Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The 2024-night league season ended this week across all four divisions this week in the Canada Life International sponsored bowling leagues.

In Division One Marown A officially wrapped up their first league title since 2019 as they started the week eight points ahead. Securing the Warburton Trophy for the 14^th time was a formality, as they required only three points to ensure they brought the title home, they won comfortably 2-8 away to Castletown A.

The race for the Division One individual merit was a straight shootout between Marown teammates Paul Dunn and Colin Kelly, with the former having led the merit table for most of the season, a win would ensure an unbeaten season. Town man Dean Kinley turned in a superb performance to cruelly take away the individual merit as the Marown captain lost 20-21, to allow Colin Kelly to win the individual merit trophy. Also winning for Castletown was Andy Clark, who beat Dean Kipling 21-19.

South Ramsey A ended the season in second place with a 9-1 home win over Douglas A, with Mark Kneen preventing the whitewash with a 21-17 win over James Teare. The Ramsey men will no doubt lick their wounds over the winter as league defeats home and away to Marown A ultimately cost them.

Onchan A ended the season in third place, they won 6-4 at home to Peel A who finished in fourth spot, 10 points behind Onchan in a keenly contested match with just two chalks separating the sides (130-128),

Marown B jumped up two places to finish in fifth place, as they beat North Ramsey A 9-1 at home, with the captains battling it out with Rob Monk emerging with a 21-13 win over Juan Killip.

On Tuesday evening Marown C took on fellow strugglers Port St Mary A with the Crosby men picking up their fourth win of the season as they won 6-4, thanks to taking the aggregate by 15 chalks (137-122).

In Division Two there was little change at the top with South Ramsey B winning the league to lift the Rayner Cup despite suffering a 7-3 defeat away to Douglas B, as they look to make an immediate return to Division One.

Peel B were the other team that were in Division One last year, as they finished in second place following their 6-4 home win over fourth placed Onchan B, with the home team needing a 10-0 win to stand any realistic chance of being crowned league champions.

Ballaugh A claimed third place, coming away from Breagle Glen with a 3-7 win over Port Erin A, as they are likely to remain in Division Two, unless there is a restructuring of the leagues in 2025.

Finch Hill A finished in a mid-table spot following their 8-2 home win over Castletown B, with Noble’s A also winning to the same score at home to North Ramsey B. The Noble’s men finished safely outside the bottom two with the Mooragh men consigned to bottom spot.

Winning the Division Two individual merit with 15 wins from 18 games played was Finch Hill’s Stephen Oates, who made the most of South Ramsey’s Tony Dugdale missing a few games during the season, with Dugdale winning 14 games from 15 played.

The real drama proved to be in Division Three with all to play for between the Noble’s C and D teams who were vying for the title, with both teams facing tricky fixtures.

Noble’s C were leading the table going into the final round of fixtures, they were at home to Ballaugh B on Noble’s Two green, with the Noble’s men winning 6-4 on the night, taking the chalks by a comfortable 15 chalks (144-129).

Noble’s D took on clubmates Noble’s B on Noble’s One green, as the away side, with the lower ranked team playing their home fixtures on Noble’s Two. The D team, which is made up of Leeds fans, only took up the game at the start of 2023 put in a superb display to beat the higher ranked team 9-1 on their own turf.

This allowed them to leapfrog their C Team, ensured that next season they will plying their trade in Division Two next season. Having played the 2023 season as Noble’s C, this season they were Noble’s D, however in 2025 they will be Noble’s B due to their league position. The improvement out of all their players, will come from the time they put into their game, along with a group of mates who undoubtedly all want to out-compete each other – something which can’t be underestimated. I said at the end of last season in my final league report that they would be the team to watch out for, who would argue that in 2025 that they can’t finish above their A team, to then become Noble’s A in 2026? Watch this space…

South Ramsey C ended the season on a positive note to finish in third place on 103 points, albeit 11 points off second place following their 8-2 win at home to Port St Mary B.

Onchan C aren’t safe from relegation despite their 6-4 win at home to Peel C, with eight chalks separating the teams (146-138).

Elsewhere the bottom two clashed on Friday evening at Crosby as Marown D took on South Ramsey D. The Crosby men did what they had to do to go ahead of Onchan C and Port St Mary B as they needed to secure five points or more, they did this with some to spare with a 9-1 win to finish in 7th place.

Winning the Division Three individual merit despite missing three games was Peel man Andrew Cover with 15 wins from 15 games played.

Division Four had been dominated by Ballaugh C all season, however they suffered their first league defeat of the season at home to newly formed North Ramsey C 3-7. The Mooragh men are another team who have gelled well to finish in second place five points behind Ballaugh C. North needed to pull off a miracle with a 10-0 win to finish in top spot, however they can be proud of their efforts this season, ending the season with a win against the league champions.

Castletown C also ended the season on a positive note with an 8-2 win at home to Douglas D, as they look to the future with three junior bowlers featuring, along with two ‘older’ young lads as they look to kick on next season.

Peel D won 8-2 at home to Finch Hill B, with the result good enough for them to finish in fourth place one point ahead of Finch.

The first ever E team to feature in the league finished in a respectable sixth place with six wins from their 14 league games.

Winning the Division Four individual merit was North Ramsey C man Bryan Corner, with 13 wins from 14 games played.