Peel Sunset Bowling club hosted the second men’s singles open competition of the 2020 season, attracting a good entry of 67 men for the ever popular Peel Town Cup. The condition of the green appears to heading in the right direction, with the surface being a lot smoother than last year.

With handicaps ranging from +3 to +9 it certainly made for an interesting day with some shock results. Continuing the trend of the previous week, a number of favourites lost out in the early rounds.

Losing out at the quarter-final stage were Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey), who was comfortably beaten 13-21 by home greener Dougie Allan, Mick Kavanagh (Peel) had his run ended by Neil Withers (Marown) 16-21, whilst Karl Parker (Marown) reached 17 before losing out to Tom Kelly (Peel). South Ramsey’s Stefan Kelly also battled well before losing out 17-21 to club mate Lee Dawson, who knows the Peel green well having played for Peel back in the 90’s.

In the semi-finals Withers ended the run of Dawson with a comfortable 21-15 win to take his place in the final whilst Tom Kelly got over the line 21-17 against club mate Dougie Allan.

The final was both players sixth game of the day, with Withers (+3) making his second final appearance in a week, however it was home greener Kelly (+4) who started well, taking five of the first seven ends to take a 10-5 lead, Withers responded to turn the game around at 14-12 over the next nine ends. Kelly dug deep to take control taking three doubles and three singles over the next nine ends, whilst keeping Withers down to three singles, Kelly ran out with a deserved 21-17 victory to claim his first Peel Town Cup and second open win in the space of a year.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition secretary Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked the sponsors IOM Seafoods for their support, the greenkeeper for the improvement in the green, everyone who had entered and the club members for assisting throughout the day. With over £500 paid out in prize money the winner was presented with the trophy and £180 first prize.

Marown favourite Colin Kelly put the icing on the cake of a great season on Saturday winning the Champion of Champions at the Waterloo Hotel in Blackpool to write his name into Manx and UK bowls history.

This season Kelly has won five singles titles, the Manx Championship, Association Cup, Manx Masters, Peel Town Cup and the opening competition of the season the Marown Floodlit, not forgetting winning the individual merit in division one.

Kelly was representing the Isle of Man and qualified for the Champion of Champions courtesy of his Manx Championship win in May when he defeated Onchan man Jordan Cain in the final 21-11. He was in the mix with 15 other County Merit winners, whilst the rest of the field was made up by those who had won some of the games biggest competitions that are played throughout the season or through winning the Junior or Senior BCGBA merit.

At the start of play in a field of 32 players Kelly was priced at 40-1 by the bookies and was by no means the favourite with some of the games biggest names taking part in Callum Wraight, Graeme Wilson, Ryan Prosser and John Bailey to name a few.

In the first round Colin was drawn against Lancashire merit winner Damian Morrison and managed to build up a comfortable lead early on playing a fairly long straight peg around the crown. Kelly led 13-3 and managed to maintain his lead after Morrison started to work his way back into the game before Kelly finished the game off to win 21-13.

In the second round Kelly faced the Greater Manchester Merit winner Jack Hargreaves, who had disposed of Craig Gant, a player well known on the Island. Kelly went for a longer length mark in this game, with Hargreaves preferring to play the edges and short round pegs and playing them really well. Kelly led well on the longer marks in difficult conditions. Kelly battled well to take a hard earned 21-17 victory.

In the quarter finals Kelly was up against South Yorkshire merit winner James Higgins with Kelly trailing 6-13, Higgins was leading well over 35 yards playing sweeping round pegs across the crown. Once again this forced Kelly to go for a longer length and in doing so not giving his opponent much room with Higgins generally short or pushing too far through as the heavy rain started in the latter stages. Higgins had previously put out the 2018 winner John Bailey with a convincing win, however Kelly claimed a 21-19 win to progress.

With Kelly having reached the semi-finals he had now matched the best performance by a Manxman achieved by John Kennish in 2015. This time he was up against the Shropshire Merit winner Spencer Clarke, who was in truth the best player on the green up until this point having taken three good scalps to reach the semi-finals including a 21-6 win over 2019 BCGBA Senior merit winner Ryan Prosser. With conditions worsening the green started to puddle and ‘cobbing’ was required to be able to reach, which is an art in itself in being able to control your bowls. Kelly took full advantage of the conditions to take a 21-11 win with the result more comfortable than expected.

Having reached the final Kelly was not letting a once in a lifetime opportunity pass him by and was simply brilliant. Kelly was up against Scott Simpson (Wrockwardine Wood winner) who had earlier in the day disposed of one of the games greatest ever players in Graeme Wilson, therefore Kelly knew he what he was up against and recognised that Simpson had no trouble reaching the longer marks, the game plan changed to shorter marks over the crown which he executed brilliantly to take a 8-3 lead, building on this further still to lead 16-7. Kelly then conceded his only double of the game before responding with two quick fire doubles to lead 20-9 with his ability to make two making a big difference having scored seven doubles throughout the game. Simpson then scored a single, only to throw the jack off when heading into the corner. Kelly set the mark and made his first bowl count forcing Simpson to reach with his second bowl, however he missed resulting in Kelly taking a superb 21-10 victory to claim a first ever win for a Manxman in the games biggest competition.

