Rollercoaster week for Over 60’s
The Tower Insurance Over 60 League had more twists and turns than the big dipper at Blackpool, as Castletown A travelled to Onchan A on Tuesday and managed to come home with a point in a game that Town’s Derek Lewney won his game against Les McLennan 21-20, to let the Town of the hook, Port St Mary A gained another point on their Southside rivals with a 6-2 win at Nobles Park to close the gap to 2 points at the top. Peel A had a visit from a depleted Onchan B and used home advantage to notch another two points with a 6-2 victory, while South Ramsey also kept up the pressure with a very tight 5-3 home win over Marown with South Ramsey’s Bill Callow beating Arnie Withers 21-20 in an extremely close game. North Ramsey A had a 5-3 win over Peel B to keep in touch with the top bunch, while lower down the table Castletown B defeated Douglas A, with unfortunately Norman Kneen of Douglas feeling unwell and being taken to hospital for a check up during his game, best wishes for a speedy recovery from everyone Norman. Port Erin shared the points at home to Noble’s Mixed with Port Erin’s Derek Allen just losing out to Noble’s Mixed skipper Peter Morris in another all but across game. With Port St Mary B doing well to take a point of Finch Hill A with the experienced Archie Collister just getting the better of the Finch’s captain Sefton Dent in another 21-20 win. Ballaugh had a 5-3 win at Finch Hill B with home team captain Malcolm Black just losing out to Richard Faragher in yet another 21-20 game. Douglas B came very close to getting their first point of the season with Brian Oliver just losing out to Ray Parry 21-20.
The second round of games saw Castletown A win at home against Noble’s Park 7-1 while Port St Mary A also won comfortably against Douglas B 6-2 with Peel A having a difficult trip to Ballaugh but still came away 6-2 winners to keep their hopes of a first championship alive, The surprise of the round was the performance of Peel B who held South Ramsey to a 4-4 draw at Peel while Onchan A travelled to Marown and suffered with a 5-3 defeat, with Les McLennan of Onchan and Arnie Withers of Marown both winning to 19, and Peter Kelly of Marown suffering only his second loss of the season to Colin Hinds. North Ramsey A also dropped a point with a 4-4 draw at Finch Hill B. Port St Mary B travelled to Douglas A and came away with both points, while in another game with a couple of very close games,Vinty Dugdale beating Juan Kermode, and John Ruscoe losing to Ron Williams 21-20 Nobles Mixed had a 5-3 victory over Castletown B. Onchan B used the lightning fast green at Nobles 3 to their advantage with a 5-3 win over Port Erin. with North Ramsey B using home advantage to defeat Finch Hill B. The last two games mentioned saw the teams meet the day before for the Semi Finals of the Mini Cup with Port Erin entertaining the holders Onchan B and losing out by 6 -3 and Finch Hill B also unable to make home advantage pay against North Ramsey B by also going down 6-3. to set up a final between Onchan A and North Ramsey B. The Ismay Cup Semis were also played and this time it was both home teams that won 6-3 . Peel A defeating Port St Mary A and North Ramsey A doing likewise to Finch Hill A. to leave the Final between North Ramsey A and Peel A. venues for both finals will be notified shortly. The Individual Merit sees Dave Foulis (Ballaugh) sitting alone on top of the pile with 20 wins followed by Mike Thomas (Onchan) and Peter Kelly (Marown) who both lost this week on 19, with on 18 wins are Harry Kelly (Peel), Chas Grills (South Ramsey), Stuart Garrett (Douglas), the PSM pair of Ron Maycox and Ray Maddrell and the Castletown duo of Dave Faragher and Collin Holland.