As we enter the final furlong of a season-long two horse race Marown A just have their nose in front of Oncan A, who have come from behind in recent weeks to be within striking distance going into the closing stages. Both teams have been so evenly matched all season and whilst Marown made all of the running early on Onchan have fought for their lives to be ominously close, just two points adrift with two games to play. Neither team gave and inch last week matching each others results as they both picked up strong 9-1 home wins, with the challengers seeing off Ballaugh A and the perennial champions taking down North Ramsey A.

It is more about what lies ahead than what they have left behind them, and whilst they should not forget about what it has taken to get them here, what’s done is done. They must now focus on finishing off the closest title race for years which is almost certainly going down to the wire to be decided by a photo finish. With no games this week there is a rare chance to catch our breath and look at what lies ahead when we resume a week today.

Onchan have the chance to seize the initiative a week on Monday as they travel away to face Ballaugh A, as Marown sit out. Barring the biggest upset since David beat Goliath they will return to the top and will be looking to heap the pressure onto Marown, prior to sitting out themselves the following week. The Crosby men will then have the unenviable task of a trip to South Ramsey A to try and undo any damage done by Peter Slinger’s side.

These two fixtures are vital and will probably decide the fate of the championship trophy. If Marown can come out of them at worst level I think they should be able to finish off a successful campaign away at Castletown B on the Wednesday, with the champions heading up north to Ramsey to take on South, who are scrapping for the highly coveted third spot. That said Marown’s game will be far from a formality against a tenacious town B side who will be fighting for their top flight survival. It really is too close to call and which ever team ends up on top a week on Wednesday will be worthy champions, and this will without doubt have been the closest title race in over a decade.

South Ramsey still occupy third place but only by a solitary point after they slipped up at home to a fast finishing Castletown A side 7-3. It is a brilliant result for Town and with three games left they will now be odds on favourites to overtake the northerners, who have by far the hardest run in of any team in the league. In fact South will do well to hang onto fourth place as Douglas A found the form that had eluded them in recent weeks to beat Port St Mary A 8-2 and close the gap between themselves and third to just five points.

It is below Douglas where things get interesting with only seven points separating the remaining six teams, and a big slip up by any of them could cost them their first division status. Nobles Mixed had a great result away at Castletown B picking up a 6-4 win, but as the only team in the relegation fight with only two games left I fear it could be a case of too little too late. Just like the top the relegation race is too close to call, but if I had to stick my neck out I think Mixed and Peel A will fall just short of survival.

The battle for second division honours has been just as hard fought all season and Port Erin A put in a breathtaking display to pick up a maximum 10-0 win over Finch Hill B to give themselves some breathing space at the top. Second placed Port St Mary B are only three points behind however after they beat Douglas B 7-3. Port St Mary definitely have the harder run in as they still have to host Port Erin in their penultimate game before a dangerous trip to Finch Hill A, so I think Port Erin A will see the title out, as long as they avoid a large defeat in the looming top of the table clash.

Castletown C, Finch Hill A and Onchan B come next in the table and mathematically they all have a chance of promotion after good wins last week. It will probably take a massive slip up from Port B to open the door for them, but if they keep winning and winning big you just never know. Relegation in this division is not so closely fought with Port St Mary C and Peel C all but down at the bottom as the closest team to them is some 18 points above the drop zone.

The third division is also getting very interesting at the top. League leaders Noble Park A lost 7-3 at home to third place Onchan B but remain at the summit despite second placed North Ramsey B putting in a gargantuan performance to beat Nobles Park B 10-0. This maximum closes North to within just two points of Park and with both teams still to go head to head its still all to play for. Onchan are only five points behind the Ramsey outfit so promotion is not out of the question, however I think it will now prove difficult. I am going to throw it out there and tip North Ramsey B to win the title in the inaugural season in league bowls with Park to finish second.

Report by Mark Kneen

League leaders Marown A had to fight for their lives to overcome a battling Douglas A side 6-4 at the memorial playing fields on Monday. Douglas, the only side to defeat Marown this season, got so agonisingly close to picking up a famous win in almost a carbon copy of this year’s Rayner Shield final.

