Marown Bowling Club hosted the Henry Kissack Memorial Trophy on Sunday, attracting an entry of 44.

This was one fewer than last year with one notable absentee, with the holder from the last two years - Andy Kennish - missing out on the opportunity to defend the title once again.

The handicap and scoring system was a throwback to the 1980s/90s with games played 15-up instead of the usual 21-up

Losing out in the quarter-finals were Tom Kelly (Peel) who had his challenge ended by Onchan man Bernie McPhee 14-15, with Kelly not able to get the last point needed after being 14-10 up, while Neil Withers got the better of new Marown team-mate Peter Jones 15-6.

Another home greener, Colin Kelly, reached the semi-final courtesy of a hard-fought 15-12 win over South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves, while Phil Kelly defeated his captain Paul Dunn, with the latter also holding a 14-10 lead and failing to secure the last chalk needed only to lose out 15-14.

The semi-finals had Colin Kelly lose out 9-15 to team-mate Phil Kelly, while Withers had it all his own way as he managed to end the challenge of McPhee with a 15-6 win to book his place in the competition final.

The final was between two former Manx champions, with Withers (-4) having won on his own green in 2009, while two further back Kelly (-2) won the title in 1994 on Noble’s.

The latter managed to hold on to and extend his advantage to lead 7-0 after eight ends.

A mini-revival from Withers pulled the deficit back to only one chalk at 7-8, only for Kelly to finish in style as he scored a single, followed by a double before conceding a single to then finish strongly with two doubles to take a deserved 15-8 victory.

In doing so, he put the gloss on a fine day as he rolled back the years to get over the line against three of his team-mates from the quarter-final stage onwards to ensure he won the trophy for a third time following on from his previous successes in 1996 and 2000.

The presentation was made by Brian Kelly who thanked the Marown members for assisting throughout the day, the team in the kitchen for the refreshments and the green keepers for preparing the green.