The final of the Jean Kelly Memorial Shield, the premier women’s team knockout competition, was held at Onchan Bowling Club on Thursday evening.  

With heavy rain throughout the day, this took away any prospect of a tricky green but the rain had cleared by the time the final got underway, with a dry green with ideal bowling conditions.  

There was a good crowd in attendance with fantastic support for both teams, which resulted in a good atmosphere around the green.  

With a neutral venue the handicaps were South Ramsey (+14) and Marown A (+18), with the Crosby team having a four-chalk start on their opponents.  

A tough one to call who would emerge as the winner: with Marown second in the league and South Ramsey in third place, there is little to choose between the teams. 

From the first five games on the green, Marown struck the first blow and built a sizeable lead, with Rebecca Teare beating Sue Collier 21-3 in the corners.  

Lauren Groen pulled some chalks back for South Ramsey with a 21-9 win over junior bowler Martha Butler, with the latter making her first appearance in a team final.  

Debbie Leece performed well to beat Elaine Moore 21-16, while South Ramsey captain Fiona Kennish put in a top performance to hold off former team-mate Lyn Bolton with a 21-16 win.  

Rounding off the games in the first half of the match, Marown captain Helen Withers put in a solid display to comfortably beat Kim Hargraves 21-12. At the halfway stage of the match Marown were 3-2 up on games and crucially led on the all-important chalks (102-87). 

The atmosphere and tension started to build around the green in the second half of the match. 

While it looked a long way back for South Ramsey, they had a couple of big hitters to come along with two very determined individuals who never give up, which proved to be the difference on the night. 

Judy Kelly put in a superb performance against Jayne Smith to win 21-14, clawing back seven chalks from the lead held by Marown.  

Another six chalks were picked up by South as two of the top female bowlers Jenny Moore and Clare Cooper were up against each other. With the latter taking the early initiative, Moore battled back to win 21-15. 

With Marown now only two chalks ahead, the final two games on the green saw huge leads for South Ramsey.  

The next game off proved to be the final nail in the coffin as former Marown player Joyce Ogden, who looked as determined as anyone on the green, beat Rebekah Kelly 21-6 to put South Ramsey into the lead for the first time in the match by 13 chalks.  

The final game on the green between Gill Dixon and Lynda Cadamy then turned into a formality. 

With Dixon having built up a huge lead in the first half of her game, she was then on the receiving end of a fightback from Cadamy but the South player got over the line with a 21-15 victory. 

South Ramsey regained the Jean Kelly Memorial Shield by 19 chalks with the scores 171-152 in their favour, while also winning 6-3 on games. This is the fifth time that South Ramsey have won the competition. 

The presentation was made by Moore Kelly’s daughter in law Carolyn Kelly who called up the captains to present the prizes to their teams.  

South Ramsey skipper Fiona Kennish was then presented with the shield and she thanked the Kelly family for their continued support of the competition, which included the prizes and the refreshments, Onchan Bowling Club for hosting and congratulated her team on their performance while offering her commiserations to Marown A. 

GLYNN HARGRAVES