The Stewartry County Finals took place on Sunday 1st September at Kirkcudbright.  While the day was breezy and cool the rain stayed away and a good day’s bowling ensued.  Castle Douglas were well represented with competitors in each of the seven finals.

First on was the fours final where the Kirkcudbright team of Tam Aitken, Tommy Docherty, Steven Johnstone and George Brown played David Green, Robin Hogg, William Brydson and Will Green from Castle Douglas.  CD led 5 - 4 after five ends but Kirkcudbright scored four of the next five ends to lead 8 - 6.  The sides scored 5 shots each over the next five ends to leave Kirkcudbright leading 13 - 11 with two to play.  CD scored singles on the last two ends and took the match to an extra end.  CD got the edge in the extra end, scoring a single, and taking the first title of the day.

The singles, pairs and triples went on at 12.30pm and in the singles George Brown and Will Green met up again.  The game was nip and tuck all the way with George initially leading 6 -2,  9 -7 and 11 - 10 only to be overtaken by Will 14 - 11, 15 - 14 an 16 - 15.  George fought back and regained the lead at 17 - 16.  Counts of 2, 1, 1 and 2 saw George take the title 21 - 16.

In the pairs David and Allan Green of Castle Douglas met Oliver Clingan and Keith Shuttleworth of New Abbey.  New Abbey got the better of the early exchanges and led 7 - 3 at five ends and 11 - 6 at ten ends.  Despite the best efforts of the CD pair they couldn’t manage to reduce the deficit and the New Abbey team won the game 15 - 9.

The triples was a close affair between Tam Maxwell, Scott Davies and Graeme Maxwell of CD and Billy McMinn, Joe Porter and Stevie McMinn of Dalbeattie.Dalbeattie led 5 - 4 at five ends and went further ahead 11 - 4 at nine ends.  The CD boys fought back, scoring 7 shots for the loss of 1 over the next four ends to narrow the gap to 12 - 11 with two ends to go.  CD lay 1 on the second last end but Dalbeattie’s skip Stevie drew shot with his last bowl to go into the last end 2 up.  Dalbeattie lead Billy McMinn drew on top of the jack with his last bowl and despite CD attacking the head they couldn’t turn the end around and Dalbeattie took the match.

The last three finals went on at 3pm.  In the junior singles Ronan Crossan of CD played Jack Cobban of Dalbeattie.  Ronan led 7 - 3 but Jack came back to tie it 9 - 9, and they boys were still tied at 12 - 12.  Jack went ahead 18 - 12 with scores of 2, 1, 2, 1.  Jack still led 19 - 14 but Ronan fought back with scores of 2, 4 and a single on the last end to take teh trophy 21 - 19.

The Senior Fours saw CDs Tom Caven, Tom Maxwell, Will Green and Allan Green meet Kirkcudbright’s Tommy Docherty, Brian McClune, Davide Gourlay and William True.  CD led 7 - 2 at five ends and maintained their lead 13 - 6 at ten.  They scored 5 shots to 1 over thenext three ends and lead 18 - 7 playing the second last end.  The Kirkcudbright team couldn’t make an impact and so CD won their third title of the day.

The final game on the green was the mixed pairs with Trudi and Scott McCubbin of Auchencairn playing Debbie Cochrane and Scott Davies of CD.  Auchencairn got off to a flyer leading 9 - 0 after four ends and extended the lead to 17 - 2 at nine ends.  However CD did not lie down and fought back by scoring 15 shots to 1 over the next 7 ends, which included a no-shot, to go into the last trailing 18-17.  CD lay shot with two bowls each to come, but Scott McCubbin trailed the jack with his second last bowl and lay beside it.  Scott of CD played a running bowl but just missed and Scott and Trudi took the title.

Stewartry President Murray Cairnie and sponsor Ian Bendall of Bendall Funeral Directors presented the trophies and prizes to the winners.  Murray thanked everyone at Kirkcudbright for making the day a success, and Ian Bendall for his continuing support of Stewartry bowling.

Murray Cairnie presented the Stewartry League shield to Scott Davies of Castle Douglas and the Stewartry Seniors League salver to Tom Caven of Castle Douglas.

The first semi final saw Spalding’s Hamish Sinclair, Jock Peacock and Jack Priddy take on Steven McMinn, Joe Porter and Billy McMinn of Dalbeattie.  The game was close but it was the Dalbeattie trio that edged it to make it ot the final.  The second semi featured another Spalding triple, John McNally, Gordon McAdam and Arthur McFegan, up against Graeme Maxwell, Scott Davies and Tom Maxwell of Castle Douglas.  It was the Castle Douglas team that got the upper hand and made it to finals day.

The playdown for the junior singles was held today at Auchencairn. In one semi final Jack Cobban from Dalbeattie beat Calum McClearie from Castle Douglas. In the other semi final Ronan Crossan from Castle Douglas beat Sandy Little from Auchencairn.

