News: Reports
IOM Ladies’ Pairs
There were 18 pairs entered for the Association IOM Pairs Championship held at Ballaugh on Sunday 22 May. It was a perfect day, the green was running well, there was good bowling with some surprises along the way.
Both semi-finals were close affairs. In the first Gill and Elaine stormed through to lead 20-14, at which point Ann and Jenny dug their heels in coming back to level the scores at “all-but” across before Gill and Elaine secured the point necessary to take them through to the final. The surprise pairing of the afternoon were Mooragh Park’s Julie Reilly and Vicky Lloyd-West who had played well to reach this stage. Up against the more experienced home greeners their good form continued, as they reached 19-15 before their opponents staged a fight-back to level at 19-19. The Mooragh pair held their nerve to produce a 2 on the next end and book a place in the final.
Semi-finals: Gill Dixon and Elaine Moore 21, Ann Gale and Jenny Maddrell 20; Julie Reilly and Vicky Lloyd-West 21, Barbara Graham and Christine McDonald !9
The wheels fell off for Julie and Vicky as they faced last year’s winners in the final. An imperious display saw Gill and Elaine retain their title 21-7.
The presentation was made by Association president, Rosie Winckle, who thanked Ballaugh for the use of their premises and their help during the afternoon. Thanks also went to all those involved in the smooth running of the afternoon.
Henry Kissack Trophy
A superb entry of 54 men made the trip to Marown on Saturday to compete for the Henry Kissack Trophy.
It was a sublime mix of the cream of the Islands crop and some of the games newer players as the club implemented a challenging handicap system ranging from 3-10 points.
South Ramsey’s John Kennish ran out winner on the day after an extremely entertaining final which saw him get the better of home green Dean Kipling 21-19.
Kennish booked his place in the final with a 21-11 win over Port Errin’s Bernard Thakrah whilst Kipling had his work cut out beating inform Matthew Keggen 21-20.
Fallers at the quarter final stage were Juan Killip, Neil Withers, Glynn Hargraves and Colin Kelly.
Praise goes to Marown for an excellently run competition with an innovative handicapping system.
Marown Lead The Way
Division One of the Ellan Vannin Fuels league is starting to take shape and Marown A and South Ramsey A are making the early running to give themselves some breathing space at the top.
Marown lead the way, six points ahead of South having played a game more, but will be disappointed to have only won 8-2 at home against Noble A last week. They sit out on Monday and will be expecting South to pass them the only question to be answered is by how much, before they travel to Douglas B on Friday evening?
South won 9-1 away at Ballaugh A last week and with a home fixture against Finch Hill A would expect to hit the top on Monday night. They have a tough midweek home fixture against Port St Mary A so it will be interesting to see how the land lies going into next week.
Onchan A are eight points off the top on the same number of games as Marown after negotiating too extremely tricky fixtures last week. They defeated Douglas A 6-4 at the park on Monday after drawing on games before travelling to Port St Mary A where they lost 5-3 on games but took the aggregate points to secure a 5-5 overall draw.
The champions, Onchan, are not down and out but they need to start winning big if they want to start closing on their rivals and they need to start doing it now as they cant afford the gap to widen if they are to fulfil their title ambitions.
Port St Mary A are now in fourth after their strong showing against the champions backed up a battling 7-3 away win against Douglas B at the Villa Marina on Monday.
Douglas B have started well and are still one point ahead of their A team, having played a game more, and they will be hoping this is still the case after they face off in the Douglas derby this week.
High flying South Ramsey B suffered a rare home defeat in the local derby against North Ramsey A after the match tied on games with North doing enough to snatch the aggregate points and overall win.
Port Erin A beat Finch Hill A 6-4 away from home in the final fixture of the division after tying on games but winning on points.
This defeat leaves Finch third from bottom after a promising start and in an early battle with Ballaugh A and basement team Nobles A to remain in the top flight next season.
Peel A are back at the summit of Division 2 after a solid 8-2 win over Marown B followed up by a 9-1 win in the rearranged fixture against the Sunset City C team.
