Monthly Archives: May 2014
Ladies’ Over 60’s League 6 May
Tuesday 6 May
Castletown had the better of Onchan A, winning 4-2 on games in a high scoring match, the two winners for the visitors being Lynda Clarke and Hazel Hughes. It was nice to see Flo Kelly back on the green, just losing out 19-21 to Marie Ashurst. It was close at Douglas where despite winning 4-2 on games Marown just took the match by 2 points. The two winners for the home side were Wendy Cowin, who came through a close encounter with Mary Alderson 21-20, and Patsy Rush who won to single figures. Onchan B were, for the main, overwhelmed by league leaders Port St Mary A, who won 5 of the 6 games, two of them to single figures. The lone winner for the home side was Marilyn Ellison who also won to single figures. It was a high-scoring game at Peel with every player scoring at least 15 points. The match ended level on games with a 4 point advantage to the visitors, while the visiting team also won at Port Erin, again with all players reaching double figures, the two winners for the home side being Hesba Skelly and Sylvia Shelbourne. Another “welcome back” at Port St Mary as Pearl Quinn played her first game of the season in a match that was drawn on games although Ballaugh had a comfortable win on points with Brenda Bowyer and Jenny Maddrell winning to single figures.
Castletown A extend lead
With quarter of the season already gone in the Tower Insurance Over 60’s League, Champions Castletown hold a two point lead over close neighbours Port St Mary A, The Town had another 8-0 maximum at home to Finch Hill A on Tuesday, and then picked up the points on their travels to Ballaugh with a 5-3 victory, Port St Mary A dropped a point at home to Marown in a very close encounter, before bouncing back with a excellent 6-2 away win at Nobles Mixed. Onchan B hold onto third place three behind the leaders after defeating North Ramsey B at the Mooragh before dropping a surprise point at home to Peel B. North Ramsey A are having an up and down season but at the moment they are on a definite up, travelling to Onchan A and taking both points with a fine 6-2 win before banging in a full house against Douglas B at home to move into fourth place four points behind the leaders level with them are Onchan A who have had a bad week, following the loss to North Ramsey they dropped a further point on their visit to Peel A who are always difficult to beat at home. Also bracketed with these two teams are South Ramsey who also had a full house against Douglas B, before travelling to Castletown B to inflict a very close 5-3 defeat on the home team, Two teams on 13 points are Marown who after picking up a point at PSM A had a another draw at Finch Hill A. Castletown B had a good win at Finch Hill B,while on 12 points but with a game in hand are Peel A who had good win at Noble’s Park. Ballaugh are another outfit on 12 points beating Douglas A 5-3 at the Villa this week, Douglas A responded with a victory of their own against North Ramsey B. Noble’s Park are having a reasonable start to the season with four clubs below them in the league, Port St Mary B who they shared a point with on their trip down south, Peel Sunset B, Finch Hill B and Douglas B. The Ismay Cup pitted Onchan A against North Ramsey A and although Onchan with home advantage had a four game lead North Ramsey fought back to clinch the game 5-4, South Ramsey entertained Castletown B and had a good 6-3 win over the Southerners, Holders Castletown A defeated 2012 holders Douglas A at the Villa by a comprehensive 8 games to 1, While Finch Hill A made it a bad Ismay round for Onchan by putting the B team to the sword by 7 games to 2 at a tricky Finch hill Green. Unfortunately Port St Mary B conceded their game against their A Team as did Noble’s Park against Ballaugh, The two remaining Ismay games were played on Friday, Peel Sunset A travelled to Marown and came away victors by 5 games to 4, While North Ramsey B had a superb 6-3 away win over Finch Hill B to join their A team in the last eight.
The Merit Table has changed once again, after Tuesday both Peter Kelly (Marown) and Dave Foulis (Ballaugh) lost their games to leave Dave Faragher sitting all alone on the top of the pile, however he to lost on Thursday, so that at present Chas Grills (South Ramsey and Collin Holland (Castletown A) who have both played 9 and won 9 are on the top of the perch, with Peter Kelly, Dave Faragher (Castletown A), Douglas pair Roy Williams and Stuart Garrett and Dave Foulis all having played 10 for 9 victories. Can I remind all bowler that the Foster Cup which is being played at Douglas on Wednesday 14th May please get your entries to George Peach (471301)
Onchan Sink South up North
Isle of Man Bank men’s division 1 leaders Onchan A turned on the style last week as they put a serious dent in the title challenge of highly fancied South Ramsey A, sinking them 9-1 on their own patch.