County Singles

The Stewartry County Singles, the first of the county competitions to be played off, was held on Sunday at Castle Douglas.  Reaching the final were Will Green of Castle Douglas who overcame Hugh Robertson, also of Castle Douglas, in the first semi final, and George Brown of Kirkcudbright defeated Bruce Richardson of Dalbeattie in the second semi.

The Stewartry County Finals kicked off on Friday evening with the triples final.  The Castle Douglas triple of David Green, John Crawford and Will Green led 4-3 at 5 ends against Kirkcudbright’s Tam Aitken, Steven Johnstone and George Brown.  Kirkcudbright fought back to lead 8-7 at 11 ends but counts of 3 and 2 put CD into the driving seat and they held on to win 13-9.

First up on Sunday morning were the pairs and senior fours finals.  In the pairs Scott and Alan Davies of Castle Douglas were looking to regain the title having won it in 2009 and 2010, and losing in the final in 2011. They were up against Stewart Tait and Bruce Richardson (Dalbeattie) and got off to a good start, leading 7-3 at 8 ends.  However the Dalbeattie pair went on a run and scored 13 shots over the next 7 ends and wrapped up the win with an end to spare.

The senior fours saw Tam Maxwell, Stewart Gilmour, Will and Allan Green from Castle Douglas take on Spalding’s Steve Davie, John Peacock, Arthur McFegan and Hamish Sinclair.  Again the Castle Douglas players took a strong lead, going in front 11-5 at 7 ends, however the Spalding team fought back with 4 singles and a score of 6 to lead 15-11.  Spalding extended the advantage to 5 in the last, and they held on for the win.

The two singles matches kicked off at 12.30, with an all Castle Douglas match in the gents singles between Alan Davies and Will Green.  Dalbeattie’s Jack Cobban met Ewan McMinn of Kirkcudbright in the junior singles.

Alan started strongly and his accurate drawing took him to an 11-2 lead after just 7 ends.  Will fought back to trail 11-6 and 14-10, but that was as close as he could get, with Alan scoring 5 shots on the next 3 ends to lead 19-10, and a couple of ends later Alan closed out the match 21-12.

In the junior’s Ewan took an early lead 7-2 and extended this to 13-4 before Jack fought back to bring the deficit down to 2 at 13-11.  However Ewan got back on track with 6 shots in 3 ends to lead 19-11 and he took the title 21-12 three ends later.

The last two finals to go on were the fours and mixed pais.  Kirkcudbright’s Tam Aitken, Tommy Docherty, Steven Johnstone and George Brown went ahead 6-3 after 6 ends against David, Gavin, Will and Allan Green of Castle Douglas.  The Castle Douglas team scored a 4 on the next end to go ahead by 1, and the two teams scored 3 each over the next 5 ends to see Castle Douglas ahead 10-9 with 5 to play.  A run of 1,1,3,1 put Kirkcudbright 5 up at the last end and they held on for victory.

June Dinnell and Colin Campbell of Kirkcudbright went up against holders Christine Tennant and Keith Shuttleworth of New Abbey in the mixed pairs, and there was never more than 2 shots in the match over the first half of the game.  The score was tied at 8 each after 9 ends, and it was the holders who took the next 3 ends to lead 13-8.  The pairs swapped 2s on the next two ends to leave New Abbey 5 up and 3 to play, and they held thier advantage to finish the match 17-12 winners.

Stewartry President Jim Maginess thanked all who had made the day successful - players, spectators, supperters and umpires.  In particular he thanked Ian Bendall and Golden Charter for the continued generous sponsorship of the County Finals, and Ian and Jim jointly presented the prizes to the winners and runners-up.

Singles - Alan Davies (Castle Douglas) 21 - 12 Will Green (Castle Douglas)

Pairs - Stewart Tait, Bruce Richardson (Dalbeattie) 16 - 7 Scott Davies, Alan Davies (Castle Douglas)

Triples - David Green, John Crawford, Will, Green (Castle Douglas) 13 - 9 Tam Aitken, Steven Johnston, George Brown (Kirkcudbright)

Fours - Tam Aitken, Tommy Docherty, Steven Johnstoe, George Brown (Kirkcudbright)  15 - 11 David Green, Gavin Green, Will Green, Allan Green (Castle Douglas)

Senior Fours - Steve Davie, John Peacock, Arthur McFegan, Hamish Sinclair 18 - 12 Tam Maxwell, Stewart Gilmour, Will Green, Allan Green

Junior Singles - Ewan McMinn (Kirkcudbright) 21 - 12 Jack Cobban (Dalbeattie)

Mixed Pairs - Christine Tennant, Keith Shuttleworth (New Abbey) 17 - 12 June Dinnell, Colin Campbell (Kirkcudbright)