Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

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.