much room with Higgins generally short or pushing too far through as the heavy rain started in the latter stages. Higgins had previously put out the 2018 winner John Bailey with a convincing win, however Kelly claimed a 21-19 win to progress.

With Kelly having reached the semi-finals he had now matched the best performance by a Manxman achieved by John Kennish in 2015. This time he was up against the Shropshire Merit winner Spencer Clarke, who was in truth the best player on the green up until this point having taken three good scalps to reach the semi-finals including a 21-6 win over 2019 BCGBA Senior merit winner Ryan Prosser. With conditions worsening the green started to puddle and ‘cobbing’ was required to be able to reach, which is an art in itself in being able to control your bowls. Kelly took full advantage of the conditions to take a 21-11 win with the result more comfortable than expected.

Having reached the final Kelly was not letting a once in a lifetime opportunity pass him by and was simply brilliant. Kelly was up against Scott Simpson (Wrockwardine Wood winner) who had earlier in the day disposed of one of the games greatest ever players in Graeme Wilson, therefore Kelly knew he what he was up against and recognised that Simpson had no trouble reaching the longer marks, the game plan changed to shorter marks over the crown which he executed brilliantly to take a 8-3 lead, building on this further still to lead 16-7. Kelly then conceded his only double of the game before responding with two quick fire doubles to lead 20-9 with his ability to make two making a big difference having scored seven doubles throughout the game. Simpson then scored a single, only to throw the jack off when heading into the corner. Kelly set the mark and made his first bowl count forcing Simpson to reach with his second bowl, however he missed resulting in Kelly taking a superb 21-10 victory to claim a first ever win for a Manxman in the games biggest competition.

This is a popular win amongst the bowling community with Colin putting the time in for a number of years now to give something back to the game having become involved in the Manx Youth Games as a coach in 2013, whilst also coaching Juniors on a weekly basis at his club. In addition to this Colin also helps with the maintenance of the Marown bowling green and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy, who has now fulfilled a lifelong dream of winning a top UK competition. All that is left to say is what a bowler, what a season, what a man!

The Isle of Man Ladies Crown Green Bowling Association ran a Tombola over the summer season, raising funds to help assist with travel and accommodation for IOM Ladies players attending qualifying competitions in England.  

The Association agreed to donate one third of the amount raised towards Huntington’s Disease (IOM), a support group and charity that was started in 2017 by Helen Martin, a crown green bowler who has been bowling for 38 years on the Island. This charity is very close to her heart, as her husband has Huntington’s, he also used to play crown green bowls. 

All the clubs on the Island were given Tombola tickets to sell plus more were sold during the IOM September Bowls Festival. The amount raised was a massive £2,037.95, with £700 being donated to HDAIOM. 

The Ladies Association would like to thank all those who sold tickets, along with the companies, individuals and clubs who donated raffle prizes and to everyone who bought tickets to support them. Helen Martin, Chairman of Huntington’s Disease (IOM) stated “Thank you to the Ladies Association for choosing our Charity, this amount will help us to meet our objectives of raising awareness, continue to provide a support group for patients, carers and professionals resident on the Island, along with providing financial assistance to patients and carers to enable them to attend seminars, workshops and other educational events organised by the HDA UK and finally to promote research into finding a cure”.

Marown Bowling Club held the Juan Kelly Cup with the competition now in its third year it still proved popular with 44 teams taking part. Once again there were some interesting pairings making use of the handicap system played over two qualifying nights, with four pairs qualifying from each night for the quarter finals.

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.

On Monday evening 20 pairs played their qualifying night, whilst Tuesday evening had 24 pairs taking part. The finals night was held on Wednesday evening, with a re-draw taking place to determine who the pairings would play on the night.

The eventual winners were the South Ramsey pairing of John Kennish and David Bradford who were playing off a scratch handicap seeing off the current holders Bernie Durcan and Steve Durcan (Port Erin), who were playing off a handicap of +5. The final started with the Durcan’s taking four of the first five ends to take an 11-1 lead, before the top pairing hit back with some good lead bowls from Kennish, backed up by Bradford to take a three, then a double -thanks to vital hit from Bradford, which was swiftly followed up by another three. The Durcan’s took a single before Kennish and Bradford scored a two on the power end after a great strike from Bradford, which doubled up to four, to then score another four to turn the game on its head 17-12. The Port Erin pairing got back in with a three to bring the deficit down to just two chalks at 15-17, however the South Ramsey duo managed to take the last three ends to secure a 22-15 victory to complete a great comeback.

