Isle of Man Indoor Bowls Association’s annual Pairs Championship took place at the National Sports Centre last week.

The event began on the Monday with two preliminary round matches and three first round contests.

In the prelims, the father and son pairing Clive and Mark McGreal proved to be too strong for Dee Lewis and David Quirk, while Stefan Kelly and Alan Moore took the win against Trevor Quayle and Wayne Roberts.

In the first round proper, Win and John Kewley beat Paula and Stuart Garrett, Marilyn Ellison and Libby Andrade did well to beat Joyce Ogden and Caroline Whitehead while Bernice McGreal and Janice Pilling defeated Mike Moyer and Mair Moore.

Tuesday night saw the remaining first round matches take place which produced some close games, with two ending a tie after the regulation 10 ends were completed and proceeding to a one-end tie-break.

The first of these saw Rob Matthews and Gordon Wynne-Smythe tie 8-8 with Mary Manuja and Colin Brown only for the latter team to lose the tie-break.

The second tie-break of the night saw Bob Callow and Norman Kneen also draw 8-8 with Joanne Kelly and Tina Hampson - the latter pair were unlucky to lose after a very close battle.

In the remaining games, the McGreals beat Kelly and Moore, Marcia Pearson and Muriel Cain beat Edward Carlyle and Brian Lindsay, while Paul Dougherty and Peter Hughes beat Shirley and Gordon Corrin.

In the quarter-finals a gallant effort from the Kewleys came to an end when they lost in a tie-break to Pilling and B. McGreal, while Pearson and Cain were too strong for Dougherty and Hughes.

Matthews and Wynne-Smythe lost to Ellison and Andrade, while in the remaining game Pam Makin stood in as a very capable reserve alongside Kneen but they were comfortably beaten by Clive and Mark McGreal.

The semi-finals saw the in-form McGreal pairing prove to be too strong for Pearson and Cain, while Ellison and Andrade - who had battled so well all week - beat Pilling and Bernice McGreal to earn themselves a place in the final.

The final pitted one of the least experienced pairs in the competition against arguably the most experienced pair of Clive and Mark McGreal who put on a masterclass to coast to victory.

But take nothing away from Ellison and Andrade who should be proud of their performances all week and fully deserved their place in the final.

NORMAN KNEEN