Collister Seals Rayner Shield Win
Rayner Shield Winners 2019
Photo: Arnie WithersThe Canada Life International Rayner Shield final was held at Douglas Bowling Club on Friday evening on a superb surface, between South Ramsey A and Marown A in a match which was once again billed as ‘Thriller at the Villa’, with the current top two teams on the Island going head to head it certainly lived up to its billing with many predicting an outright win for the Crosby men, whilst the players themselves were looking at a 4-4 result and the match being decided on chalks.
Earlier in the week both captains had agreed to do the draw ahead of the match, which was streamed live and has since racked up almost 1000 views on Facebook this seemed to generate a bit of interest.
First off the green for South Ramsey was Stefan Kelly, who took a good 21-15 win over the experienced Dean Kipling with Kipling 3-14 down he dug in to score a further 12 chalks. Next off was South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, knowing he faced a dangerous opponent in Phil ‘Rambo’ Kelly, Hargraves recorded a resounding 21-9 win with a good performance. Hitting back for Marown was Neil Withers who cancelled out South Ramsey’s second win with his own 21-9 victory against Chas Grills, with Grills taking a couple of vital chalks after lying game down at 7-20. Last off in the first half was Dido Kelly who played well to win 21-8 against young Bobby Thorne. At the half way point South Ramsey led 3-1 on games with a 19 chalk advantage (72-53). This brought back memories of 2017 in which the Ramsey men led by the same score and 25 chalks before Marown fought back to win.
In the second half of the match the atmosphere was building in front of a good crowd with great support for both teams around the green the expected fight back came with Marown captain Paul Dunn putting in a superb performance to win 21-6 over Alan Moore, with Moore 0-15 before he got on the board to score six vital chalks. Next off was Paul Kelly who got his revenge for his defeat last time out against James Teare, with Kelly winning 21-10 Teare was another Ramsey man to put a couple more vital chalks on the board before losing out. The match now stood at 3-3 with the Crosby men holding a seven chalk advantage (88-95).
The games left on the green at this point were in the latter stages with David Bradford leading 14-11 against Matthew Keggen, whilst Peter Collister was trailing 15-18 against Colin Kelly after battling well throughout the game to never go more than three chalks behind. Bradford knew he had to run out to give his side the lead once again and he did just that playing the edge of the green well to win 21-11. With things standing at 4-3 to South Ramsey and Collister 17-20 behind if Kelly came off winning by four chalks then a one end shootout would have taken place. Collister had other ideas taking four singles to run out with a superb 21-20 victory to put the icing on the cake for a 5-3 win. Collister was unanimously named Man of the Match by his team mates for his performance on the night under the circumstances.
The presentation was made by stand in competition secretary Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked Canada Life International for their continued sponsorship of the competition, Douglas Bowling Club for the use of the green and their club members for assisting throughout the evening. Association President John Keenan was then introduced to present the Rayner Shield to South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, who offered his commiserations to Marown who had played their part in making it a fantastic final and congratulated his side for a superb team performance to make up for the disappointment of losing out in 2017. South Ramsey’s win sees them take their fourth win in the competition.
Results
| Time | Round | Home | Score | Away | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 | Final
| South Ramsey A | 5–3(130–126) | Marown A | |
Venue: Douglas