Top Two Extend Gap
Marown A took on South Ramsey B in the Ellan Vannin Fuels sponsored division one at Crosby on Monday evening with the home team recording a strong 9-1 win, with Sid Bolton beating Marown captain Paul Dunn 21-17 for the visitors. Next closest to snatching another point was Austin Hart, who performed brilliantly going 16-3 and 17-6 up on Matthew Keggen, before Keggen got hold of the jack using his extra experience to claw his way back into the game to eventually win 21-18. Hart has found first division bowls a steep learning curve, however he can take plenty of encouragement from his scores in the top division, at 15 years old he is the youngest player in the division. This season will no doubt stand him in good stead in the future. Tony Dugdale also came close before losing out 17-21 to Dean Kipling. For Marown Paul Kelly, Colin Kelly and Phil Kelly all won to single figures, whilst John Gelling and Neil Withers had fairly comfortable wins.
South Ramsey A recorded their third 10-0 win of the season and only their first maximum at home over Marown B. Last season the champions recorded five maximums and three 9-1 wins at home. This season’s home form has been somewhat patchy, whilst still winning all their matches. Dido Kelly, Glynn Hargraves and John Kennish all won to single figures, with Juan Killip coming closest to taking a point for the visitors before losing out 17-21 to Chas Grills. Rob Corkill stepped in to help out the visitors after a 24 year absence from bowls.
Onchan A recorded a 7-3 away win over Douglas A. Home team captain Andy Kennish once again led the way for his team, recording a 21-9 win over Matthew Quirk. Kennish has recorded some good results this season, no doubt helped by the extra games playing in the Over 60’s league, in which he is currently undefeated after 20 games. His night league record is 9 wins from 12 games. The two other winners for the Villa men were Mervin Sayle with a 21-16 win over Rob Monk, whilst Keith Rise held off Steve Crampton to record a 21-18 win. For the visitors Jordan Cain was pushed hardest taking a 21-17 win over Stuart Garrett, whilst the biggest win for the visitors was Mark Kelly who beat Gary Conwell 21-8. Kelly is only in his second season of league bowls and the time being put in on the green is obviously paying off. The experienced trio of Kevin Quirk, Peter Slinger and Phil Kerruish beat Ian Moore, Jimmy Sansom and Shaun Seal respectively.
North Ramsey A continue to use their home advantage well, this time seeing off Douglas B with an 8-2 win, however they did lose two games 21-20 with Andy Cannell and Gordon Wynne-Smythe both holding on to beat Tony Smart and Allan Callow respectively. Geoff Porter and Gary Merrill both won to single figures, whilst Steve Walmsley was pushed hard by Pat O’Donohue before winning 21-19.
Port Erin A will have been disappointed to lose 8-2 at home to Port St Mary A with recent open winner Trevor Quayle just getting over the line 21-20 against Dave McCabe, whilst Steve Franks did enough to beat Derek Cadamy 21-17. Peter Addison had a close game beating Dan McCabe 21-19, whilst David Cain had a comfortable 21-11 win over Rob Cooil. Wayne Roberts had a good 21-8 win over Bernie Durcan, with Paul Skelly, Thomas Keggen and Ewan Cooil also winning for the visitors.
Castletown A had a good home win over Peel A, winning three close games in the process. George Peach beat David Smith 21-20, whilst David Quayle inflicted a third successive defeat on early season merit leader Tommy McMeiken 21-19, with Dean Kinley winning to the same score against David Proctor. Jordan Drewett made home advantage count beating Tom Kelly 21-12, whilst Peter Oates won 21-15 against Gary Smith. For the visitors Dave ’Barney’ Kelly won 21-15 against Ian Watson, son Stevie did enough to beat Mike Hargraves 21-18, with Frank Watson beating Jeff Kinley 21-17.
In division two Castletown B took on Peel B in the sunset city and will have been pleased to take away a 7-3 win on a difficult green in a high scoring match. Winners for Peel were Mike Ashmole, Harry Kelly and Paul Quirk. Responding for the visitors were Ross Moore, Ron Williams, Alan Phair, Mark Saunders and Derek Lewney.
Port St Mary B recorded a maximum 10-0 home win over Port Erin B with Peter Collins, Ray Maddrell and Dave Saxon all winning comfortably. Ken Horsley recent runner up in the Port Erin Open was closing to grabbing a point before losing 19-21 to Derek Kneen.
Onchan B just missed out on a maximum by just three chalks with Mike Alexander losing 18-21 to Mark Kremor to record a 9-1 win over Noble’s B at Onchan Park. Mike Thomas and Neil Dunwell both recorded single figure wins.
League leaders Noble’s A made the trip north to take on North Ramsey B coming away with a 7-3 win to keep Castletown B at arm’s length. Glenn Boland was in good form winning 21-1. For the home team Rheuben Thomas held on to beat Tommy Collister 21-20, with Bryan Corner and Alex Yates winning fairly comfortably.
Ballaugh A made the journey south to take on Port St Mary C, with no signs of Ballaugh improving their away form with the home team performing well winning 7-3. Chris Oates won 21-1, whilst Nathan Hamilton beat Edgar Cowin 21-5. The winning trio for Ballaugh were Bob Unsworth, Peter Graham and John Keenan.
Peel C performed well to take a 7-3 win away to Finch Hill A. Ian Pendlebury just got over the line 21-20 for Peel, whilst Jeff Wilson won 21-8. Winners for Finch Hill were Arthur Halsall, Peter Hughes and Paul Dougherty.
In division 3 league leaders Ballaugh B made the short trip along the west coast to take on Peel D coming away with an assured 8-2 win to stretch their lead at the top to five points. For Ballaugh Philip Quayle won 21-3. John Bolton just missed out on securing another point for Ballaugh losing 20-21 against Leslie Halsall. Young Ryan Tate picked up his second league win of the season beating John Looney 21-16.
South Ramsey C hosted high flying Marown C with the home team winning 7-3 over the Crosby outfit to put a huge dent in their hopes of winning the league. Ian Moore stepped up from the D Team to beat Kevin Kelly by the closest of margins 21-20. Austin Hart’s younger brother Toby performed well beating Stephen Rundle 21-15. For Marown Darren Kerruish, Steve Gregg and Jamie Joughin were the winners.
Castletown C boosted their hopes for promotion with a 10-0 home win over bottom of the table Douglas D with the result helping them climb above Marown C into second place. For Douglas only Greg Brew managed to make it into double figures losing 12-21, with the visitors scoring just 47 chalks in total.
Finch Hill B checked in to a flying Ballaugh green to take on their C Team, with visiting teams finding it extremely tricky to play. Finch Hill will have been delighted to record a 6-4 away win. Newcomer Paddy Murphy continues to impress picking up his second successive league win beating Bert Quayle 21-7, whilst another new player Frank Christian picked up his first league win in just his fourth league game defeating Paul Bradford 21-15. Kevin Stannard and Sam Stannard were the other two winners for the visitors to help secure the aggregate by six chalks.
Douglas C happily rearranged their game with Onchan C to the Wednesday evening, to give them the opportunity to watch the England game on Tuesday night. Fittingly it would seem, in honour of the football the teams played a score draw with the match ending 5-5. Winning for the home team were Mike Cain, Tommy Rougvie, Andy Foster, Willie Cowley and John Ferguson. Keith Fearnley lost 20-21 against Brian Woodall, with Douglas forced to give two games away due to being short of players. Onchan edged the aggregate by just two chalks (127-125) to secure the draw.