Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The final of the 2026 PlumbMaster sponsored Rayner Plate took place on Thursday evening in the Sunset City on a vastly improved Peel Bowling green.

First Division side Castletown A, the current holders were looking to become the first side to ever retain the trophy, which is a feat in itself with two things needing to happen – losing in the first round of the Rayner Shield, which they duly did 3-5 at home to Marown A despite losing two close games, and having to claw back some sizeable deficits at the start of play to lower ranked teams in each round of the Plate competition. Their route to the final included a 14-chalk victory away to Noble’s C, who had a 20-chalk start, a quarter final victory by the same margin (14-chalks) at home to Marown D who had a 50-chalk head start on the Town men, whilst their semi-final win was much more comfortable at home to Ballaugh A, winning by 52 chalks, despite having to overturn a 25-chalk deficit.

Onchan C who ply their trade in Division Three are well accustomed to turning out in the Rayner Plate, they faced Noble’s D in the first round of the Plate, held on to their 20-chalk advantage to ultimately win by a comfortable 33-chalks. Their quarter final contest was much closer, with their home advantage over South Ramsey C enough to turn over a 5-chalk deficit on the handicap to win by 11-chalks. At the semi-final stage the Onchan men were drawn away to Noble’s B, their 40-chalk head start was enough to hold onto victory by 18-chalks on the night.

The final got underway with the Town men favourites despite having to give Onchan a 40-chalk start on the night. Castletown A (+30) and Onchan C (+70).

Game by game the Town men started to pull the handicap back, with Stefan Kelly having plenty of experience in the bag, as he ran out with a 21-5 win over Michael Jones to get the night off to a perfect start. The next three games off gave Onchan hope as they knew they didn’t have to win games, they just had to score well, which is exactly what they did. Kieran Krypner got over the line 21-17 against Roy Corlett, Andy Kennish the most experienced man on the green, who has three Manx Championships to his name held off Kelvin McNicholl 21-19, whilst Town veteran Ian Watson beat Colin Brown 21-20.

At the halfway point the 40-chalk deficit had been reduced to 17-chalks, with Paul Callister giving Onchan some hope with a 21-17 win over Aaron Richardson to put the advantage back to 21-chalks in favour of Onchan. The turning point in the match came from Nathan ‘Billy’ Cooil who recorded the second 21-5 win of the night for Town as he beat Lawrence McMullen.

This win proved to be decisive with the change in atmosphere spurring on Town with captain Nathan Hamilton putting in a captains innings with a 21-13 win over Rob Cowley. With Castletown now ahead by three chalks, leading for the first time on the night Dean Kinley needed only to get to 18 chalks to seal the win with Town already having the superiority on games won. Kinley managed to see the game out to win 21-16 against Marcus Avery to help the Town men to win by eight chalks, to bring a conclusion to an entertaining final.

The presentation was made by Tracy Moore and Lynda Wilson, who kept the evening ticking over. Upon accepting the trophy Castletown captain Nathan Hamilton expressed his delight at becoming the first team to ever retain the Rayner Plate, also paid tribute to Castletown C for putting up a good fight, with their performance not being out of place in the first division.

Castletown A	+30	+70	Onchan C
Kieran Krypner	21	17	Roy Corlett
Andy Kennish	21	19	Kelvin McNicholl
Ian Watson	21	20	Colin Brown
Stefan Kelly	21	5	Michael Jones
Aaron Richardson	17	21	Paul Callister
Nathan Cooil	21	5	Lawrence McMullen
Nathan Hamilton	21	13	Rob Cowley
Dean Kinley	21	16	Marcus Avery
7 Games Won	194	186	1 Game Won