Marown moved into a 3-1 lead at the half way stage before the Villa men fought back to lead 4-3 with one game left on the green, John Gelling was always in control of the final match for the home side, but it was all about the aggregate points. Ken William’s dug in for his team but fell just short with Marown picking up the two bonus points by just two points.

Onchan A had to win big to keep the pressure on the leaders and they performed this task magnificently picking up another maximum win this time against Castletown B. There are now only two points separating them and Marown with three games to go, and both teams will be looking to pick up maximum points at home tonight to keep their title bids on track. A slip up from either side at this stage would open the door for the other to walk through and grasp the league trophy.

Third placed South Ramsey sat out on Monday but played a rearranged fixture against Ballaugh A on Wednesday and picked up a solid 7-3 home win. This leaves them firmly in the driving seat for the minor places as they now lead 4th placed Castletown by five points. South have four games left to play and although three of them are at home they couldn’t be any harder as the are yet to entertain Castletown A, Marown A and Onchan A and their results here will be instrumental in deciding the destination of top honours.

Ballaugh A had started the week in better form, picking up a vitally important 7-3 win over Peel A to move them out of the relegation zone and towards relative safety. They face a trip to the leaders tonight so are far from safe. North Ramsey A and Ports St Mary A had a mammoth battle at Mooragh park last week with the home side just edging it 6-4 to keep both teams on track for a mid table finish.

Castletown A had a good week to remain in fourth place and they added to the woes of Nobles Mixed A defeating them 9-1 at the Crofts. This result keeps momentum going for the towners and leave Mixed dead bottom of the table. Mixed travel to Castletown B tonight and with both teams firmly locked in a relegation battle this result couldn’t be more important, with a big win required for either side to drag them out of the mire. A heavy loss, however, will almost certainly see the recipients playing their bowls in the second division next term.

Second division league leaders Port Erin A suffered a shock 6-4 home defeat at the hands of Finch Hill A but still remain on top of the table now level on points with second placed Port St Mary B. Port St Mary B never had it all their own way either but managed to scrap to a 6-4 win over their C team to close the gap at the top.

Castletown C still have a lot to do if they want to get promoted but a 6-4 win away at Douglas B will go someway to helping them. They are 8 points off the pace with four games to go and will be hoping to claw back some of this tonight as they travel to Ballaugh B.

Finch Hill A and Onchan B are the only other teams realistically in with a shout of catching the leaders and are 13 and 13 points of top spot respectively. I don’t see them catching the leaders but this division has been full of shock results this season, and one unexpected big win for any of the top 5 would certainly throw the cat amongst the pigeons.

Nobles Park A are now odds on to win the third division title after a massive 9-1 away win over Douglas C sees them nine points clear at the top of the table. North Ramsey B have now moved into second place after a hard fought local derby win over South Ramsey A last week. If North do hang on an get promoted it will be a truly remarkable achievement when you think that this is only their first season in the league. Onchan C are the only team who can stop them just two points behind them after a shock 8-2 defeat away at Ballaugh C, however they will need to pull out all the stops as they travel to league leaders Nobles Park A this week.

Second division outfit Finch Hill A had their day in the sun lad weekend as the defeated first division Peel A by 18 chalks at Marown Bowling Green to win the coveted Rayner plate competition. They didn’t have it all their own way however as Peel fought hard to claw back the 40 handicap points they conceded winning 6-3 on games but falling short, only clawing back 22 points.

Fank Watson’s boys from the sunset City started well picking up wins in all of the first three games to reduce the starting deficit to 22 points and trail 63-85. Just when it looked like momentum was swinging in favour of topflight outfit, Bill Cairn’s Finch Hill men answered the rallying call to win the next 3 and move into an unassailable 41 point lead with just three games remaining.

Billy Wilson did a lot of the damage as he defeated Peel’s Ian Christian 21-9 however for me man of the match for Finch must be Paul Dougherty who put in a monumental effort to beat Tom McMeiiken 21-20 in an epic tussle.

