The final of the Rayner Plate took place at Onchan on Friday evening with the expected rain holding off for the majority of the match. The two teams contesting the final were Port St Mary A (+10) who currently occupy seventh place in division one and Marown C (+50) who after being promoted from division three last season sit in a respectable ninth place in division two.

The Port men started as favourites on the night, they got off to a good start with Rob Cooil taking a 21-12 win against Matt Derrick. The first shock of the night came from Crosby man Jamie Joughin who performed brilliantly putting in a man of the match performance to record a stunning 21-8 win over Wayne Roberts. In another shock result James Kelly recovered from a 11-17 deficit to stun Paul Skelly with a superb 21-20 win. The last game off in the first half was a second win for Port St Mary with Bernard Thackrah winning 21-15 against Darren Kerruish. At the half way stage with the 40 chalk handicap included the Crosby men still held a big lead of 39 chalks.

In the second half of the match as the skies darkened the floodlights were put on in front of a good crowd there was plenty of support for both teams around the green. First off in the second half was Port St Mary captain Trevor Quayle who won 21-12 against Kevin Kelly, who did well to reach double figures against the 2018 league merit winner. Next off for Marown was Walter McCarthy who recorded a great 21-16 win over Tim Williams, whilst Marown captain Stephen Rundle battled well before losing out 15-21 to Dave McCabe. With the match and Rayner Plate now secured for the Crosby men Dan Smith put the icing on the cake to win 21-15 with a superb performance against Dan McCabe.

All the plaudits must go to the Marown men who started as the underdogs, however each and every player raised their game, with a C team winning four games against a first division team almost unheard of. The four players that lost for Marown all contributed heavily by reaching double figures with two losses of 12 and two losses of 15 playing a big part in securing their second Rayner Plate win to add to their 2017 success.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves, who thanked Onchan Bowling Club for the use of the green and for their hospitality. Congratulations were given to the winning team with commiserations offered to Port St Mary. Stephen Rundle was then presented with the trophy with the Marown captain congratulating his team for their superb performance and thanking the club members for their support on the night which made for a great atmosphere around the green.

The Islands premier doubles competition was hosted by Castletown Bowling Club on Sunday which was played 21 up off scratch. The event was well supported with 26 pairs taking part in a bid to win the title, which was once again sponsored by Brown Craine & Co.  

Losing out at the quarter final stage were the Marown/South Ramsey pairing of Matthew Keggen and Glynn Hargraves, Paul Kelly & Juan Killip (Marown), Paul Dunn & Neil Withers (Marown) and the Port St Mary duo of Wayne Roberts and Trevor Quayle.

In the semi-finals the first game off was the Douglas pairing of Stuart Garrett and Ian Moore who beat the Peel father and son duo of Dave Kelly and Stevie Kelly 21-13 to take their spot in the final. The South Ramsey combination of John Kennish & David Bradford took their spot in the semi-final after earlier coming through two tough battles against Bob Clark (Castletown) and Matthew Quirk (Onchan) 21-18, followed by Dunn & Withers in the quarter final to the same score with both games being of the highest quality. Their semi-final game against Walter McCarthy and Colin Kelly looked more comfortable with their 21-12 win not really reflecting the game.

In the final Kennish and Bradford started as big favourites having taken the title for the previous three years, taking an 8-0 lead before Garrett & Moore got on the scoreboard with Moore bowling within a foot to beat their opponents counting bowl. Kennish and Bradford kept the pressure firmly on with both of the South Ramsey men playing the corners well to build a commanding 18-3 lead before Moore & Garrett got back in with a double. Moore & Garrett managed to get into double figures with Moore playing another great last bowl when lying game down to take a double before losing out 11-21 for Kennish & Bradford to seal their fourth consecutive victory in the Island premier doubles competition.

