The semi-finals and final of the Tower Insurance Cup were held at Noble’s Park No.1 green a week last Wednesday, having been postponed 24 hours because of heavy rain.

North Ramsey A started well against Castletown A in the first semi, with Mike Skelly beating Mike Hargraves 21-20, Brian Colquitt beating Peter Oates to six and Ray Skelly making it three in a row when beating Ron Williams to 18.

Willie Corkill got the first win for Castletown as he beat Geoff Porter to 15, but North Ramsey A captain Steve Parker then beat Castletown A captain George Foy to 19.

Jimmy Moffatt increased the lead for the Ramsey side beating Colin Holland 21-14, and his team-mate John Cannan beat Mark Saunders to 19.

In the final game of this match Dave Hollingworth pulled one back for Castletown as he beat Tony Smart to 19, meaning that North Ramsey A booked themselves a place in the final with a 6-2 win.

The other semi-final saw Onchan A draw first blood out of Douglas A with Mike Kelly beating Pat O’Donohue 21-17, but then Willie Cowley beat Onchan’s Derek Allen to 20 before Onchan A won the next two games with Phil Kerruish beating Kevin Firth to 11 and Kevin Quirk beating Keith Rise to the same score. The second half of the match started better for Douglas A with Jimmy Sansom beating Sid McKnight to eight and Steve Cook beating Neil Dunwell to 16.

Colin Spence then got a fourth win for Onchan as he saw off Tommy Collister to 18, before Shaun Seal levelled the match to 4-4 by beating Mark Kelly to six. Level on games, it was Douglas A that got through to the final by scoring 141 chalks to Onchan’s 134.

Willie Cowley gave Douglas a good start in the final by beating Mike Skelly to 11, but North Ramsey A’s Brian Colquitt beat Keith Rise to 13 and Ray Skelly defeated Pat O’Donohue to 19 before Jimmy Moffatt beat Shaun Seal 21-15 to make it 3-1 to the northerners at the halfway stage.

North Ramsey continued to show good form with Steve Parker beating Jimmy Sansom to 17 and John Cannan defeating Tommy Collister to 18.

The next two games saw wins for Douglas A with Geoff Porter losing 15-21 to Kevin Firth and Gary Merrill going down to the same score against Steve Cook. This secured a 5-3 victory for North Ramsey.

The trophies were presented by Mark Kelly, competition secretary of Isle of Man Men’s Over-60s Bowling League.

In his captain’s speech, Parker thanked Noble’s BC for hosting the competition and sponsor Tower Insurance. He also thanked Andy Kennish, Mark Kelly and Norman Kneen for their work, Terry Bates and Brian Kelly for acting as referees.

NORMAN KNEEN