John Kennish, who was just back from a hugely successful campaign in the UK with 8 straight wins meaning he has qualified for 3 major finals days, was the only winner for the Northerners on a tricky green which really suited the visitors. With the Manx Championship scheduled to be on the same green at the weekend it would be hard to rule out one of them, or Kennish himself, going all the way and securing top honours.
Title holders Marown A, who themselves have some major players for the weekends championship, had to work hard to secure a 7-3 win just down the road at the Mooragh as they edged past a battling North Ramsey A team.
In reality the Crosby outfit would have been hoping to make up some ground on Onchan in this set of fixtures, and not drop a further 2 points behind. It’s difficult to see where they will make up the ground on their rivals which will put a lot of emphasis on the two head to head match ups with the first scheduled for June 9th at Onchan Park.
Port St Mary A are still in third despite going down 7-3 away to Castletown A. Town are still trying to recover from an early heavy defeat and this win seems like business returning to usual, as they close the gap on 3rd place, which is probably a realistic aim for 3 or 4 teams this season.
Douglas A travelled to a new look Ballaugh A where they picked some magnificent away points with an 8-2 victory. Whilst it is Douglas whose season is now really off and running its great to see a mix of old and new faces at forward thinking Ballaugh A who are really looking beyond this season, as they build for the future by bedding new blood into their top team.
Port Erin have started their campaign in the top tier admirably and a good 7-3 home win over highflying Castletown B will do their chances of survival or even a mid table finish no harm at all.
Peel A picked up their first win this terms as they beat Castletown C 8-2 to get some much needed points on the board and leapfrog their opponents in the league.
Division 2 leaders Finch Hill A picked up another strong win to keep their aspirations of silverware alive as they beat Nobles Park A 8-2 at Kensington Road.
Onchan B keep the pressure on in second place as they had to use all of the ammunition in their arsenal to win the war against Nobles Mixed A 6-4, after tying on games. Only two points separated the teams on aggregate as well so this really was a close encounter between 2 teams who should be in the shake up for promotion at the end.
Douglas B are now starting to fire and an 8-2 win moves them into 3rd place in the table. They have some strong dependable players in their stellar line up and if they can get their best team on the green will be difficult to shift and have a real shout at top honours.
Castletown D will be delighted to chalk up their first win, but more so in the manner it was achieved. Trailing 4-3 on games, and behind on aggregate, a transformed Matthew Shanahan held his nerve and played magnificently to win 21-12 and seal the points for his side, and his place in the divisions team of the week.
It’s tight at the top in division 3 with all of the top 3 putting in strong performances to all keep their title hopes alive. South Ramsey B are back on top thanks to a superb 9-1 win away at Douglas C, whilst Port Erin B are only one point adrift thanks to their own strong away win, beating Peel D 7-3 in the sunset city. Hotly fancied Marown B come next only 2 points behind after they too picked up a great 7-3 away win, this time over Nobles Park B.
British Merit Qualifier
The re-organised British Merit Qualifier took place on Monday 5 May at Noble’s 3 with an entry of 11 ladies.
Semi-finals: Elaine Moore 21, Helen Martin 16; Rosie Winckle 21, Lil Smith 20
Final: Elaine Moore 21, Rosie Winckle 16.
Elaine will represent the island at the Pennfields Bowling and Social club, Wolverhampton, on Saturday 12 July.
Manx Championship Preview
The highly anticipated Manx Championships takes place at South Ramsey this weekend and I am metaphorically salivating at the prospect of the most explosive and open championships in history.
Whilst seven times Island Champion John Kennish must be the clear favourite on his home green to win the title for the first time since 2006 there is literally a shopping list full of contenders who stand in his way.
Five times Island Champion Colin Kelly won the title last time it was contested on the green and will again be amongst the favourites along with double champions Kevin Quirk and Glynn Hargraves, who currently wears the crown. Neil Withers and Phil Kerruish are other former champions who have had recent success on the green and could definitely be in the shake up at the end.
There are a host of players looking to pick up their first title with David Bradford and Paul Skelly heading a list littered with young up and coming talent such as Jordan Cain, Bob Clark and Matthew Quirk however there will be no more popular winner than if Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly breaks his duck and adds this title to his collection.