The presentation was made by Association Chairman Neil Withers, who thanked the sponsors Browne Craine & Co for their continued support, Castletown Bowling Club for the use of the green and its members for providing helpers throughout the day. Spot prizes were also awarded, with the prize for furthest junior going to Sam Clague (Castletown) The prize for the furthest pairing with a second division player went to Walter McCarthy (Marown) who was paired with Colin Kelly, whilst Cliff Clague (Castletown) received the prize for furthest third division player. Further Over 60’s player was losing finalist Stuart Garrett. The top prize paid out to the winners was £200, with further prizes paid out to the runners up and losing semi-finalists on what was a great day of bowling.

The Canada Life International Rayner Shield final was held at Douglas Bowling Club on Friday evening on a superb surface, between South Ramsey A and Marown A in a match which was once again billed as ‘Thriller at the Villa’, with the current top two teams on the Island going head to head it certainly lived up to its billing with many predicting an outright win for the Crosby men, whilst the players themselves were looking at a 4-4 result and the match being decided on chalks.

Earlier in the week both captains had agreed to do the draw ahead of the match, which was streamed live and has since racked up almost 1000 views on Facebook this seemed to generate a bit of interest.

First off the green for South Ramsey was Stefan Kelly, who took a good 21-15 win over the experienced Dean Kipling with Kipling 3-14 down he dug in to score a further 12 chalks. Next off was South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, knowing he faced a dangerous opponent in Phil ‘Rambo’ Kelly, Hargraves recorded a resounding 21-9 win with a good performance. Hitting back for Marown was Neil Withers who cancelled out South Ramsey’s second win with his own 21-9 victory against Chas Grills, with Grills taking a couple of vital chalks after lying game down at 7-20. Last off in the first half was Dido Kelly who played well to win 21-8 against young Bobby Thorne. At the half way point South Ramsey led 3-1 on games with a 19 chalk advantage (72-53). This brought back memories of 2017 in which the Ramsey men led by the same score and 25 chalks before Marown fought back to win.

In the second half of the match the atmosphere was building in front of a good crowd with great support for both teams around the green the expected fight back came with Marown captain Paul Dunn putting in a superb performance to win 21-6 over Alan Moore, with Moore 0-15 before he got on the board to score six vital chalks. Next off was Paul Kelly who got his revenge for his defeat last time out against James Teare, with Kelly winning 21-10 Teare was another Ramsey man to put a couple more vital chalks on the board before losing out. The match now stood at 3-3 with the Crosby men holding a seven chalk advantage (88-95).

The games left on the green at this point were in the latter stages with David Bradford leading 14-11 against Matthew Keggen, whilst Peter Collister was trailing 15-18 against Colin Kelly after battling well throughout the game to never go more than three chalks behind. Bradford knew he had to run out to give his side the lead once again and he did just that playing the edge of the green well to win 21-11. With things standing at 4-3 to South Ramsey and Collister 17-20 behind if Kelly came off winning by four chalks then a one end shootout would have taken place. Collister had other ideas taking four singles to run out with a superb 21-20 victory to put the icing on the cake for a 5-3 win. Collister was unanimously named Man of the Match by his team mates for his performance on the night under the circumstances.

The presentation was made by stand in competition secretary Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked Canada Life International for their continued sponsorship of the competition, Douglas Bowling Club for the use of the green and their club members for assisting throughout the evening. Association President John Keenan was then introduced to present the Rayner Shield to South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, who offered his commiserations to Marown who had played their part in making it a fantastic final and congratulated his side for a superb team performance to make up for the disappointment of losing out in 2017. South Ramsey’s win sees them take their fourth win in the competition.

Results

Time	Round	Home	Score	Away
19:00	Final Venue: Douglas	South Ramsey A	5–3(130–126)	Marown A
Stefan Kelly 21–15 Dean Kipling Chas Grills 9–21 Neil Withers Glynn Hargraves 21–9 Phil Kelly Dave Kelly 21–8 Bobby Thorne Alan Moore 6–21 Paul Dunn Peter Collister 21–20 Colin Kelly David Bradford 21–11 Matthew Keggen James Teare 10–21 Paul Kelly

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

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.