The home of indoor bowling on the Isle of Man
After three rounds of competition, the Ladies Singles final was held between Bernice McGreal and Caroline Corlett.
It was a very close game throughout with Bernice winning both sets.
On the next rink, the Men’s Singles final took place between Mark McGreal and John Kewley. This was also a close match ending with Mark taking both sets.
Mark has previously won the trophy, but it was Bernice’s first time winning the Indoor Ladies Single title.
Spectators at the final of the indoor bowls triples championship were in for a treat on Saturday afternoon at the NSC. Trevor Quayle, Wayne Roberts and Brian Lindsay had reached the final after winning the first round against Mike Moyer, Anne Bannan and Nicola Whiting; and the semi-final against Win Kewley, Pam Makin and John Kewley.
Their opponents in the final were Clive McGreal, Bernice McGreal and David Quirk. They had reached the final after going through the first round then winning the semi-final against Phil Connelly, Les Crellin and Andy Dixon.
The Quayle, Roberts and Lindsay team got off to a dream start by taking four chalks in the first end. It was playing catch-up for the McGreal-Quirk team, however, by the 8th end they had taken the lead 8-7. The set ended 12-8 in favour of the Quayle team after they took the next 2-ends.
In the second set the ends were evenly matched, and it was 3 all by the fifth end. The McGreal team then pulled away to take the set 10-5 and the match was all set for a one-end shoot out.
The Quayle team’s lead and second had seemingly done enough to secure the win, leaving no easy path to the jack through the tightly packed head. It was then down to the McGreal skip to try and snatch the victory but, despite his best efforts, the last McGreal bowl was sent a little too fast, passing the jack, meaning Quayle, Roberts and Lindsay became Triples Champions for the 2024/25 season.
A special thank you to Gary Lenton for organizing and running the Pairs and Triples Championships.
On Friday night, two sets of 8 ends were the prospect for our Aqua Café Triples Championship finalists; Marcia Pearson, Muriel Cain and Clive McGreal facing Trevor Quayle, Glenn Boland and Wayne Roberts. The match started with a bang in the first end when Boland trailed the jack to count 6 which McGreal could only reduce by 1. Another 5 chalks in the third end put the set out of reach despite heroic efforts from the opposition. After winning only 3 ends of the 8, the set finished 12-6 in favour of Quayle/Boland/Roberts.
The second set proved to be a much steadier affair but the gallery continued to admire some magnificent shots. It was nip and tuck with teams lying shot then being displaced, though Quayle/Boland/Roberts were always a shot or two ahead. End 7 brought drama when Pearson/Cain/McGreal were lying 4 and Roberts drove the jack off the rink to lie 6 after the re-spot; McGreal’s subsequent draw to sit on the jack gave the only consolation for his team. The set finished 8-4 and Quayle/Boland/Roberts lifted the trophy to take the double, having already won the Triples League.
Saturday afternoon’s entertainment began with the Men’s and Ladies’ Singles Finals being played alongside each other – Clive McGreal v Trevor Quayle and Muriel Cain v Paula Garrett. The gallery looked like they were at a tennis match as their attention was drawn from one match to the other. Miracle shots and intense concentration were needed by the players in both matches as they set out to play 2 sets of 10 ends.
McGreal and Quayle alternated the honours over the first 4 ends to bring them level at 4 across, then McGreal began to pull away to reach 8-4. One more from Quayle, then another for McGreal left the set poised at 9-5 with 2 ends to play. Quayle managed 3 more chalks, tantalisingly close, but the set was McGreal’s.
Meanwhile, Cain set the standard in the ladies’ match with her first two bowls marked as touchers. Garrett came back with 3 shots on the third end to level the match at 3 across, then Cain knuckled down and put on one of her classic displays of accuracy to take the first set 10-4.
Back to the guys where Quayle took the first point in the second set only to be prevented from scoring for the next 5 ends. At 10-1 in McGreal’s favour after 6 ends, it looked all over, but Quayle dug deep and produced some terrific shots to lift his tally to 5. Two ends left to play, 10-5, and McGreal stepped up to draw shot and put the set out of Quayle’s reach.
On the next-door rink, the ladies were battling away with Garrett taking the first 5 ends to put her 6-0 up. Cain scored 2 on the sixth but Garrett had the bit between her teeth and allowed no more chalks against, winning the set 11-2. So, the dreaded one-end tiebreaker was all set for the ladies, with the audience on the edges of their seats. Cain put her first bowl within inches of the jack and, despite Garrett’s best efforts, it never moved and Cain took the win.
So, our Aqua Café Singles Champions are Clive McGreal and Muriel Cain.
A deep breath, and on to the Pairs final featuring James Teare and Jenny Moore v Dee Lewis and Eddie Carlyle playing 2 sets of 8 ends. Teare & Moore set up their campaign in the best possible way by scoring 5 on the first end, leaving an uphill battle for their opponents. However, Lewis & Carlyle put on a brave face and set to work, taking the next 5 ends to turn the match to 7-5 in their favour. Two for Teare & Moore levelled the scores at 7 across, but that was it for the northerners as Lewis & Carlyle took one off each of the final 2 ends to win the set 9-7.