Onchan B remain in second place after winning 7-3 away at Nobles B, however they now find themselves six points adrift of the Govags and will need to start closing the gap soon if they want their hands on the silverware come the end of the season.
Castletown B kept their own bid for the title on track with their own 7-3 victory over Onchan C.
Port St Mary B are now in fourth place and closing in on the teams above them after a brilliant 10-0 maximum over Ballaugh B.
Douglas C find themselves back on top of Division Three after a strong 8-2 win away at Ballaugh C. They are on the same points as Port Erin B, who won 6-4 at home against Nobles C, with a game in hand.
Ladies’ over 60’s Tuesday 17 May
Port St Mary A were too strong for Villa in the Trend sponsored over 60’s league on Tuesday 17 May, winning all six games, four of them to single figures. The main resistance came from Brenda Williams who reached 20 against Kath Looney. Maureen Quilliam spared Marown’s blushes, her 21-19 win over Jean Quine denying Peel Sunset a full house. It was Flo Price who spoiled the party for Port Erin, although Sonja Lees almost gave Nobles a second game, reaching 19 against Jean Thackrah. Douglas were a player short giving the advantage to Port St Mary B despite ending level on games. At Ballaugh the home side won 4-2 on games, but the visitors, Castletown, showed the value of fighting for every point ending with a 9 point advantage. In a low scoring match Mooragh Park managed a draw on games against Breagle, who were a player short, and ended just 6 points short of their first win of the season.
Onchan Ladies’ Singles Open
It was a case of quality rather than quantity at Onchan on Wednesday 11 May when a select field of 16 gathered to compete for the Onchan Ladies’ Singles title.
There were some very close matches throughout the afternoon with several games, including two in the first round, ending 21-20.
Quarter-finals: Tricia Bull 21, Roma Ware 17; Chris Price 21, Maureen Payne 20; Helen Martin 21, Philippa Taylor 14; Lyn Bolton 21, Mary Alderson 15
Semi-finals: Chris Price 21, Tricia Bull 15; Lyn Bolton 21, Helen Martin 16
This left Chris and Lyn to contest the final, and they did not disappoint, producing quality bowls in a nail-biting match.
Chris got of to the better start, reaching an early lead of 13-8, before Lyn won 6 ends in a row to gain the advantage 15-13.It was Chris’s turn again and she raced to 20-17, but anyone who thought she had it in the bag were mistaken as Lyn dug in and took the game with four singles to make the final score 21-20.
The presentation was made by President, Lynda Clarke, who thanked all those involved in running the competition and raffle and providing the refreshments. She also praised the standard of bowls during the afternoon, particularly in the semi-finals and the final.
Greeba Cup
There was an entry of 20 pairs at Marown on Saturday 21 May competing for the Greeba Cup. The weather stayed fine, if a little windy and the green quickened as the afternoon progressed.
Semi-finals: Paula Firth and Lin Ruscoe 21, Marie Ashurst and Kath Kinley 14; Paula Garrett and Lyn Bolton 21, Lynda Wilson and Heather Horsburgh 6
This set up a Lin and Paula v Lyn and Paula final which, the way both pairs have been playing this season, had to happen at some point !
As could be expected the final was a close and nail-biting affair. Bolton and Garrett took the early initiative taking a 14-10 lead, and although the next few ends were shared, two threes from Firth and Ruscoe brought the scores level at 17-17.At 18 across the Nobles’ pair scored a 2 to reach “all-but” then a single for each pair meant that Lin and Paula ran out 21-19 winners.
Rosie Winckle then introduced President Shirley Whelan to make the presentations. Shirley thanked those who had entered and those who stayed to the end commenting on the exciting final which meant that no-one left during it. She also thanked the Marown members who had helped during the afternoon, particularly Irene with the refreshments.