Although Peel regained supremacy and closed out all of the games still on the green it was a case of too little too late as they were not able to claw back enough points to win this highly entertaining closely matched encounter. Thanks must go to Ron Williams for his continued sponsorship of the event and to Marown for their hospitality in hosting the final.

Report by Mark Kneen

It was a monumental week at the top of Isle of Man Bank Men’s division one with second placed Onchan A throwing down the gauntlet to league leaders Marown on Monday with arguably their best performance of their ten year reign as champions, before they went head to head on Wednesday. In the first of a double set of fixtures the champions continued their charge with a 10-0 demolition of Castletown A at the Crofts to cut the gap at the top to just four points.

They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going and this was certainly true of Onchan on Monday night. Few teams leave the Towner’s realm with a win let alone a maximum and the intensity of the Onchan performance is one that would be hard to match with every single one of their players giving their all, straining every sinew to keep their slim title hopes alive.

League leaders Marown A also put in a good shift away from home picking up a solid 8-2 win away at North Ramsey A to keep them in pole position prior to their eagerly anticipated midweek clash with the Champions at the Park. I don’t think I can over emphasise the magnitude of this clash for the local game with the perennial champions Onchan needing a win over the only team to realistically challenge them in a decade to further extend their record run of league wins.

If I am honest, going into this fixture, I firmly believed that Onchan would triumph relatively easily and regain top spot, especially with the deteriorating almost torrential conditions. I desperately wanted Marown to be up to the challenge, as I will always have a strong affinity with the great club, but genuinely didn’t think they would do it. Even with this doubt though I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for the second placed outfit, it wasn’t going to be enough for them to simply step up to the plate they were going to have to hit a home run to regain supremacy in the title race.

The Crosby men however did not share my doubts and went into the game believing they could win, that they deserved to win, after all the have been the best team in the division without questions this term. There was no way they were going to crumble they were going to scrap for every point; they knew they were in a fight, and fight they did.

First blood went to Marown with their Captain and June festival winner Neil Withers producing his best to see off the challenge of double Manx Champion Glynn Hargraves 21-11, in a game on paper that could have gone either way. Phil Kelly kept the momentum going for his side as he took out David Bradford 21-16. This is one that the champions would have thought they should win, with Bradford one of their best exponents at home, but Kelly more than justified his current fourth place in the league merit with another brilliant display.

Onchan were never going to go down without a fight and it was time for a family revival as father and son Kevin & Matthew Quirk picked up respective hard fought wins over Mike Cain & Ian Kissack to draw level on games with a narrow 3 point aggregate lead at the halfway stage. The home side weren’t don’t there with Phil Kerruish increasing their advantage by a game and 5 points as he beat last year’s division one merit winner Dean Kipling 21-16.

Marown stalwart Colin Kelly returned parity for his side on games and gave them a lead on chalks after a dominant 21-7 win over home captain Peter Slinger to leave everything hanging in the balance with just two games left on the green. Iron arm Gary Conwell put in an amazing second half of his game to come back from 18-9 adrift to beat John Gelling 21-18 and put the champions back in the driving seat. Marown, however, had their own man of steel though as seasoned campaigner Peter Kelly proved age and experience can overcome youth and treachery as he sealed the overall win for his team with a 21-17 victory over Jordan Cain.

This 6-4 win leaves Marown six points clear at the top and favourites to win their first title in eleven years and end Onchan’s era of invincibility, however there is still a lot of work to be done. With four games left each, forty points to play for, and Onchan with arguably the slightly easier run in Marown still have plenty of work to do.

I think Neil Withers’ charges will do it but I think there could be another twist in the tail yet and I firmly believe that both teams will be going into their final fixtures with the league still to play for.

Remaining Games:-
MAROWN
Douglas A (H)
Ballaugh A (H)
South Ramsey A (A)
Castletown B (A)

ONCHAN
Castletown B (H)
North Ramsey A (H)
Ballaugh A (A)
South Ramsey A (A)