Friday night sees the Associations top team event the Rayner Shield come to a conclusion with the final taking place at the Villa between the top two teams, South Ramsey A and Marown A.

South Ramsey reached the final with four home games, nearly coming unstuck in the first round on what at the time was a poor South Ramsey green against Port St Mary A, before eventually getting through 5-3. In the next round they took on North Ramsey B recording a 8-0 home win, then in the quarter finals recorded 7-1 home win over Castletown B with undoubtedly one of the individual games of the season to watch between David Bradford and Bob Clark with Clark edging it 21-20. By the time the semi-final came around South Ramsey had improved to such an extent it is now one of the best surfaces to play on the island once again, the home team took on Onchan A and ran out 6-2 winners on a blustery evening to book their place in the final, however Onchan battled well cruelly losing three games 20-21 on the night.

Marown’s route to the final was less complicated starting with an 8-0 home win over third division side Peel D, then a visit to the sunset city to take on Peel B resulted in a 1-7 away win. Marown took their place in the semi-final with a 8-0 home win over Finch Hill A, they made no mistake with their 2-6 away win over South Ramsey B to reach the final.

Current holders Marown have won the Rayner Shield 16 times, start as slight favourites due to their huge 12 point lead over their opponents, however South Ramsey have won it three times with their last two wins coming back to back in 2015 & 2016, they know that they can beat Marown after recently visiting Crosby taking a 5-3 win on games, before agonisingly losing out on the aggregate by just one chalk. The final takes place at the same venue that Marown won one of the best finals in recent history in 2017 with the Crosby men winning 5-3 on the night against South Ramsey, with this still no doubt fresh in the mind both teams will be hoping to use this to spur them on.

Best of luck to both teams for what should be a superb encounter, with the weather set to be ideal conditions it should make for a great evening in the Manx bowls calendar.

Draw & Order Of Play

1	Stefan Kelly	vs	Dean Kipling
2	Chas Grills	vs	Neil Withers
3	Glynn Hargraves	vs	Phil Kelly
4	Dido Kelly	vs	Bobby Thorne
5	Alan Moore	vs	Paul Dunn
6	Peter Collister	vs	Colin Kelly
7	David Bradford	vs	Matthew Keggen
8	James Teare	vs	Paul Kelly

On Thursday evening the second semi-final in the Rayner Shield took place between South Ramsey B and Marown A, with the Crosby men huge favourites to reach the final, however the South Ramsey men were hoping to cause an upset with being drawn at home.

There were two winners on the night for the home team with George Brew recording a great 21-20 win over Phil Kelly, whilst Christian Caley also got home with a 21-17 victory over Steve Wilson who had stepped up from the C team, but battled well before losing out. Home captain Ben Dugdale just missed out 19-21 against Matthew Keggen, whilst Austin Hart performed well to score 17 against visiting captain Paul Dunn. For the visitors winning fairly comfortably for the home team were Bobby Thorne winning 21-14 over Tony Dugdale, Neil Withers won 21-10 against Steven Waters, Paul Kelly won 21-9 against Edward Carlyle, whilst Colin Kelly won 21-16 against Sid Bolton.

The final takes place on Friday evening at the Villa with Marown A taking on South Ramsey A in a repeat of the 2017 final at the same green, which South Ramsey looked odds on to win taking a 3-1 lead at the half way stage only for Marown to hit back to win 5-3 on games despite losing on chalks. Marown rightly start as favourites, however South Ramsey know they can beat the Crosby men having recently won five games away from home in the league a couple of weeks ago.

The Noble’s Cup was held on Saturday with 19 pairs taking part, a reasonable number considering it was the All England on Saturday with a number of locals travelling to support the two Isle of Man representatives competing.

The competition was won by home greener Glenn Boland and Matthew Keggen (Marown), seeing off the challenge of the South Ramsey pairing of James Teare & Glynn Hargraves 21-15. The final started with Teare/Hargraves getting off to a flier taking the first six ends, scoring 10 chalks in the process. At 15-5 it looked a long way back for Boland & Keggen, however they got in with a double then won seven consecutive ends in the corners scoring two fours, three doubles and two singles to run out in style.

