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.

Castle Douglas win at Dalbeattie gives them the title by a point from Auchencairn.

Photo - Tom Rennie, John Crawford, Rab Derbie

Tommy Caven, Derek Harper, Ramsey Lamont

The final of the Stewartry Top Five competition was played at Dalbeattie, home green of the County Vice President Ronnie Gibson, on Tuesday evening. 

Holders Castle Douglas took on Creetown, and all of the games were close over the first half dozen ends. 

On rink one Scott Davies of CD took command over Eddie McCulloch at 3 - 3 and ran out a 21 - 3 winner.

Hugh Robertson of Castle Douglas trailed Steve Grassham 4 - 3 early on but Hugh enjoyed a run of 5 ends on the trot and took a 14 - 4 lead.  Hugh went on to take the point for Castle Douglas 21 - 8.

Castle Douglas’ Steven Richardson played Jim Maginess and trailed the former County President 12 - 6 at one point, however Steven fought back gamely and went on to win 21 - 13.

This gave Castle Douglas a 3 - 0 victory.  In the other two games CD’s Alan Davies led John McCulloch 14 - 12, and Graeme Maxwell trailed Robert Monteith by the same score, when the match ended.

This Sunday Castle Douglas, representing Stewartry, play host to Hyndland, Glasgow, in the national Top Five competition, with a spot at the finals day at Sighthill in Edinburgh on 8th September up for grabs.  The CD team is Alan Davies, Scott Davies, Gavin Green, Graeme Maxwell and Steven Richardson, and a close match is expected.  All Stewartry followers are invited to come along and support, and enjoy what should be some exciting bowling.

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.

The Stewartry Top Ten Final, sponsored by Brian Swales Auto Repairs, was played at Kirkcudbright on Friday night between holders Castle Douglas and Auchencairn.  Auchencairn put up a strong show early, leading in the pairs and fours, and with the singles and triples both close.  Castle Douglas fought back and John Crawford took control of the singles game against John McGarrie, running out a comfortable winner, and putting two points on the board for the holders.  In the fours Graeme Maxwell, Gavin Green, Hugh Robertson and Michael Turnbull fought hard to turn the game around against Larry Little, Bob Hope, George Davidson and Stuart Crossan they gradually got the better of the Auchencairn four, finishing up winners by 5 shots.  The triples remained close all the way, until the Castle Douglas trio of Scott Davies, Allan Green and Gary Davies took back to back fours from Derek Rogerson, Bert Little and Sandy Little to leave themselves comfortably ahead in the last end.  The pair from Castle Douglas of Will Green and Billy Brydson trailed early against Scott McCubbin and Joe Caldow by 14 - 3 but fought back well to narrow the gap and eventually conceded their game by a few shots, knowing that the other three disciplines, and the match, had been won by their teammates.

The Top Ten shield was presented by Bryan Swales and Stewartry President Murray Cairnie congratulated both teams on a hard fought match.

Stewartry played host to Glasgow East at Castle Douglas on Saturday in the final match of the season, which also happened to be the wooden spoon decider.  Glasgow had not won any of their first six games, and Stewartry had been successful only against Wigtownshire so far.  Glasgow took the early initiative, but Stewartry battled back and showed their fighting spirit in a match that mattered only for pride, and went on to win by 128 - 109.

A Davies 13 - 25 G MacDougall

S Richardson 28 - 16 J Wardle

B McClune 28 - 11 W Charters

S Davies 14 - 28 W Campbell

S McCubbin 19 - 19 S Whitelaw

G Maxwell 26 - 10 B Bowers

Stewartry have certainly not had their best season in the Cities and Countes Championship however the nucleus of the team remains strong, and with the addition of a number of players the County side can compete with the bigger counties such as Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.  Team manager Hugh Robertson is looking for an early commitment from players for next year’s competition so that the County can put out the strongest team available.  2014 is the Stewartry’s 75th anniversary and a successful County team would be a fantastic boost to the anniversary celebrations!

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.

Stewartry v Glasgow East 22/06/2013

CASTLE DOUGLAS BOWLING CLUB

RESERVES T. DOCHERTY, R. GIBSON

UNAVAILABLE: G.DAVIES 22/06

Will all players please bring county jackets and change of shirt for after the game or meal so that Graeme and Hugh can check all shirts and jackets for next season. Any one who is unavailable please let Hugh know asap.