Ladies’ League 2 May
Friday 2 May
Despite losing 4-5 on games Port St Mary had a comfortable win on points when they travelled to Ballaugh, with four of their players winning to single figures and no-one scoring less than 15 points. Two games went all the way with Tricia Bull and Rita Callister losing out 20-21 to Brenda Bowyer and Peggy Griffin. Shirley Whelan and Rosie Winckle were Marown’s two winners at South Ramsey while Moira Anderson edged out Mary Alderson 21-20.The Douglas v Onchan fixture was played at the Villa and was a tight affair, Douglas winning 5-4 on games with an advantage of just 8 points. Castletown had a successful trip west taking 6 games, two to single figures. Peel did not let them have it all their own way, also winning a game to single figures, and a good fight-back saw Shirley Corrin reaching 19 against Marie Ashurst. Noble’s Mixed also recorded a win on points despite going 4-5 down on games. Their wins were all to single figures, as was Voirrey Curphey’s for the home side, while Paula Firth reached 19 against Mavis Franks. Mooragh Park dropped just 10 points on their visit to Purt le Moirrey, the two winners for the home side being Amanda Lawler and Debra Cooper.
Ladies’ over 60’s 1 May
Thursday 1 May
The match between Onchan A and Onchan B had to be postponed because of the inclement weather. League leaders Port St Mary extended their lead with a maximum at Douglas where Tricia Bull won to single figures, while Mooragh Park suffered another set-back going down 4-2 to Noble’s Mixed. Lilian Slinger’s win to single figures was balanced by Sylvia Kennaugh’s result while Pat Robertson won her battle with Rira Callan 21-19.It couldn’t have been much closer at Ballaugh with both teams winning 3 games, one each to single figures, the home side coming through by just one point. Villa put up a strong performance against Port St Mary B with Peggy Chapman and Joan Murphy winning to single figures in a 4-2 win, Brenda Hawkard and Roma Ware being the two winners for the visitors. Marown fell just short of 100 points in their 4-2 win over Port Erin for whom Sylva Shelbourne and Voirrey Curphey were the two winners.
Postponed Jean Kelly Match
The postponed Jean Kelly match between Onchan and Port St Mary was played at Finch Hill on Thursday 1 May. Port St Mary proved too strong for Onchan winning 7 of the 9 games, Phyllis Gelling and Marilyn Ellison, to single figures, being the two winners for the home side. Despite Port St Mary winning five of their games to single figures, Onchan’s +55 handicap made it a close affair the victors coming through by just 8 points.
ONCHAN (+55) 159 (2), PORT ST MARY (SCR) 167 (7)
IOM Ladies’ Pairs
There was an entry of 14 pairs for the IOM Ladies’ Pairs played at Noble’s Mixed on Saturday 3 May. There were some excellent bowls and close games throughout the afternoon.
The semi-finals were a little disappointing as Joyce Ogden and Sonja Lees never got going against Lilian Slinger and Helen Martin, while Shirley Whelan and Rosie Winckle threatened an upset as they stayed level with Janet Monk and Chris Price to 13-13. However at this point the Mooragh Park pair switched up a gear and the Marown pair were unable to put another point on the card.
Semi-finals: Lilian Slinger and Helen Martin 21, Joyce Ogden and Sonja Lees 6; Janet Monk and Chris Price 21, Shirley Whelan and Rosie Winckle 13
Janet and Chris had the lead in the final from the start, although their opponents did pull up to 12-13 at one point. The sisters then won the next three ends to 17-12, and although Lilian and Helen managed a 3 and a 2 to threaten a come-back Chris and Janet held on to win 21-17.
The presentation was made by Association vice-president, Rosie Winckle who thanked Noble’s Mixed for their hospitality, all the players for entering, the ladies’ for doing the refreshments and anyone who had helped in any way during the afternoon.
Kennish Cains the opposition at Castletown
Seven times Island champion John Kennish was imperious form as he dominated the Cain Cup at Casteltown on Saturday from first bowl to last.
Its frightening with the Island Championships this weekend just how easily Kennish cut through a quality field of 41 in a scratch competition he clearly used as a warm up for the main event, and if he carries this form with him will be a formidable force of nature and almost impossible to stop, especially on his home green.
Kennish competed his rout defeating Paul Skelly in a high quality final, however Skelly was unable to make much impact into the game as Kennish just settled on a length from the off.
Skelly will draw confidence from his performance in making the final and will take this with him next weekend where he is a definite contender on a South Ramsey green which has brought him success in recent seasons.
Kennish made the final at the expense of the evergreen Ian Kissack who played exceptionally all day to make it that far but was unable to live with Kennish. Skelly dispatched John’s brother Andy Kennish at the same stage.
Thanks go the Castletown bowling club for providing a green in good condition and running what is now becoming one of the most popular dates in the men’s calendar.