Stefan Kelly was too hot to handle for the opposition as he won this year’s Junior Manx Championships at Ballaugh.

Kelly, the red hot favourite for the competition, was in imperious form all day and looked unbeatable from the off. That said he had to work for his title with a 21-15 victory over a battling Sam Stannard-Duke 21-15.

Stefan is one of the best prospects of recent years and I am sure it will not be too long before he adds a senior open, or even a Manx Championship to his collection. Sam is also showing fine form and with time on his side I am sure he will win a Junior Championships before graduating to the senior ranks.

All of the competitors who took part played exceptionally well on a tricky, well prepared Ballaugh green. I would like to thank Ballaugh for hosting the competition and its days like this that show our sport is in a good bill of health.

John Kennish became the first Manx Man ever to win back to back main festival titles, as he added the coveted June title to the one he won last September, and his two previous September wins.

What makes this achievement even more breathtaking is that he was handicapped from his previous victory and giving the field a three point start in most games he played.

It’s hard to put into words how amazing this feat is, especially with arguably the strongest line up in recent memory out to stop him.

If truth be known it was a workman like performance from the South Ramsey man for most of the week, finding crucial bowls when he needed them and doing enough to keep him in the competition ahead of Friday’s finals day.

Friday was a different story however, with him moving through the gears and finding his absolute best. His 21-20 quarter final victory over three time’s winner Ian Nicholson (Victoria) must be a contender for game of the tournament. Kennish led like a champion and Nicholson was determined not to let him have it his own way striking him off on no fewer than six occasions, before he managed to edge home.

He ramped it up another notch in Semis taking out one of the pre tournament favourites John Bailey (Conwy BC) 21-11 to move to within touching distance of his first June title.

In the final he played another Welshman Leighton Roberts, a stable mate of Bailey’s, and was simply mesmerising and in control from the start as he notched up another 21-11 victory to end his wait for the prestigious June crown.

Let’s not take anything away from Roberts though he was brilliant all week ending the challenge of all that stood in his way, before falling at the final hurdle. In the Semi-Finals he ended the challenge of Port St Mary’s Ewan Cooil, who himself had a tremendous week, 21-12 after knocking out Ryan Prosser (KVG) in the quarters.

In the ladies main event Tracy Wraight (Kirkham Cons) surpassed all expectation with a simply brilliant day in the sun, and rain, to lift the trophy. In the final she was on top of her game as she saw off the challenge of last years winner Alexi Lunn-Gadd 21-13.

Mooragh Park’s Janet Monk was picked up the trophy for furthest Manx woman in the competition with another great showing, losing out 21-16 to Lunn-Gadd in the semi-finals. Lets also spend a moment to congratulate the evergreen Lillian Slinger, Janet;s mum, on yet another finals day appearance as she made it to the quarter finals.

There was more local success the day before with South Ramsey’s Jenny Moore, Kennish’s niece, keeping it in the family as she was on fire to take the ladies tourism title with a 21-15 victory over visitor Veronica Lyons. Jenny picked up some great scalps along the way and was in imperious form throughout. She was joined in the last eight by teammate Lyn Bolton who narrowly lost out 21-17 to Jackie Owne (Whitfield BC).

Bookies favourite Callum Wraight from Shropshire took the men’s tourism title to set up another family affair, with his mum taking the main title the following day. In the final he beat Chris Kelly (Thongsbridge) 21-14 after getting the right side of a 21-20 after a ding dong battle with Owen Jackson (Kirkam Cons) the previous round. Onchan man Kevin Quirk was the only local to make it to the latter stages going out 21-11 to Jackson in the quarters.

The open double as always proved one of the most popular competitions of the week with entries selling out within minutes of opening. This year’s winners were Warwick & Worcester pairing Jon Palmer & Gareth Herbert who were victorious with a 11-7 win over Gaz Lalley & James Wilcox (Crossgates).

All of the other doubles competitions also proved as popular as ever with Ryan Prosser & Tom Prichard (KGV) winning 11-7 against Harry Hargreaves (Rishton) & Stuart Garrett (Douglas). The mixed doubles were won by Grahem Moore & Alexus Lunn-Gadd who saw off the challenge of Vinnie O’Donnell & Veronica Lyons 9-5.

Matthew Keggen (Onchan) put in a great performance in the consolation competition getting to the semi finals before losing out to Jon Marshall (Callow BC) 21-18. The competition was won by Nigel Hughes (Wirral) who beat Marshall 21-18.

Thanks as always got to Steve Moore and his team who did a great job in organising the best festival in the bowls calendar. Thanks must also go to the Department of Economic Development and Manx Telecom for their continued support of the competition. There really was an electrifying buzz of anticipation and excitement all week and with numbers fifty up on last year, and the reach of the Island lengthening it seems these tournaments are set to flourish in coming year.

When all is said and done there were plenty of other great performance, some of which I couldn’t mention, from both visitors and locals alike but all of the plaudits surely belong to John Kennish, who was quite simply brilliant. It is almost impossible for me to quantify quite how hard it must have been to win off a handicap and how strong the line was this year. If he wasn’t before he must now be regarded as the greatest Manx Bowler of all time. What ever era or what ever school of thought you belong to you must now take your hat off and applaud John Kennish – the King of Manx Crown.