The second set commenced with Lewis & Carlyle on a roll and benefitting from a couple of extremely close calls to sit 5-0 after 4 ends. Two for Teare & Moore was followed by one for Lewis & Carlyle; a pattern repeated over the final 2 ends to leave Lewis & Carlyle winning the set 9-4. Dee Lewis and Eddie Carlyle are our Aqua Café Pairs Champions.
On Sunday the juniors were in action competing for the Acqua Cafe Junior Championship. The final was between Myles Taylor and William Corris who had both previously won their 1st round. There was some great bowling and sportsmanship from the juniors, and it was William who pulled ahead to take the match and the trophy.
Thank you to our sponsors the Aqua Café.
On Monday evening the ladies were in action in the quarterfinals of the Aqua Café singles championships when Dee Lewis prevailed against Caroline Corlett, Muriel Cain beat Anne Bannan and Paula Garrett succeeded against Marilyn Ellison.
A good crowd offered support at Friday’s semi-finals when Lewis met Cain and Garrett took on Win Kewley in matches consisting of two sets of 10 ends.
Cain was 5-2 up after four ends and increased her advantage to 9-2 by the sixth. Lewis won the next two ends but, when Cain won the ninth, Lewis conceded the set 10-4. Cain’s accuracy continued into the second set and Lewis was unable to score a point until the sixth end when the score was 7-1 in favour of Cain. Another 2 points followed for Lewis, but the game was beyond reach and she conceded; 9-3 after nine ends.
In the second semi, Garrett had a 4-1 lead by the third end. However, Kewley managed to pull back 2 chalks on the next but Garrett chipped away to reach 10 chalks and Kewley conceded the set. In the second set, it wasn’t until the fifth end that Kewley won 2 chalks; by this point Garrett had amassed 9. Two more ends saw the score 14-2 for Garrett and the match was conceded.
So, our Ladies’ Finalists on Saturday 23rd March are Muriel Cain and Paula Garrett.
The week started with the knockout stages to get to the men’s semi-finals, played on Friday at the NSC, when the audience were treated to some wonderful bowling. Last year’s runner-up Glenn Boland met Clive McGreal, who took the first set convincingly, but Glenn rallied to produce some terrific shots, winning the second set and forcing a one-end shoot out. The short story is that McGreal was holding shot, Boland drove taking the jack out of the rink, but it was McGreal who managed to draw closest to the re-spot to win the match.
The other semi between Trevor Quayle and Wayne Roberts saw Quayle take the first set, but the second set was poised with level scores and one end to go. With almost the last bowl, Quayle managed to draw in for the shot and the win, setting up an exciting final between Clive McGreal and Trevor Quayle on Saturday 23rd March.
The Women’s Singles are taking place as we go press.
Thank you to our sponsors The Aqua Café.
Last week saw the 3R’s Indoor Bowls Singles Championship take place in the Bowls Hall at the NSC with those who were lucky enough to be spectators being treated to a display of excellent bowling.
In the Ladies Championship there were some great matches at the Quarter Final stage with Win Kewley beating Marilyn Ellison and Paula Garrett beating Caroline Whitehead. In the remaining two matches Glynis Drinkwater beat Muriel Cain and Libby Andrade beat Dee Lewis. This led us to the Semi Finals and Final which were played on Thursday evening and in the first of these we saw Paula Garrett who had previously won the Championship in 2019 and 2020 beat Win Kewley in two straight sets. In the remaining game we saw a closer match with Glynis Drinkwater winning the first set 11-5 and Libby Andrade winning the second one 10-4 which meant a one end tie break which was won by Glynis Drinkwater to take her through to the Final in her first full season of Indoor Bowls.
In the Final Glynis started well and went into an early lead before Paula came back to win the first set 8-3 and in the second set Paula raised her game to win the set 13-2 and become the Ladies Singles Champion for the third time with Glynis being a very worthy runner up.
At the Quarter Finals stage of the 3R’s Men’s Singles Championship we saw Peter Greenlees beat Mike Ashmole and Glen Boland beat the ever consistent veteran Colin Brown. The remaining two games finished with Wayne Roberts beating Mike Moyer and Bob Clark taking the win against Shaun Seal. At the Semi Final stage unfortunately Peter Greenlees had to withdraw to travel to the UK for personal reasons putting Glen Boland straight through to the Final. In the remaining Semi Final those present were treated to a great display of bowling with Bob Clark winning the first set 9-3 and Wayne Roberts winning the second set 8-3 which led to a tie break which saw Bob progress to the Final.
The Final once more saw some great bowls with Bob being too good for Glen on the night winning the first set 10-5 and the second set 10-3 to become the 3R’s Men’s Singles Champion for 2023 and Glen also deserves praise for the way he has improved throughout the season.
Many thanks go to sponsor Rob Matthews of 3R’s for his support and to Win and John Kewley and all those who helped with the staging of the Championships.