In Ellan Vannin Fuels Division One fixtures were put back to Wednesday evening due to the Bank Holiday on Monday, with some teams making an early start to allow players to get home to watch the big game!

Third placed Marown A hosted Peel B at Crosby, the home team whilst winning 7-3 would have been disappointing to drop three points with Peel’s Dougie Allan beating Matthew 21-18, whilst Brian Lindsay and Gordon Corrin both pipped Paul Kelly and Juan Killip 21-20 respectively. Peel will have been delighted with the three points. For the home team all their wins were comfortable, it looks like Dean Kipling could be a permanent fixture for the second half of the season, he won his game 21-14 against David Proctor.

Second placed Peel A bounced back from last week’s heavy defeat to win 8-2, they had the pleasure of hosting Marown B in the sunset city with Brian Kelly returning to his old stomping ground, he was one of two winners seeing off Tom Kelly 21-19, whilst Glenn Boland inflicted a second straight league defeat on Peter Greenlees with Boland winning 21-11. Winning to single figures for the home side were Gary Smith, Ste Kelly and George Gadsby.

Ballaugh A welcomed league leaders South Ramsey A, with the home team losing 2-8 to the visitors. Winning for the home team were John ‘Shirt’ Keenan who shown his class to recover from a 2-12 deficit against Grandson Stefan Kelly to run out with a 21-15 win, whilst John Maddrell never knows when he is beaten, fighting back from a 15-20 deficit to Chas Grills to win 21-20. Ballaugh could have had a third win on the night with Richard Hainge leading 17-11 against James Teare, who dug in to run out with a 21-18 victory. The visitors had two single figure victories with Dido Kelly winning 21-8 against Tony Quine, whilst Alan Moore continues his return to form playing brilliantly to win 21-6 against Patrick Grant.

Port St Mary A are in somewhat of a false position having played seven of their 11 home league games due to not having floodlights for later on in the season, they held off Castletown A on a fast home green to record a 6-4 win, with Ray Watterson showing he has still got what it takes to compete in division one with a stunning 21-0 victory over Nathan Cooil. At the other end of the spectrum captain Wayne Roberts was on the right side of a 21-20 this week, beating opposing captain Ian Watson. Trevor Quayle returned to winning ways with a 21-7 win against Dean Kinley, whilst Robbie Cooil continues to fly high in the overall merit defeating Aaron Richardson 21-12 to make it eight wins from 10 games. For the visitors Jordan Drewett just edged home 21-20 against Tim Williams, Bob Clark won to single figures against Paul Russell, whilst Sam Clague won 21-14 against Juan Hargraves, with the latter helping out his club playing in just his fourth game of bowls since 2017 and first since 2019.

Two teams suffered 10-0 home defeats, with Noble’s A losing to Douglas A, with Martyn Hobson coming closest to picking up a point for his team, before losing out 18-21 to Gary Conwell, whilst North Ramsey A didn’t make home advantage count with their heavy defeat at the hands of Onchan A.

In Division Two South Ramsey B moved their home match with Finch Hill A to Friday evening with both teams having the opportunity to go top if they recorded a big win. The home team made home advantage count winning 7-3 with Tony Dugdale and Steven Waters both winning to single figures, whilst Ben Dugdale had to work hard to beat Dave Jones 21-19, and Eddie Carlyle just got home 21-20. For the visitors Tony Epifani made sure it wasn’t an even heavier defeat winning 21-19 against Christian Caley, whilst Dave McCabe and John Harris won comfortably against Bryan Corner and George Brew respectively. The result put the South Ramsey men joint top with Castletown B on 56 points.

Port St Mary B and Castletown B played out a true draw 5-5 with both teams winning four games and tying on chalks (140-140) to share the aggregate.

Marown C suffered a 2-8 home defeat to Port Erin A with both teams winning and losing a 21-20, For the Crosby men Jamie Joughin was on the right side of the score, whilst captain Stephen Rundle, was the wrong side losing out to Bernie Durcan.

South Ramsey C came away from the Villa pleased with their 8-2 away win over Douglas B, just missing out on a 10-0 win by just seven chalks, with David Corkill losing 17-21 to Bob Callow, whilst Andy Morgan recovered from a slow start before losing out 18-21 to Steve Gregg.

Onchan B stay in the mix for a long awaited return to division one, following their 8-2 away win against Finch Hill B, with Will Penhallurick continuing to impress at this level, he recorded a 21-15 win over Kevin Stannard.

The Division Three fixtures were unusually held before the top two divisions last week due to the Bank Holiday, with league leaders Ballaugh B not having it all their own way dropping four points with their 6-4 home win over Port Erin B.