If John Kennish didn’t have enough on his plate winning the Festival he also found time to arrange the Super 16, which was a sublime finale to a brilliant festival week.

In its inaugural running sixteen of the UK’s top bowlers lined up at South Ramsey bowling club to play for £500 in an invitation competition, which was an exhibition and master class of crown green bowling.

The final was contested between two former festival winners with Matthew Gilmore ending the run of Andy Farmer with a 21-14 win.

Gilmore was on fire all night and nobody really got close to knocking him out. In the Semi-Finals he eliminated another former festival champion Robbie Fitzpatrick 21-15 after getting out 21-12 against Shropshire’s Ben Harris in the quarters.

Farmer was in brilliant form himself and ended the challenge of tourism winner Callum Wraight 21-15 in the semis after stopping Richie Goddard 21-13 the round before.

Other fallers at the quarter finals stage were Wayne (the Beast) Ditchfield and one of the true characters of the game Barry Booth.

Prise must go to Kennish and South Ramsey for running the competition which is a fantastic addition to the festival calendar, and long may it continue. There are too many people to thank but I must thank Everest and the DED for their support of the competition and of course green keeper George Brew for an immaculate playing surface.

The Paddy Power sponsored Isle of Man senior men’s team competed in their second senior county championship match against Staffordshire on Sunday, and whilst they didn’t win showed marked improvements from their first match.

In both the home and away legs they picked up the Endsleigh Insurance man of the match for two breath taking performances. Colin Kelly won the award at home as he saw off three times Staffordshire Merit winner Mark Picknell 21-7 whilst Port St Mary’s Ewan Cooil won the award over the water with a brilliant 21-12 win over David Hayward.

These were just two of the many highlights in a day of top quality bowls with the Manx Men proving their worth and showing they belong at the top table of the sport. Things started so brightly in the home leg at Castletown and it looked as if there may have been an upset on the cards as the local team led 3-0 and by 31 chalks with the first three games off the green.

Man of the Match Colin Kelly was the first home after his relentless display and he was quickly followed by team mate and Gellings Manx Man of the Match award winner Dean Kipling who overcame David Semper 21-10. They were soon followed by local number one John Kennish after he had to work hard to see of the challenge of Ben Dixon 21-15.

The visitors experience then shone through and momentum swung their way as they moved into a commanding lead after eight of the twelve games played. The Island were not done yet though and finished almost as strongly as they started with Stuart Garrett beating Jamie Elliott 21-17 and Trevor Quayle adding to his win at Peel in the first match with an impressive 21-18 win over the talented Jason Groom.

It was almost going to be tough for the away side and to get any winners away on a strange green, against top class opposition but they battled admirable and will have learned a lot from their day in the sun against an awesome Staffordshire side.

They were made to wait until the ninth game to taste victory and Ewan Cooil lapped it up in style as he bagged his impressive win. He was closely followed by Paul Dunn who battled for every point to overcome Nigel Egan after a herculean encounter. Barney Kelly nearly added to the tally in the next match as he just fell the wrong side of a 21-19 score line.

Overall though it was a very credible performance by a Manx Side who are improving with every bowl played at this level and with one more game to go on the 5th July let’s hope they can improve again. Away manager Mel Gilbert, who is the only man ever to be awarded and MBE for his services to Crown Green Bowls, praised the local outfit and said he, is sure it is only a matter of time and experience before they draw blood at the top level as they already have and array of talent in their ranks.

Thanks go to Castletown Bowling club for hosting the home leg and to all sponsors, supporters and anyone who has helped along the way to make it possible for the Island to play at this level. I am sure when they take to the green in July they may have more surprises up their sleeves.

May Bank Holiday Monday a good entry of 35 pairs turned out at Port St Mary for the annual mixed pairs competition kindly sponsored once again by I.O.M farmers Ltd, after a good days bowling in fine but mainly overcast conditions the final came down to a tussle between two North Ramsey pairs in the form of Steve Parker and Lillian Slinger coming up against mother and son pairing of Janet and Robert Monk with the latter pair coming out on top of a good quality game 21-18.

Losing out in the two semi finals were the pairings of Trevor Quayle and Lyn Bolton (Port St Mary/South Ramsey) and last years winners Stuart and Paula Garrett (Douglas).

Falling at the quarter final stage were Alec and Philippa Taylor (Peel), Jordan Cain and Paula Firth (Onchan/Nobles), Glynn and Kim Hargraves (Onchan/North Ramsey) and Ray and Ann Maddrell (Port St Mary). At the conclusion of play Port St Mary Ladies President Ann Maddrell introduced Michael Atherton from the sponsors to present the prizes.

Report by Ewan Cooil

The Paddy Power sponsored Isle of Man senior men’s team broke new ground on Sunday as they took part in their first ever Senior County Championship Match. Their historic inclusion into the Endleigh Insurance sponsored Crosfield cup was the culmination of so much work by so many people, which started way back in 2012, drew a capacity crowd for the home leg at Peel bowing club.