Losing out in the semi-finals to the winners were the Marown pair of Harry Barton & Bobby Thorne who cruelly lost out 21-20, after leading 20-16 they were lying game on four of the last five ends only for secondary hits to snatch victory away from them. On the last end with Barton & Thorne lying game once again Keggen struck with his last bowl to take out the counting bowl to secure the win, with Thorne unable to find a way in. Teare & Hargraves booked their place in the final with a comfortable 21-7 win over home greeners Les Brookes & Dave Naughton.

Losing quarter finalists were Lee Dawson & Tony Hart (South Ramsey), Paddy Murphy & Dave McCabe (Finch Hill/Port St Mary), Ian Kissack & Rob Corkill (Marown) and Mike Skelly & Bernard Thackrah (North Ramsey/Port St Mary).

The presentation was made by Noble’s secretary Wendy Leece, who thanked all those who had entered the competition, the club members for their support with running the competition.

Peel Bowling Club hosted the popular Peel Town Cup on Saturday with a healthy entry of 53 being one of the biggest so far this season on an improving Peel green. The competition was sponsored by Isle of Man Seafoods leading to an attractive prize pot up for grabs.

The eventual winner was Crosby favourite Colin Kelly who held off home greener Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly with a 21-15 victory. The final started with both players trying to play their favoured corners, however it was Colin who pulled away to build up a good lead which Barney was not able to recover from to allow Colin to take another title to add another trophy to his already impressive season.

Losing semi-finalists were two of the games younger players. Sam Clague (Castletown) lost 11-21 to Colin, whilst Harry Barton (Marown) lost 9-21 to Barney.
Losing out at the quarter final stage were Rob Corkill, Walter McCarthy & Neil Withers (all Marown), with Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey) also losing out.

The presentation was made by Peel President Dougie Allan, who thanked all those who had supported the competition, Isle of Man Seafoods for their generous sponsorship and everyone who had helped with the running of the competition.

There was a good entry of 46 who contested this year’s Dreswick Cup at Port St Mary. The competition was kindly sponsored by The Albert Hotel – Port St Mary. Good weather and a very good green led to an excellent afternoon of bowling.

In the quarter finals Derek Cadamy (Port Erin) lost 14-21 to Paul Skelly (Port St Mary), another home greener Chris Oates 8-21 to Stevie Kelly (Peel), last year’s winner Dave ‘Barney Kelly just lost 20-21 to Trevor Quayle, whilst Wayne Roberts lost 15-21 by Neil Withers (Marown).

In the first semi-final Paul Skelly played Ste Kelly, with both players playing great bowls and it was nip and tuck all the way. After 26 ends Skelly scored a double to take a 19-18 lead. Kelly hit back with a two and a single to take his place in the final. The second semi-final between Trevor Quayle and Neil Withers was also a quality game. At the halfway stage the score was 11-11. Quayle then put a good run together to win 21-15.

In the final Quayle started off the quicker taking a 11-6 lead. With excellent bowling from both players, Quayle reached the 20 mark with Kelly on 15. Kelly fought his way up to 19-20 before Quayle got the point he needed to win The Dreswick Cup for the third time, in what was a quality final.

At the presentation Wayne Roberts thanked the Port St Mary ladies for their usual excellent catering, Ray Watterson for the great condition of the green, anyone else that helped on the day, and Pat O’Meara from the Albert Hotel for their continued sponsorship.

The first Rayner Shield semi-final was played on Wednesday evening with South Ramsey A hosting Onchan A. The green was in fantastic condition and was running superbly considering the amount of rain throughout the day, with the gusting winds playing its part affecting the bowls.

First game off on the night was home captain Glynn Hargraves who was ruthless recording a 21-3 win over Mark Kelly, with Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly not far behind with his 21-6 win over Steve Parker. After just two games with a 32 chalk lead the home team became huge favourites knowing two more wins would be likely enough to secure the win on the night barring any heavy defeats. Kevin Quirk responded for the visitors with a 21-14 win over Peter Collister. The last game of the first half was a great battle between David Bradford leading 20-16 against Peter Slinger, only for Slinger to dig in to take four consecutive singles to level at 20-20 and lying one for game with a 15-inch bowl Bradford held his nerve to bowl in for game in what was an entertaining game to watch. 

