Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The Manx Championship got underway on Sunday afternoon with a healthy entry of 62, despite the competition being played in a split format over two greens for the first time ever.

With South Ramsey as one of the two qualifying greens, there weren’t too many shocks that took place, with perhaps the closest thing to a shock was Noble’s captain Alex Yates reaching the quarter finals with a solid 21-14 win over Marown B captain Juan Killip.

The second qualifier was Marown’s Peter Jones, who had a good tussle with Breagle man Wayne Roberts, with the latter fighting back from a 7-14 deficit to level the game up at 17-17, only for Jones to steady the ship and see the game out with four singles to progress with a 21-17 win.

The third spot in the quarters went to seven-time champion Colin Kelly (Marown), who had a battle on his hands with Onchan captain Matthew Quirk, with the latter leading 15-11, the game went to 20-20, with the Marown man winning the deciding end.

The final spot at South Ramsey went to Marown captain Paul Dunn, with a 21-8 win over Finch Hill’s Stephen Oates. Dunn rather unusually only had to play one game, as he had received a bye in the first game, then his opponent who also had a bye in the next round withdrew from the competition. This was in contrast to the other qualifiers who had to win three games to qualify.

In the capital of the Island, Finch Hill hosted the remaining bowlers, with a number of big hitters clashing in the early rounds, with this there were several high profile casualties.

Peel’s Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly breezed through his qualifying game with a 21-9 win over Phil Kelly (Marown) to become the first Peel man to qualify for finals night.

Marown’s Jamie Box had to face teammate Tom Kelly in his qualifying game, with the game being well contested throughout, however Box had enough in the locker to see the game out with a battling 21-19 win.

12-time Manx Champion John Kennish (South Ramsey) lost out to Reg Temporaza (Onchan), in the second round, with the Onchan man recovering from a heavy deficit to progress. In his qualifying game Temporaza faced 2001 Manx Champion Ewan Cooil, with the Breagle man leading 17-11, Reg once again fought back to see the game out with a strong finish to qualify for finals night.

The last game on the green was between Rob Monk (North Ramsey) and Rob Middleton (Peel), with the latter taking a10-4 lead, Monk went on to lead 17-16 after 26 ends. Middleton secured two successive singles to lead 18-17, with the North Ramsey man doing likewise. With the game finely poised at 19-18, Middleton scored the three chalks required taking three singles to win 21-19.

Other casualties in the earlier rounds were the current holder and three-time Manx Champion David Bradford who went out to Ballaugh man Mike Spooner, two-time winner Neil Withers, who lost out to Alan Moore (South Ramsey), another two-time winner Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) went out to Tom Kelly, whilst recent Association Cup winner Stevie Kelly lost out to Ewan Cooil.

With certain players unable to play on their home green, a redraw took place to decide who would play who in the last 8 of the competition.

The draw was done live on Facebook as follows:-

Reg Temporaza vs Alex Yates

Paul Dunn vs Peter Jones

Jamie Box vs Rob Middleton

Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly vs Colin Kelly

The competition will be played to a conclusion on Wednesday evening at Douglas Bowling club with play getting underway at 7pm, with BCGBA dress code required.

Preview

The Onchan man Temporaza starts as favourite in this tie, however Yates has been known to cause an upset have reached the quarter final stages of the September Festival a couple of years ago, so should be written off at your peril.

The two Marown teammates Paul Dunn and Peter Jones promises to be a blockbuster of a game, with Dunn having one Manx Championship title to his name, he will be looking to add number two. Jones on the other hand, has settled into Island life since his move four years ago, has won four singles open competitions, with the biggest win being the Manx Masters at the end of the first season he moved over. Jones also turns out regularly for the island team, is more than capable of upsetting his captain. A tough one to call.

Jamie Box is another Merseyside man, who is settling into Island life, having moved over in the latter part of the 2025 season, he is finding his feet in Marown A team. His opponent Rob Middleton generally plies his trade for Peel B, doesn’t enter a huge number of opens, but generally gets through a few rounds when he does, he has proven he can mix it with the better players in the past. Middleton is another man who will just keep plugging away, should not be written off.

The final match up is between two stalwarts of the game, Peel man Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly whose name is forever written into the History of the Bowling Festival having picked up a June festival title in June 2000, whilst Colin Kelly (Marown) did the same in June 2008. The Marown man does have seven Manx Championship wins under his belt, and with it the ultimate prize in the game when he won the Champions of Champions title at the Waterloo Bowling Green in Blackpool in 2019. Whilst Colin starts as the favourite, Barney will be looking to pick up his first Manx Championship having suffered heartache in the final on four occasions to date, with the two most recent efforts being in 2020 and 2022.