Ballaugh B were well beaten 8-2 away to Onchan C with Gordie Moore winning 21-20 against Sid McKnight for the visitors to prevent an even heavier defeat.

Something doesn’t sit quite right with me following the Douglas D result against Douglas C, with the lower ranked D team winning 9-1 this could mean a reshuffling of the teams is required for next season to get the teams right, however the D side is full of new bowlers who appear to be enjoying the game since they took it up. Three single figure victories for the D team, is proof the result was well deserved.

Castletown C suffered a 7-3 home defeat to Peel D who themselves have a number of new bowlers who continue to impress, they have Philip ‘Pip’ Pemberton leading the way for them as he won 21-8 against Byron Mercer to make it eight wins from nine games played, whilst for Castletown John Matheson was one of three home team winners and currently sits top of the individual merit to remain unbeaten this season thanks to his 21-7 win over Andy Morrison.

South Ramsey D slipped to a 4-6 defeat at home to Noble’s B, with players on both teams all reaching double figures, with the visitors taking the aggregate by 10 chalks (129-139).

Marown hosted the ever popular Tynwald Day R & A Grimshaw Pairs Trophy on Bank Holiday Monday with 30 pairs taking part.

At the end of the day it was the Marown duo of Neil Withers and Paul Dunn, who beat the Castletown pairing of Nathan Hamilton and Bob Clark 21-12 in the final to continue their success in doubles competitions this season. The game was well contested early on, with the score 14-12 to Withers and Dunn after 11 ends, it looked like the match could go the distance. From there the home pairing shifted up a few gears to pick up a three, followed by two doubles to ensure the trophy went home with the Crosby men.

Losing out in the semi-finals to the winners were South Ramsey’s Peter Collister and Glynn Hargraves (Castletown) to Withers and Dunn, with the former pair trailing all game before making a mini recovery only to eventually lose out 15-21. The other losing semi-finalists were Andy Kennish (Peel) and James Teare (South Ramsey) who lost 18-21 to Hamilton and Clark.

Losing quarter finalists were home greeners Walter McCarthy and Phil Kelly, Juan Killip and Colin Kelly, South Ramsey’s Tony Hart and Lee Dawson along with 2020 winners Stefan Kelly and Alan Moore (also South Ramsey).

At the conclusion of the competition the presentation was made by competition secretary Philip Kelly, who thanked everyone who had helped with the running of the competition and the Marown Ladies for the refreshments provided throughout the day. The newly crowned Manx Champion was then introduced to present the prizes.

Marown Bowling Club hosted this year’s Canada Life International sponsored Manx Championship with the competition once again played over two weekends. The competition attracted 91 entries – the highest entry seen the 1980’s, with the qualifying day held last Sunday whittling the field down to 32 for finals day. At the start of the day there were five previous winners in the field, however four of them fell before the quarter finals to leave the six time champion Colin Kelly as clear favourite on his home green. There was an excellent crowd who came to support their club mates, which added to the great atmosphere.

Last 16 Results

Phil Kerruish 20-21 Dean Kinley
Stevie Kelly 17-21 Bob Clark
Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly 21-9 Gary Smith
Matthew Quirk 21-12 Robert Monk

Neil Withers 13-21 Colin Kelly
Stevie Rundle 12-21 Trevor Quayle
Jordan Cain 21-17 Peter Collister
Walter McCarthy 21-19 Jamie Clague

In the quarter finals Dean Kinley (Castletown), who had put out last year’s champion Paul Dunn 21-7 in his first game of the day had his challenge ended by teammate Bob Clark losing 16-21, whilst Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly (Peel) recovered from a poor start only to lose out 18-21 to Onchan’s Matthew Quirk. Home favourite Colin Kelly had to battle hard to beat Port St Mary’s Trevor Quayle 21-17, whilst Marown C Team player Walter McCarthy performed brilliantly to claim a nerve-wracking 21-20 victory over Jordan Cain (Onchan), playing a brilliant last bowl to progress to the semi-final.

The semi-finals had Kelly up against McCarthy, with Kelly wasting no time in booking his place in the final, thanks to a 21-6 win over his club mate. In the other semi Clark just about kept his nose in front for most of the game against Quirk, leading 15-10, then 18-11 and 19-13 only for Quirk to take a double, a single and another double to close the deficit to just one chalk at 18-19. Clark then made sure of his place in the final with a double on the last end to take a deserved 21-18 win in a good quality contest.