In the second half Stefan Kelly put in a good performance scoring four doubles on the bounce to go from 8-6 up to 16-6 to take control, to beat Matthew Quirk 21-12. Alan Moore was next off and was the second home player on the night to get home 21-20 with Phil Kerruish 17-20 down he took three singles to level it at 20-20, only for Moore to put up a great first bowl to end the game. James Teare brought home the third 21-20 win of the night with his win over Frank Watson fighting back from a 16-20 deficit to win. With the match long over it was Chas Grills and Jordan Cain left on the green to entertain the crowd, with Grills leading 16-10 Cain dug in to run out with 11 consecutive chalks to take a 21-16 win.

The match of the season in Ellan Vannin Fuels division one took place at Crosby on Monday night between league leaders Marown A and current champions South Ramsey A. The visitors started strongly with captain Glynn Hargraves winning 21-13 over Dean Kipling after taking a 15-1 lead, Kipling dug in to claw his way back into the game. Next off was Alan Moore who had the visitors biggest win 21-12 against Phil Kelly, with Moore winning 17 ends to Kelly’s seven ends. James Teare continues to impress for the A team to make it 3-0 to the visitors with a good 21-14 win over Paul Kelly. Neil Withers took the only win in the first half for Marown with a 21-5 victory over Ian Moore to reduce the chalks difference to eight in favour of the visitors. In the second half the match was finely balanced with Colin Kelly swinging the aggregate in favour of Marown with a 21-9 win putting the home team four chalks ahead. Next off was David Bradford who claimed a hard fought 21-18 win over Paul Dunn, with Bradford taking a 9-1 and 14-6 lead which helped as Dunn found his rhythm to fight back well to get some all-important chalks on the board. Securing a fifth win on the night for South Ramsey was Stefan Kelly who held a 10-1 lead over Matthew Keggen, which he then extended to 19-9 only for Keggen to respond with three doubles on the bounce which would prove crucial in the match result. Kelly finished the game off with two singles to claim a 21-15 win. Last match on the green was between John Gelling and Peter Collister, with Collister performing well in the second half of the game to recover from a 4-15 deficit before losing out 15-21. Not many teams will go to Marown and take five games off the Crosby men yet South Ramsey did just that, however Marown had the last laugh of the night to edge the aggregate by a solitary chalk (135-134) to take the draw which kept their opponents at arm’s length.

Onchan A capitalised on the clash at Crosby to take a good 9-1 home win over Marown B to close the gap by four points on the league leaders. For Marown Peter Kelly prevented the whitewash with a 21-12 victory over Frank Watson.

In the other matches Castletown A brushed aside their B team with a 9-1 win, with Bob Clark the only winner with a 21-17 victory over Juan Kermode.

Noble’s A took a good 4-6 win away from Mooragh Park with their win over North Ramsey A with Tommy Collister merciless with his 21-0 win on the night.

South Ramsey B closed the gap on Marown B despite slipping to a 3-7 home loss to Peel A, whilst Douglas A did enough to take a 6-4 home win over Port St Mary A.

In division two Ballaugh A continued their good form with their 2-8 away win over second from bottom North Ramsey B, whilst Port Erin B took a hard fought 4-6 away win over Marown C who continue to hold their old own in a match that had five games losing to 19 and above in a finely contested match.

Port St Mary B slipped to a disastrous 3-7 home defeat to their C team with the result suggesting some of their players should be playing in different teams. Finch Hill A performed well to see off close rivals Onchan B with a 6-4 home win.

In division three runaway leaders South Ramsey C recorded a hard fought 6-4 home win over Onchan C, whilst the fight for second goes on with second placed Noble’s B winning 9-1 at home to Douglas C, Finch Hill B lie in third after their 3-7 away win against Port Erin B, whilst Ballaugh C were ruthless with their 10-0 home win over Peel D. Just four points separate second place Onchan (74) and fourth placed Ballaugh (70).