The Men’s Over-60s’ Crown Green Bowls season came to an end last Thursday (September 19) with the semi-finals and final of the Tower Insurance Cup being played on Noble’s No 2 Green.

In the semis, Douglas A played Onchan A who they had beaten two days previously in the Ismay Cup final, but this time, after a very close battle, it was Onchan A who came away with a 5-3 win.

The other semi-final saw Castletown A and South Ramsey A play out a 4-4 draw, but as South Ramsey A scored 147 chalks to Castletown A’s 144 it was the Ramsey side that went through to play Onchan A in the final.

That started well for Onchan A as in the first half Franz Ten Donkellar lost 11/21 to Onchan A’s Peter Slinger, Bryan Corner lost 20/21 to Phil Kerruish, Steve Kelly lost 9/21 to Sid McKnight and George Brew lost 12/21 to Mike Thomas giving the Onchan team a 4-0 lead.

In the remaining four games South Ramsey A’s James Moore beat Derek Allen 21/17 and Lee Dawson beat Mike Alexander 21/16 to close the score to 2/6 in the match.

In the remaining two games, however, the South Ramsey A men were unable to maintain their comeback as Greg Barlow lost 16/21 to Kevin Quirk and Anthony Kelly lost 12/21 to Colin Spence meaning that the winners of the 2024 Tower Insurance Cup were Onchan.

The trophies were presented by the chairman of the Over-60s Bowling Association, Phil Taubman MBE, who thanked Tower Insurance for sponsoring the competition.

Onchan captain Phil Kerruish thanked Noble’s for hosting the event and also thanked the sponsors, Brian Kelly and Terry Bates for refereeing and Mark Kelly for running the competition.

NORMAN KNEEN