14 year old Shannon McMullan realised an ambition watched on by her proud parents and younger sisters by winning the Ellan Vannin Fuels Junior Manx Championship for the first time.

A product of the Manx Youth Games which was in only its second year in 2014, Shannon first took up the game at the tender age of nine. Today was also a proud day for her team mates, some of who were her MYG coaches. Shannon is now a regular fixture in the Ladies night league team at Mooragh Park, who are finally starting to reap the rewards of the hours of effort they have put in to coaching their junior players. Shannon has put a great amount of time and effort into her bowls and her improvement over the past year is clear for everyone to see.

Shannon certainly did it the hard way seeing off the up and coming Patrick Grant (Ballaugh) in her first round game recovering from a 17-19 deficit to pick up four singles to take a 21-19 win.

In the quarter finals Shannon was up against 2017 winner Marown B team captain Harry Barton with this year’s competition being the last time Barton was eligible to enter. Shannon took a 14-3 lead before Barton started to chip away at the lead, however the deficit proved too big with Shannon winning 21-14.

In the semi-finals home greener Austin Hart was up against Victoria Johnson (Mooragh Park) with Hart performing well to book his spot in the final with a 21-8 win. In the second semi-final Shannon was up against the current champion Glenn Boland (Noble’s) with Shannon starting well taking the lead 11-4. Boland hit back to edge ahead 12-11, with Shannon once again going on a good run to go 18-15 ahead then 20-17 only for Boland to score two to lie just one point behind with the score at 20-19 to Shannon. Boland played along the edge of the green putting up a lead six inches away from the jack, with Shannon’s first bowl just 18 inches away Boland couldn’t quite get a second counting bowl in. With her last bowl Shannon played a great bowl under pressure to trail the jack to take a fantastic 21-19 victory to reach the final.

In the final Shannon started strongly taking a 7-2 lead over 16 year old Austin, then extended the lead further still to 16-8. Shannon kept her composure well and her level of concentration was beyond her years, which helped to see the game out with a 21-12 win to take the title in what was a stunning performance.

The presentation was made by Association press officer Glynn Hargraves who thanked all the juniors for taking part, Association Secretary Alan Moore for running the competition, South Ramsey for providing the refreshments and putting on a BBQ with meat provided by Ballakelly Farm. It was also commented on that it was great to see the winner was someone who prior to 2014 had no family link to crown green bowls, which really demonstrated the great work done by those involved when crown green bowls became part of the Manx Youth Games for the first time in 2013.

Both Shannon and Austin will go on to represent the IOM at Netherfield BC, Kendal, Cumbria on Saturday 17th August.

Marown held the opening tournament of the season for the third successive year, with the floodlight competition sponsored by Ardern & Druggan Limited attracting a strong entry of 80. The competition was played over four qualifying nights, with four qualifiers from each evening.

The competition commenced on Sunday evening with home greener Colin Kelly doing enough to qualify for Thursday’s finals night ending the challenge of Rob Monk (Onchan), Nathan Hamilton (Castletown) performed well to defeat Matthew Keggen (Marown), with Jimmy Samson (Douglas) and David Proctor (Peel) the other qualifiers.

Monday evening’s action had the first lady qualifier for finals night with Clare Cooper (Noble’s) winning three games to go through. Marown captain Paul Dunn took his place, Phil Kerruish (Onchan) defeated home greener Dean Kipling, with Reg Temporaza (Noble’s) taking the last spot of the night.

Tuesday evening saw Steve Parker (Onchan) win three games to qualify, seeing off last year’s winner David Bradford (South Ramsey) along the way, with new Onchan team mate Frank Watson also making the cut. Home greeners John Gelling and Luke Hyland performed well to take the last two spots to qualify for finals night.

