Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Marown hosted the ever popular Tynwald Day R & A Grimshaw Pairs Trophy on Bank Holiday Tuesday. 28 pairs took part and the competition was sponsored for the first time by Investasure Financial Services Ltd.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Alex Hampson (Noble’s) and Ryan Hargraves (South Ramsey) 10-21 to Brian Kelly (Marown) and Harry Kelly (Peel), James Teare (South Ramsey) and Andy Kennish (Onchan) were beaten 9-21 by Colin Kelly (Marown) and Tom Kelly (Peel). In the other half of the draw Kevin Quirk and Steve Parker (both Onchan) edged home 21-20 against Marown pair Stephen Rundle and Walter McCarthy, whilst another Marown duo Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly beat Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) and Jamie Joughin (Marown) 21-18.

At the semi-final stage Quirk and Parker took on Keggen and Paul Kelly with the Marown pair trailing 7-12, they went ahead after scoring a two and a four to lead 13-12, then conceded a single for the game to go level. A good run did see the Crosby men go 20-13 up, despite giving three points away they got the single they needed to win 21-16 to take their place in the final.

The other semi-final featured four Kelly’s, with Brian and Harry up against father and son Colin and Tom, with the latter pair having a straightforward 21-12 win.

The final got underway with three of the finalists being home greeners, whilst Tom Kelly has played for the club previously. The game went on to have everything you could hope for with good lead bowls, strikes, dead ends and great last bowls when under pressure.

On the first end a loose end from Keggen and Kelly was fully punished with a four scored by Colin and Tom to jump into a 10-6 lead. The Marown pair responded immediately to win five of the next six ends  scoring an impressive three on the 6th end as they crept ahead 13-11, were then counting for three only for Tom to pull off another fine hit to clear the jack off the green for a dead end, with Tom’s hit rate throughout the day being outstanding. Over the next five ends the father and son pairing played extremely well to jump into a 19-14 lead and seemingly take control of the game as they picked up a single, two doubles and a three.

Keggen and Kelly weren’t done there and regrouped, despite Colin being on his famous ‘cabbage patch’ the former picked up a vital three with Keggen grabbing the jack to count for two and Kelly then put in another bowl himself, which they followed up on the next end with a single after counting for four and game only for Tom to save three. With the score now 18-19 to the Marown pair, two good bowls from Colin, with the second widening the target meant they were lying game themselves, with Paul having no hesitation in taking his turn to save the game by taking the jack off the green to kill the end. 

A single followed on the next end after once again Keggen and Kelly were counting three for game only for Tom to play a great pressure bowl to stand on the brink at 20-18. On the next end Keggen and Kelly had a free shot to make three for game but the last bowl agonisingly pulled up short with an opportunity missed.

With the score 20-20 a good lead bowl from Keggen, soon became about protecting what they had, with a back bowl in place Paul attempted to put blockers in the way. Unfortunately for Colin and Tom they were unable to find a way through, which secured the title for Keggen and Kelly for the first time after having lost in this final on more than one occasion, it was truly entertaining to watch.

At the conclusion of the competition the presentation was made by competition secretary Philip Kelly, who thanked the sponsors for their support, everyone who had helped with the running of the competition and the Marown Ladies for the refreshments provided. Martin Corkish from Investasure Financial Services Ltd was then introduced to present the prizes.