Going in hoping to match last year’s tally when they took seven out of 11 qualification places for the British Isles Championships in March, the hosts certainly managed that at the Guernsey Indoor Bowls Stadium.
‘On home soil we always want to win more games than Jersey, but it is a fantastic achievement by all Guernsey players,’ said Ali Merrien after an outstanding weekend individually and as a team.
‘It shows we are still competing to a high level.’
Yet the Sarnians’ achievement of taking all the qualification places except one will cause them a headache when it comes to this year’s championships.
Ali Merrien won all four categories she was contesting along with her respective teams, but the rules only allow for competitors to play in two to keep to a schedule at the championships.
Shirley Petit joined Merrien in three, meaning they will have to discuss options with teammates.
Gary Pitschou also won three and will have a similar dilemma.
Catherine Bonsall, Ian Merrien and Mike Le Noury have each qualified in two events, which means the Guernsey success is going to give organisers a logistical nightmare, especially with this year looking to trim down the competition time to save all countries some cost.
Due to the recent travel changes between Jersey and Guernsey, the schedule for the weekend was squeezed, so Saturday was a long day for both Ali Merrien and Pitschou.
They played two team games and a singles each, which was well over 10 hours on the green, managing a half-hour break after their first game.
This did not deter them from winning.
Ali along with Shirley Petit and Catherine Bonsall in the women’s triples took an early lead and maintained it to win 17-6.
Next came her singles against Chloe Greechan, which proved a very good tit-for-tat battle – 15-all after 16 ends.
Ali then shortened the jack length and kept her opposition to a single before closing out the game 21-16.
Next up was the women’s fours, where Rose Ogier joined the same triples team against Chloe and her mum, Lindsey Greechan, plus Gina Le Long and Megan Kivlin.
The Guernsey four had the feel of the green by now and dominated the early stages before maintaining a healthy lead to win 25-14.
Pitschou started with the men’s fours alongside the Le Noury clan of Michael, his brother Steve and nephew Brad.
They set the scene with a four on the first end, not letting up to lead 15-1 and controlling the game to the end. They ultimately prevailed 30-21.
Then came the men’s singles versus Thomas Greechan.
Both players had good ends drawing, forcing the other to play weighted shots to rescue what they could.
The home advantage showed at the start with the Guernsey player leading 12-7 but then Greechan had a purple patch to take the lead 18-14.
Pitschou is a seasoned campaigner, though, and took the last five ends to win 21-18.
Pitschou’s last game of the day was the men’s veteran fours with Dave King, Martyn de Carteret and Michael Le Noury.
This was a tight affair and the crowd could not predict who was going to come out on top, with Guernsey only winning narrowly, 18-16.
On the same day, Ian Merrien played with brother Alan and Josh Bonsall in the men’s triples against a Jersey side that included Malcolm De Sousa, who won the recent Professional Bowls Association singles event in Guernsey.
It was De Sousa who set his team up well in the early stages, leaving the Guernsey triple on the back foot but 5-1 up against the run of play.
Jersey continued to have the advantage and took the lead 8-7 after 10 ends.
Thankfully for the Guernsey trio, the rink seemed to come to them and Merrien took a Jersey bowl out for four.
They never looked back, winning the last seven ends to take it 22-8.
Marcus Rihoy played Taylor Greechan in the men’s under-25 singles and seemed unaffected by being the youngest player of the weekend.
He drew well, was not afraid to play weighted shots and had his nose in front 7-6 after 10 ends, 14-11 on 18 ends.
But Greechan has played this level for several years now and found some good bowls near the end to turn the deficit around and take the game 21-16 – preventing a Guernsey clean sweep.
The women’s under-25s singles honours had gone to Guernsey’s Nicole Le Noury by default.
On Sunday, as Jersey had to fly back at 1pm, the players faced an early start – 7.30am – to ensure the four-hour game time could be played.
Ali and Shirley Petit played in the women’s pairs against Lindsey Greechan and Gina Le Long.
Jersey were on the scoreboard first and maintained a lead until 10 ends, when Merrien and Petit changed the length of jack which put Jersey on the back foot.
Merrien and Petit then clawed the score back, conceding just four more shots to win the game 23-14.
Ian Merrien and Dave Jeffery also played at the same time in the men’s pairs against father-and-son duo Thomas and Taylor Greechan, which went to the four hours.
This was in part due to the close nature of the game but also due to Jersey holding a good position half-way through, bringing out a trademark Merrien drive, which broke the jack, causing a clean-up and the end to be replayed. He has now broken three in as many years.
The Guernsey pair played well throughout, taking a 15-4 lead after 13 ends.
The last third they seemed content to play a good defensive game to play out the ends, taking a comfortable 17-11 lead into the final one before winning 17-13.
Giving his own reflection of the weekend, Ian added: ‘I think this is Ali’s 19th Channel Islands ladies’ singles title, so someone at her level is always helpful to be on our side.
‘I felt I played really well, my teammates were generally there, but when they needed me I played my part.’