The final qualifying session on Wednesday was a fine evening heavily dominated by South Ramsey players, with Alan Moore seeing off Paul Kelly, Jenny Moore disposing of Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, whilst James Teare defeated Neil Withers along the way to qualify. Home greener Celia Joughin took the last qualifying spot and was the third lady to reach finals night, just edging out another South Ramsey player Paul Routledge.

Thursday evening was finals night with the draw taking place live on the night, with the last 16 being played down to the winner. There was a good turnout to watch the conclusion of the competition.

Losing out at the last 16 stage were the Onchan trio of Phil Kerruish, Steve Parker and Frank Watson. Paul Dunn (Marown), Jimmy Sansom (Douglas), Reg Temporaza, David Proctor (Peel) and Nathan Hamilton (Castletown) also lost out.

In the quarter finals Colin Kelly gave no mercy to team mate John Gelling winning 21-5, James Teare won 21-13 against Celia Joughin. In the other half of the draw Alan Moore won 21-12 against Clare Cooper, whilst Jenny Moore would have a been a huge favourite to go through, however Luke Hyland had other ideas taking a good 21-16 win.

In the first semi final Colin Kelly won comfortably 21-11 against James Teare to reach the final, whilst club mate Luke Hyland carried on his good form seeing off Alan Moore with a 21-14 win.

The final was eagerly anticipated with neither player being able to get away from the other throughout the entire game, with Kelly playing some good weighted shots to stay in the game. Hyland did manage to go ahead 17-15 before Kelly’s experience pulled him through to take a hard earned 21-17 win to secure the title and £125 first prize.

The presentation was made by Neil Withers and Philip Kelly, with various spot prizes being awarded. Best junior went to Harry Barton, furthest lady went to Jenny Moore and Celia Joughin was the furthest Over 60’s player. Prizes were paid out to the last 16.

Thanks were also given to the sponsor Ardern & Druggan for supporting the competition, along with the Marown ladies for the excellent refreshments throughout the week.

Congratulations must go to Marown on a well run competition, which has is now a regular fixture in the bowling calendar to start the season.

Marown Bowling Club held the Juan Kelly Cup last week with the competition in its second year being played under the excellent floodlights it was like playing in daylight.

The format was any competition 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 end shootout would take place to decide the winner.

The competition in this format improved on last years entry of 40 pairs, with 42 pairs entering. 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.

On Sunday evening 16 pairs played their qualifying night, with 26 pairs competing on the Monday evening this proved to be the most popular night to play.

The finals night was held on Wednesday evening, with a live re-draw taking place to determine who the pairings would play on the night.

The eventual winners were the father and son pairing of Bernie Durcan and Steve Durcan (+7), who mastered the green, defeating the home duo of Phil Kelly and Paul Kelly (+2) in the final to a 30-8 score line with the Marown men conceding the game with three ends still to play with the lead having become unassailable. The Durcan’s were helped massively by counting a four on end 10, which was a power end to score a huge eight points at a vital moment in the game, however this shouldn’t take away from their brilliant performance in the final to keep the Marown men down to single figures scoring just six points on their own green.

The Durcan’s were superb throughout the whole competition, taking out some good pairings along the way, and they don’t come any tougher than the South Ramsey pairing of John Kennish and David Bradford ending their challenge with a 21-17 win on Monday evening in the final qualifying game with Kennish and Bradford needing a big score on the power end to progress but just missing out.

Losing out in the semi-finals were Marown C Team captain Stephen Rundle and Celia Joughin (+10) who were beaten 16-21 to the runners up, Losing out to the Durcan’s in the semi-finals were the father and daughter pairing of Arnie Withers and Helen Withers (+9) who just needed to make another counting bowl on the final end to secure a spot in the final, however they just missed out agonisingly 23-24.

Losing quarter finalists were two South Ramsey pairings, Jenny Moore and James Teare (+6), along with Alan Moore and Glynn Hargraves (+3), Peel duo Tommy McMeiken and David Proctor (+6), along with the Noble’s pairing of Alison Keggen and Debbie Leece (+10).

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Neil Withers, 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.