Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Marown held the opening tournament of the highly anticipated 2024 season, with the Ian Kissack floodlight competition sponsored by Ardern & Druggan Limited attracting a healthy entry of 68. The competition was played over four days, with handicaps ranging from two to eight with two qualifiers from the four qualifying sessions.

The competition commenced on Sunday afternoon with Peel man George Gadsby the first to qualify for finals night, whilst home greener Colin Kelly eased his way through the afternoon session.

Sunday evening resulted in two home green players qualifying with Paul Kelly seeing off teammate Neil Withers along the way, while Phil Kelly progressed as he beat club mate Matthew Keggen 21-18 to progress.

Monday evening saw South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves safely navigating his way through his four qualifying games. In the other half of the session another South Ramsey player booked their spot in the quarter finals with two victories over home greeners Juan Killip 21-7 and Clare Cooper 21-16.

The last qualifying session took place on Tuesday evening, as a further two home greeners booked their spot as Walter McCarthy beat three time champion David Bradford (South Ramsey) 21-12 to qualify, whilst Peter Jones got through his three games.

The competition was redrawn at the quarter final stage with Colin Kelly seeing off Jenny Moore 21-11, whilst Phil Kelly recovered from a big deficit to run out with a 21-20 win over George Gadsby.

In the other half of the draw Glynn Hargraves held off Walter McCarthy to win 21-15, whilst Peter Jones staged a comeback to see off teammate Paul Kelly 21-19. Unfortunately due to a power failure it was agreed to finish the competition on Sunday afternoon.

In the first semi-final Colin Kelly’s route to the final was never in doubt with a 21-6 victory over Phil Kelly. In the other semi-final Hargraves performed well to take 18-7 lead over Jones, with the latter staging a remarkable comeback to level the game up 18-18. Hargraves got back in at right time when lying two down to retake the lead 19-18, with Jones picking up a single to level up at 19-19. Another single from Hargraves put him within touching distance as a good second bowl a foot behind the jack forced Jones to play the perfect bowl to save game and level the game up at 20-20. On the deciding end Jones played an 18 inch bowl which wasn’t beaten to reach the final and complete a stunning comeback.

The final being played on a green that is in superb condition got underway with Kelly taking the first five ends, as he threatened to run away with the game scoring five singles in the corners to lead 7-2. Jones, not one to panic got back in to the game taking a 16-10 lead, and then led 17-13 with a superb display of bowling. Four singles from Jones was enough to take the victory to pick up the Ian Kissack Shield.

The presentation was made by Marown President Peter Kelly, thanked the sponsor Ardern & Druggan for their continued support, with thanks also given to the Marown ladies for the excellent refreshments provided over the duration of the competition. Ian Kissack’s sister Gill Kissack-Grundey was then introduced to present the prizes.