The final started with Kelly the hot favourite on his own green, however Clark had been the favourite from those never to have won the Manx Championship previously to get their name on the trophy, has a good record in head to heads against Kelly and is unflappable under pressure. Both players preferred to play a fair distance, with Kelly leading 9-6 after 12 ends with two doubles from Clark thanks to Kelly uncharacteristically putting both bowls in the ditch in the same corner on two separate occasions. From there the final was thrilling to watch, with Clark having to pull out some great bowls on a number of occasions to stay in touch with Kelly.

One of the defining moments of the game came on the 26th end with Kelly jumping in on Clark’s lead to play a good first bowl with the score 16-15 to the former. With his second bowl Clark ran into the back of Kelly’s bowl and Clark probably felt confident he would only be one down, however Kelly had other ideas, sending his bowl on the other peg to flick off his own bowl then trail the jack to make a brilliant two and increase his lead to 18-15. Kelly then picked up a single on the next end thanks to a great second bowl to play Clark out, only to then have a good lead beaten by another fantastic bowl from Clark to stay in the game at 16-19 to keep the pressure firmly on. On the following end Clark played his lead eight inches to the side of the jack, only for Kelly to play him out once again to lead 20-16. On the final end Kelly played a good lead, with Clark’s bowl just clipping Kelly’s bowl and running through. With his final bowl Clark changed his peg to play a reaching bowl, cruelly missing everything to give Kelly a 21-16 victory in a thrilling final for the spectators. The standard of bowling over distance was of an excellent standard from both players, this final will be remembered for a long time.

The presentation was made by competition committee officer Steve Moore, who introduced Daniel Pownall from the sponsors Canada Life International to present the prizes. Thanks were given to Marown for hosting the event, the greenkeepers for preparing the green, the ladies for the refreshments provided, and all the club members who assisted with the measuring & stewarding throughout. In his speech Kelly was understandably emotional upon claiming his first Manx Championship win on his own green, seventh title overall and this was the fourth different decade that he has won the Manx Championship, with this one being watched by his wife Margaret, children Tom and Kevin and parents Juan and Isabel, it was clear to see how much it meant to him. Both finalists are now eligible to play in the Senior Merit Trophy at Heaton Park BC in Manchester on Saturday 24th July.

Saturday afternoon saw Onchan host the Ken Williamson Memorial Trophy men’s singles held in memory of Hall of Famer, Ken Williamson with 48 players entering the competition.

Play commenced in breezy conditions on a slightly heavy green following Friday’s rain. The 16 preliminary round games went pretty much to form with no major shocks. In the first round, every player managed to achieve double figures. Arguably, the shock of the games came when Walter McCarthy (Marown) beat home A team captain Peter Slinger 21-20. 

Wayne Roberts won his second round derby game against Port St Mary teammate Trevor Quayle, whilst Colin Kelly (Marown) did similar to McCarthy. David Bradford (South Ramsey) took two on the final end against Neil Withers (Marown) to secure a 21-20 win. Quietly working their way through the round were Bob Clark (Castletown) & Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey). Local hero Kevin Quirk, winner of the trophy for the previous three years, succumbed to Paul Dunn (Marown) ending hopes of an Onchan victor. Making up the final eight were slight outsiders James Teare (South Ramsey) & Paul ‘Pooky’ Quirk (Peel).

By the time the quarter finals commenced, the sun had made an appearance providing a slightly faster green for the contestants. Dunn, Kelly & Clark brushed aside Quirk, Roberts & Teare whilst Hargraves won the battle of the South Ramsey ‘blue boys’ against Bradford taking four from the last three ends to win 21-17.

Starting together, the semi-finals were made up of Kelly versus Clark, with Hargraves up against Dunn. Each game was closely fought with only one two in the first 11 ends of each match. From 14-14 after 14 ends, Kelly began to pull ahead eventually running out 21-16 against Clark. In the other semi Hargraves was 15-17 down after 20 ends, however Hargraves dug in to overcome Dunn 21-18. The standard of bowling in each game was excellent & a joy to watch. 

The final saw Hargraves race into a 14-7 lead after seven ends before Kelly took three consecutive doubles. After 15 ends the scores were tied at 17-17. Kelly was leading 19-17 at the 17th end. A close measure gave Hargraves the jack from which he never looked back running out 21-19.

Presenting the trophy & awards was Mike Thomas, Onchan Chairman. Thanks were given to Ken Williamson’s family for continuing to generously support the competition. Also thanked were the ladies for organising the raffle & catering, the measurers, markers, stewards & anyone who had contributed to another successful day’s bowling. In his speech Hargraves thanked Onchan for organising the day’s proceedings. This was the first time he had won the competition & admitted to being old enough to remember Ken in his playing days!