This is a popular win amongst the bowling community with Colin putting the time in for a number of years now to give something back to the game having become involved in the Manx Youth Games as a coach in 2013, whilst also coaching Juniors on a weekly basis at his club. In addition to this Colin also helps with the maintenance of the Marown bowling green and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy, who has now fulfilled a lifelong dream of winning a top UK competition. All that is left to say is what a bowler, what a season, what a man!

Marown Bowling Club held the Juan Kelly Cup with the competition now in its third year it still proved popular with 44 teams taking part. Once again there were some interesting pairings making use of the handicap system played over two qualifying nights, with four pairs qualifying from each night for the quarter finals.

The format was any combination doubles, played over 15 ends with ends 5, 10 and 15 played as ‘power’ ends with the points scored counting double. The pairs were given a handicap based on their rankings in the Men’s and Ladies game. If scores were tied after 15 ends a one bowl shootout would take place to decide the winner.

On Monday evening 20 pairs played their qualifying night, whilst Tuesday evening had 24 pairs taking part. The finals night was held on Wednesday evening, with a re-draw taking place to determine who the pairings would play on the night.

The eventual winners were the South Ramsey pairing of John Kennish and David Bradford who were playing off a scratch handicap seeing off the current holders Bernie Durcan and Steve Durcan (Port Erin), who were playing off a handicap of +5. The final started with the Durcan’s taking four of the first five ends to take an 11-1 lead, before the top pairing hit back with some good lead bowls from Kennish, backed up by Bradford to take a three, then a double -thanks to vital hit from Bradford, which was swiftly followed up by another three. The Durcan’s took a single before Kennish and Bradford scored a two on the power end after a great strike from Bradford, which doubled up to four, to then score another four to turn the game on its head 17-12. The Port Erin pairing got back in with a three to bring the deficit down to just two chalks at 15-17, however the South Ramsey duo managed to take the last three ends to secure a 22-15 victory to complete a great comeback.

Losing out in the semi-finals were Marown captain Paul Dunn and his Dad Phil Dunn (+5) with the latter playing in his first competition and performing brilliantly, they tied (19-19) with the Durcan’s resulting in a one bowl shootout between Paul and Steve with the latter holding his nerve to beat an 18 inch bowl to claim a spot in the final. Also losing out in the semi-final were Frank Watson (Onchan) and Andy Kennish (Peel), who were well beaten 9-20 by the eventual winners.

Losing quarter finalists were Debbie Leece and Clare Cooper (Noble’s) who were the furthest ladies, Peel pair Gordon Corrin and Dougie Allan, Onchan duo Steve Parker and Kevin Quirk along with Jordan Drewett (Castletown) and Tom Kelly (Peel).

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Phil Kelly, who thanked Juan Kelly for once again sponsoring the competition, the Ladies for the refreshments, the players for entering, and all those who stayed to support.

The final of the Ellan Vannin Fuels mixed team competition took place at Castletown on Wednesday evening with the Crosby outfit starting the match as favourites, however the draw would be crucial to both teams. The Castletown green was in superb condition and a good crowd came along to support on the night.

From the first five games on the green Neil Withers was first off for Marown with a big 21-6 win over Dave McCabe, despite losing two doubles early on McCabe could only take two more singles. Second game off on the night was Dan McCabe who recorded a 21-5 win over Mary Alderson to cancel the damage from the first game off. Next off were Paul Dunn & Paul Skelly with Dunn performing well to win 21-16. Fourth game off was Colin Kelly who claimed a 21-5 victory over Trish Bull. The last game off in the first half of the match was Chris Price who ensured Port St Mary were only trailing by four chalks (69-73) to keep themselves in the match.

During the second half the momentum swung in favour of Port St Mary, with Wayne Roberts winning 21-11 against Rosie Winckle, this result was swiftly followed by Trevor Quayle putting in a good performance against Paul Kelly to win 21-10 to put the chalks at 111-94 in favour of Port St Mary. By this point the match had got away from Marown with Jayne Kneen 20-8 up on Lil Smith and Margaret Tasker trailing 10-17 on Matthew Keggen there was no way back for the Crosby team. Smith fought back well against Kneen before losing out 16-21, whilst Tasker turned the game around brilliantly to take a single and five consecutive doubles on a short length to run out with a 21-17 victory to cap a fine team performance in sealing their fourth Mixed title by 26 chalks (153-127) winning 6-3 on games and gaining revenge for their 2017 defeat to the same opponents.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves who thanked Castletown for the use of the green, providing measurers and refreshments, along with Juan Kermode. Winning captain Margaret Tasker thanked her team and everyone who had turned up to support.