Logistically and financially this is the biggest and most complex project in the history of Crown Green bowls, not just on the Isle of Man but in Britain as there are four flights and UK travel to contend with and whilst there are always learning points from a venture like this, the day could not have run any smoother. It ended up a day in the sun, not only for the Manx men, but also for their opponents Shropshire who did their part in making this the most momentous day in the history of the game.

If organisational lessons were learned there were also some handed out on the bowling green with Shropshire in devastating form in both home and away legs. They are one of the favourites to win the entire competition and certainly held no punches against the Manxies. Our lads though can be extremely proud of how they played and whilst they didn’t win the match they certainly raised a few eyebrows with some scintillating performances of their own, in fact after four games in the away leg they actually led by three points.

The home side played well and despite some extremely close matches only picked up two wins, with Trevor Quayle recording a great 21-15 win over the talented Andrew Moss and young Adrian Skinner winning Endsliegh Insurance Man of the Match with his terrific 21-16 win against Andrew Judson. This is crown green bowls at the highest level and like all sports at elite level games are won and lost by fine margins and but for the rub of the green it could have been a very different story win the locals recording two 20’s a 19 and two 18 defeats. Ten more points from 5 games would have seen the draw 6-6 on games.

In Shropshire, as mentioned earlier, the team started superbly winning two of the first four matched and narrowly losing out 19 in the others to take a slender lead. John Kennish and Phil Kerruish led the way with good wins and Glynn Hargraves can be pleased to have played really well at this level. For me though David Bradford was the star of the show in the early stages and despite training 19-10, to arguably the best player in the Shropshire home side, he showed us what county bowling is all about having the resolve to fight his way back to narrowly lose out 21-19. The adventure into the unknown was always going to be difficult and their strength in depth really showed in the mid order; however we saved the best to last with Phil Kelly stealing the show with a mouth watering 21-11 victory over Peter Farmer.

Overall Shropshire won the 24 game match 477 to 358 but the local lads should be very proud of what they achieved in their first outing on the big stage. I cannot emphasise enough how much work has gone in the background to make this long standing dream a reality, and not just the player but the organisers and anyone who had ever had an association with Crown Green Bowls should be very proud of what was achieved yesterday. Shropshire may have won the match yesterday but without question the real winner was Crown Green Bowls on the Isle of Man.

Home Leg – Peel Sunset Bowling Club
Isle of Man 182 v Shropshire 241 – Colin Kelly 18, Martin Lloyd 21; Kevin Quirk 20, Richie Goddard 21, Neil Withers 18, Glyn Herbert 21; Paul Skelly 8, Darren Welling 21; Dean Kipling 20, Wayne Phillips 21; Stuart Garrett 8, Clay Flattley 21; Adrian Skinner 21, Andrew Judson 16; Jerome Surridge 16, Michael Beer 21; Chas Grills 5, Callum Wraight 21; Trevor Quayle 21, Andrew Moss 15; Peter Collister 8, Kiah Roberts 21; Barney Kelly 19, Wayne Rogers 21.

Away Leg – Sinclair Bowling Club
Shropshire 236 v Isle of Man 176 – Scott Haries 21, Glynn Hargraves 19; Spencer Clarke 16, John Kennish 21; Colin Beaman 21, David Bradford 19; Stuart Rutter 20, Phil Kerruish 21; Phil Emery 21, Matthew Keggen 17, Alex Jones 21, Jordan Cain 8,; Rich Lawson 21, Dido Kelly 7; Glyn Picknell 21, John Gelling 15; Alin Palin 21, Peter Slinger 6; Jamie King 21, Ewan Cooil 9; Peter Grimston 21, Paul Kelly 13; Peter Farmer 11, Phil Kelly 21.

A total of 30 pairs came together at South Ramsey’s green on Sunday to battle for the Kenny Parker Any Combination Doubles Rosebowl.

The competition was run by North Ramsey but had been switched from the Mooragh Park to allow the green there more time to recover from the extensive work that has been undertaken over the winter.
While a persistent mist lingered all day it did at least remain dry allowing for some competitive bowling on a green that was running well. In the end the final was an all South Ramsey family affair with John and Fiona Kennish triumphing 21 – 15 over Andy Kennish and Alan Moore in a closely fought final.

Losing out in the semis were the North Ramsey pairng ofSteve Parker and Steve Walmsley along with LynBolton from South Ramsey and Trevor Quayle from Port St Mary. Fallers at the quarter final stage were T & P Collins, A & P Taylor, F Watson and J Surridge and S Kelly and M Kneen.

At the end of a good day’s bowling Kenny’s son Steve presented the trophy to the winners, thanking all those who had helped to organise the day and giving particular thanks to South Ramsey for making their green available for the running of the competition and for providing the catering.

John Kennish won the September festival with a 21-16 victory over fellow club and team-mate Dido Kelly.

In the ladies Chris Price was the furthest of the Manx Ladies