Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The Ballacashtal Cup was held on Sunday which attracted an entry of 61, made up of local and visiting bowlers. The Castletown green was in excellent condition with the players in the early rounds producing some exciting bowling with great atmosphere and plenty of banter.

At the quarter finals seven of the eight players were local men, and again some excellent bowling, which entertained the spectators. Losing out were Port St Mary’s Paul Skelly to Paul Dunn (Marown) 13-21, with Glenn Boland (Noble’s) losing to the same score against Neil Withers (Marown). Also losing out in a close game was James Teare (South Ramsey) to another Marown man Manx Champion Colin Kelly 19-21, whilst the furthest visitor was Paul Bailey (Meersbrook) who also lost 19-21 to Peel favourite Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly.

The semi-finals produced some phenomenal bowling and the games could have gone either way, such was the standard with Dunn booking his place in the final with a 21-18 win, whilst Barney had to work hard to edge over the line 21-20 against Colin Kelly.

Both players were making their first appearance in the final of this competition, with Kelly starting as favourite having won a number of the games top prizes over the years, whilst Dunn who won his first open competition last season is the man in form.

The final started with Kelly taking a 10-7 lead, only for Dunn to respond by winning the next seven ends to take the lead 16-10. Barney kept chipping away to reduce the deficit, however it wasn’t enough with Dunn picking up five more singles to take a 21-17 victory to win the famous trophy to top off what he been a great weekend for local bowlers and send an ominous warning to the visiting bowlers who will be hoping to win the June Festival this week.

Many thanks go to sponsors Friends Provident International for their continued support of the competition. The presentation was made by Adam Drewett on behalf of the sponsors. Thanks were given to the greenkeeper and all who helped run the competition.