Stephen Gale retained his 4 Bowl Singles title after beating Collin Holland 14-3 in the final last Sunday at the NSC.

The day started with 3 preliminary games with Eddie Brew beating Stephen Bradley 27-0 while Jayne Smith came through 8-4 against Ann Hollingworth. Seamus Whelan needrf an extra end to beat Richard Faragher 7-6. The first round proper saw Collin Holland beat Sheila Durcan 13-5. Sylvia Maddrell beat Maureen Trustham 14-8. Eric Maddocks staged a terrific comeback against Chris Holland to draw 12-12 before Chris took the extra end tiebreak to progress to the quarter-finals. Michael Collister also made it through with a 11-5 win over Bernie Kaighin. The other side of the draw saw Stephen Gale start slowly against David Cottier but came back well to win 12-7. Steve Durcan beat James Teare 18-7 while Eddie BRew had enough good win, beating Bernie Durcan 15-5. Seamus Whelan ended Jayne Smith’s run with a 12-8 victory.

The quarter finals saw Whelan run out of steam against an excelle Eddie Brew, losing 12-6 while Stephen Gale beat Steve Durcan 13-4. Collin Holland won a tight match against Sylvia Maddrell 7-5 and Michael Collister beat Chris Holland 14-3. The semi-finals saw Collister meet Holland in a match that went to the wire. With scores level at 8 all on the last end Collister produced an excellent backhand drive to leave him on but Holland then drew shot again. Unfortunately for Collister he couldn’t repeat his previous shot meaning Holland took his spot in the final with a 9-8 victory. The other semi-final saw Brew get off to a good start with a 3 on the first end but Gale soon came back leading 5-4 at the half way point. Gale then extended the lead to 11-4 before a 2 on the 10th end kept Brew in it. Gale won the next end however to ensure he made it into the final coming through 12-8 in the end.

The final saw things fall into place for Gale, moving into a early 5-1 lead after 4 ends. Some good game management saw him extend his lead out to 9-2 after 9 ends and with Holland chasing a big score Gale took a 4 on the 10th end to leave it out of reach for Holland and a comfortable 14-3 win in the end for Gale to retain his title from last season.

Next week is the penultimate game of the Haldane Fisher Fours League with leaders Douglas Quads facing Ballaugh. Douglas Sharks meet Erin Elite and Colby face Ronaldsway Rockets.