C Tarleton Hodgson Ladies’ league Friday 20 May
In a very close match at Purt le Moirrey, on Friday 20 May, where four of the nine games ended 21-20 (two going the way of each side), Marown had their second win of the season, with six wins and two 20’s amassing a total of 172 points against Purt Le Moirrey. At the top of the table, Castletown dropped just one point against Ballaugh where Jenny Maddrell had the better of Kim Foy 21-20, while Port St Mary did not have it all their own way at Peel, reaching a total of 156 points, although they did win the match. It was a similar story for South Ramsey who were kept to the same score, 156, by Nobles’. Mooragh Park had two winners against Port Erin and also Vicky Lloyd-West reaching 20 against Lynda Cadamy. Onchan won 4 games and had a 20 courtesy of Flo Kelly against Pat Kelly, but with Douglas winning three games to single figures were well behind on points..
C Tarleton Hodgson Ladies’ League Wednesday 18 May
League leaders Port St Mary were two strong for Port Erin,in the C Tarleton Hodgson sponsored ladies’ league onWednesday 18, coming away with a maximum, Lynda Cadamy being top-scorer for the visitors. Chasing teams Castletown and South Ramsey also had good results on the night, Janet Monk denying Castletown a full-house while Dee Lewis was the fly in the ointment for South Ramsey. It was also a good night for Peel Sunset at Marown, although only winning 6 games a 20 for Cath Parker against Rosie Winckle and Lynda Wilson’s 18 against Shirley Whelan meant they dropped only 14 points. Although losing 4-5 on games, Douglas finished 4 points ahead of Ballaugh in the closest match of the night, the closest game of the match seeing Muriel Cain just lose out 20-21 to Pat Mason. Nobles had a 5-4 advantage, but a 20 from Kim Hargraves against Pauline Worrall, and 19 for Lin Ruscoe against Roma Ware gave them a good points advantage.
Gladys Cowell Ladies’ over 60’s singles
The sun shone in the west for the Gladys Cowell ladies’ over 60’s singles open played at Peel on Saturday 14 May. With a field of 30, a fast green and the good weather it was an ideal day for playing bowls. Some very close matches of a high standard were enjoyed by the spectators, many of whom stayed to the end.
Quarter-finals: Ann Hollingworth 21, Win Collister 14; Jean Thackrah 21, Voirrey Curphey 15; Margaret Tasker 21, Cath Parker 15; Mary Moffatt 21, Sylvia Kennaugh 19
Semi-finals: Ann Hollingworth 21, Jean Thackrah 10; Mary Moffatt 21, Margaret Tasker 18.
In the final Mary was in imperious form, with Ann having little in response. The Peel player won in 12 ends with seven 2s and a single, Ann scoring three singles in reply.
Final: Mary Moffatt 21, Ann Hollingworth 9
The presentation was made by club president, Heather Horsburgh, who thanked all those who had entered, those who had stayed to watch the final, and, of course, all the Peel ladies’ who had helped in any way in the smooth running of the afternoon.
Ladies’ over 60’s Tuesday 10 May
Castletown claimed a maximum against Mooragh Park in the Trend sponsored over 60’s league on Tuesday 10 May with only two of the visiting players, Moira Anderson and Frances Radcliffe reaching double figures. Chris Holland spared Port St Mary’s blushes when her win denied Peel Sunset a full house. The visitors won three of their games to single figures. Port St Mary A won 4-2 on games at Onchan with Margaret Tasker winning to single figures. Two games went all the way with Kath Looney losing out 20-21 to Joyce Gardiner and Flo Kelly losing to Rita Callister by the same score. It was a local derby at Port Erin when Breagle, as the home team, lost out 2-4 on games with Joyce Henry and Steph Swift providing their two wins, Steph just coming through 21-20 against Mavis Franks. The other two matches of the morning were closer, both ending level on games. Nobles’ had an eight point advantage over Douglas with some very close games, Jo Oldam scring 19 against Pat Dacre while Sonja Lees took Patsy Rush all the way before going down 20-21. There were only 2 points in it when Villa entertained Ballaugh, the advantage going to the visitors.