South Ramsey hosted the Manx Masters on Saturday, one of the highlights of the Manx bowls calendar with four separate competitions once again taking place.

Winner of the Young Manx Masters was Alex Hampson defeating Bailey McMullan 7-2 in the final. This competition was played in a round robin format with six players in each group playing five ends with the last end played as a ‘power’ end with points scored counting double. Alex won group A with 30 points, with 2018 winner Sam Colquitt the runner up on 24 points. Bailey won Group B with a staggering 39 points, with Alex Colquitt the runner up on 31 points.

The Junior Manx Masters was again played as a straight knockout for the older and more experienced players and the title was won for a third successive year by Glenn Boland (Noble’s) who beat Bethany Kennish (South Ramsey) 21-17 in the final, with Boland beating 11 year old Ryan Hargraves (South Ramsey) 21-13 to reach the final, whilst Kennish beat Austin Hart 21-16 to book her spot in the final.

The standard of play in both events was excellent and it was great to have a good crowd around the green supporting the future of the game with the numbers steadily increasing throughout, it made for a great morning.

The junior competitions were sponsored by Stonemasons IOM Limited for a third successive year with the presentation made by Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly. All those who took part received a prize, with the younger players also receiving a certificate.

Huge thanks must go to the six coaches – Colin Kelly, Brian Kelly, Debbie Leece, Clare Cooper, Chris Holland and Collin Holland, who helped the younger players with their games throughout the morning.

Once the Junior competitions came to a conclusion the Feltons sponsored men’s and ladies events got underway with the ladies event being an invitation of 16 players, whilst the men’s event had 32 taking part.

In the ladies losing out at the quarter final stages were Joyce Kelly (Peel), Mary Moffatt (Peel), Fiona Kennish (South Ramsey) and Paula Firth (Noble’s).

In the semi-finals Jenny Moore (South Ramsey) had enough to hold off Junior Manx Champion Shannon McMullan to claim a 21-18 win, whilst Alison Keggen (Noble’s) ended the challenge of team mate Clare Cooper with a 21-16 win to book her place in the final.

In the final Moore was quickest out of the blocks taking a 17-7 lead scoring six doubles on the way, before Keggen chipped away at the lead to cut the deficit to 12-17 only for Moore to take another double to take a commanding 19-12 lead. Keggen responded with a single, however Moore took the next two ends scoring singles to take a 21-13 win to retain the trophy to add to her Manx Championship & IOM Merit wins this year. Keggen can be pleased with her performance in reaching her second final on South Ramsey this season.

In the men’s event 10 of the 16 first round games were well contested with the player losing out scoring 15 or more to show there were some good contests taking place. This continued in the second round with four of the eight games being played going to 15 and above.

Losing out at the quarter final stage was former Manx Masters winner David Bradford (South Ramsey), who lost out 18-21 to Reginald Temporaza (Noble’s). The current holder Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly (Peel) lost 12-21 to Colin Kelly (Marown). Dido Kelly booked his place in the next round with a hard fought 21-19 win over Neil Withers (Marown), whilst James Teare also progressed thanks to his 21-15 victory over Tom Kelly (Peel).

In the semi-final Reginald Temporaza had his run ended by Colin Kelly who claimed a comfortable 21-8 win. Dido Kelly took on team mate James Teare in the other semi-final with Dido also making light work of his opponent on his way to a 21-11 victory.

In the final Colin took the first two ends, only for Dido to respond by taking the next eight ends scoring two doubles on his way to taking a commanding 13-5 lead on his traditional short lengths up to the crown and back into the corner. Colin got back in to then take the next five ends with two singles and three doubles back on his preferred longer length to level things up at 13-13. Dido got back in once again to take three of the next four ends to go 18-14 ahead, however Colin dug deep to run out on his opponent scoring a two, then singles on the next five ends to claim his seventh win in this competition. This victory sees Colin hold the all the Associations biggest prizes having won the Manx Championship, Association Cup to go with his win in the Manx Masters. Colin is also on course to win the individual merit in division one with Marown, who are on course to claim their first league title since 2013, which would crown a fantastic season both individually and with his club.

At the end of the competition the prizes were presented by Chris Perry on behalf of the sponsors Feltons who continue to supported this event for a number of years.

During the presentation competition secretary Glynn Hargraves announced that the day had 89 matches played, 73 bowlers take part, more than 150 watch the event throughout the day. Thanks were also given to those who had helped prepare the green, with the remarkable improvement noted since the start of the season, along with those who had helped in any way towards the smooth running of the competitions throughout. A special mention to the ladies who once again put on a superb selection of hot dogs, bacon baps, pasties, sandwiches, cakes etc along with the hot and cold refreshments provided throughout the entire day. Thanks were also given to Neil Withers for his live streaming of the Junior and Senior events which have proved popular this season, typically receiving over 1,000 views.