Losing out in the semi-finals were Marown captain Paul Dunn and his Dad Phil Dunn (+5) with the latter playing in his first competition and performing brilliantly, they tied (19-19) with the Durcan’s resulting in a one bowl shootout between Paul and Steve with the latter holding his nerve to beat an 18 inch bowl to claim a spot in the final. Also losing out in the semi-final were Frank Watson (Onchan) and Andy Kennish (Peel), who were well beaten 9-20 by the eventual winners.

Losing quarter finalists were Debbie Leece and Clare Cooper (Noble’s) who were the furthest ladies, Peel pair Gordon Corrin and Dougie Allan, Onchan duo Steve Parker and Kevin Quirk along with Jordan Drewett (Castletown) and Tom Kelly (Peel).

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Phil Kelly, who thanked Juan Kelly for once again sponsoring the competition, the Ladies for the refreshments, the players for entering, and all those who stayed to support.

The final of the Ellan Vannin Fuels mixed team competition took place at Castletown on Wednesday evening with the Crosby outfit starting the match as favourites, however the draw would be crucial to both teams. The Castletown green was in superb condition and a good crowd came along to support on the night.

From the first five games on the green Neil Withers was first off for Marown with a big 21-6 win over Dave McCabe, despite losing two doubles early on McCabe could only take two more singles. Second game off on the night was Dan McCabe who recorded a 21-5 win over Mary Alderson to cancel the damage from the first game off. Next off were Paul Dunn & Paul Skelly with Dunn performing well to win 21-16. Fourth game off was Colin Kelly who claimed a 21-5 victory over Trish Bull. The last game off in the first half of the match was Chris Price who ensured Port St Mary were only trailing by four chalks (69-73) to keep themselves in the match.

During the second half the momentum swung in favour of Port St Mary, with Wayne Roberts winning 21-11 against Rosie Winckle, this result was swiftly followed by Trevor Quayle putting in a good performance against Paul Kelly to win 21-10 to put the chalks at 111-94 in favour of Port St Mary. By this point the match had got away from Marown with Jayne Kneen 20-8 up on Lil Smith and Margaret Tasker trailing 10-17 on Matthew Keggen there was no way back for the Crosby team. Smith fought back well against Kneen before losing out 16-21, whilst Tasker turned the game around brilliantly to take a single and five consecutive doubles on a short length to run out with a 21-17 victory to cap a fine team performance in sealing their fourth Mixed title by 26 chalks (153-127) winning 6-3 on games and gaining revenge for their 2017 defeat to the same opponents.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves who thanked Castletown for the use of the green, providing measurers and refreshments, along with Juan Kermode. Winning captain Margaret Tasker thanked her team and everyone who had turned up to support.

The 3R’s Limited Douglas Town Cup staged by Douglas Bowling Club at the ‘Villa’ on Saturday 21st September saw some great bowls in both the Ladies and Men’s competitions.

On a green that was running really well we saw a few of the bowlers taking a few ends to adjust to the green and then they soon settled down to produce some excellent bowls and a lot of close games.

In the quarter finals of the Ladies Competition we saw Margie Tasker (Port St Mary) beat Amanda Lawler (Castletown) 21-18, Sylvia Kennaugh (Noble’s) had a 21-15 win over Caroline Whitehead (Port Erin), Clare Cooper (Noble’s) beat Fiona Kennish (South Ramsey) 21-17 and Paula Garrett (Douglas) took a 21-11 win over Kim Hargraves (South Ramsey).

The semi-finals saw both the ‘Nobles’ players on great form with Sylvia Kennuagh beating Margie Tasker 21-16 and Clare Cooper beating Paula Garrett, also 21-16.

In the final we saw Clare Cooper who had played well all day despite suffering with back pain again play well and prove to be too strong for Sylvia and it was Clare that ran out the 21-13 winner.

In the Men’s Competition at the quarter final stage we saw Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) beat team mate Stefan Kelly 21-18, Stuey Garrett (Douglas) lost 20-21 to Steve Waters (South Ramsey), home greener Merv Sayle beat team mate Andy Cannell 21-13 and Paul Dunn (Marown) also beat team mate Neil Withers 21-13.

The first semi-final saw Glynn beat Steve Waters 21-18 while Paul Dunn beat Merv Sayle 21-15.

The final was a great battle between two top bowlers with both Glynn and Paul playing some exceptionally good bowls which provided great entertainment for the watching spectators. It was evident from the start that this was going to be a battle that would go down to the very last bowl and this was proved to be true with Glynn just snatching the honours at the end to win an epic battle 21-20.

The trophies were presented by Rob Mathews of 3R’s Limited who said how impressed he had been with the afternoons bowling. In their speeches both the winners thanked the sponsors and Douglas Bowling Club for putting on the competition and they also praised the condition of the green.