Marown A remain at the summit of Isle of Man Bank Men’s league division one however their lead has been cut to just six points after a tricky double week of fixtures. They started a week with what was expected to be a formality at Nobles Mixed A, but the home side did anything but lie down and give the league leaders and easy ride, they scrapped and fought for every point and were unlucky to go down 4-6 as the Crosby side just had the edge on aggregate. They followed this up midweek with a good 7-3 victory over the talented Castletown A side to keep their hopes of a first league title in over a decade alive.

Onchan A faired better over the week to narrow the gap at the top of the table, they have been lacking their air of invincibility recently but these results go someway to showing why they have been perennial champions recently. They picked up a good 7-3 away win at Port St Mary before dominating Nobles Mixed 9-1 at Onchan Park. They are now in touch with the leaders and if they continue to better Marown’s results it will not be long before they are literally breathing down their neck.

Marown have been the class act this term and have earned their position at the top of the table but it frightens me when I see how close Onchan are now, especially after their under par performances during this campaign. Marown have put themselves in pole position thanks to a number of exceptionally heavy wins earlier in the season, and Onchan’s inability to either match or better their results. If they want to take the heat off themselves and see out their challenge they need to start bettering the Champions results again and will be looking to start tonight when they travel to North Ramsey A as Onchan have the tricky trip to Town A.

South Ramsey A are now in third place but didn’t have things their own way on Monday as they drew 5-5 with Peel A in the Sunset City. This match was as close as it gets as the teams tied on both games won and points. They beat Port St Mary A 7-3 at home on Wednesday, to climb above Douglas in the table who only had one game last week.
Douglas A will feel extremely lucky to have escaped with a 7-3 win over Castletown B as Town pushed them all the way picking up three wins and just losing out 21-20 in two other games. This leaves them four points behind South with a game in hand.

Town B stepped up a gear on Wednesday as they whitewashed Peel A 10-0 at the crofts to climb away from the drop zone and to relative safety. This result leaves Peel A stranded in no-mans land four points behind the rest routed to the bottom of the table.

Port Erin A have now built themselves a four point cushion at the top of Division 2 thanks to a couple of 7-3 wins over two of the divisions strongest outfits, with wins away at Castletown C and at home to Onchan B. They are stringing the results together well now and I genuinely think they will finish top of the tree.

Second placed Port St Mary B can blow hot and cold and this was evident last week as they dipped 6-4 away at Onchan B on Monday before reversing this score line at home against Peel C midweek. They are nine points ahead of Town C in third, and as long as they keep chipping in with wins they should have enough in the tank to finish second and make the trip to the top flight next term.

Nobles Park A started up their engine again to stay at the top of the third tier with a strong 9-1 home win over Ballaugh C. This win leaves them three points ahead of Onchan C in the title race. Onchan C were the early pacesetters in the division and faltered a few weeks ago, but are now firing on all cylinders after beating South Ramsey B 8-2.

Marown A beat Douglas A at Finch Hill bowling green on Friday evening to win the coveted Canada Life International Rayner Shield for a third successive year, in arguably the most dramatic final ever in the illustrious competitions history.

It wasn’t a bowling match it was a war, with the challengers throwing everything in their arsenal at the defending champions who fought to the death as if their lives depended on it. The teams on paper looked evenly match, and on the impeccable yet tricky playing surface things were even closer.

Marown took the initiative in the early stages with Colin Kelly drawing first blood for his side with a 21-10 win over Keith Rise. The next three games came off the green in quick succession with Marown moving further ahead thanks to wins from seasoned campaigners John Gelling and Phil Kelly, but then something happened.

Stuart Garrett picked up a superb 21-18 win over June Festival winner and Marown Captain Neil Withers to give his side hope, and the Douglas troops responded brilliantly to this rallying cry with Paul Skelly and Matthew Keggen notching up wins to draw the challengers level. The balance of power seemed to be swinging towards to underdogs.

Then there was another twist in the tale as Mike Cain, who had trailed by a couple of points for most of his game, edged passed Douglas Captain Mark Kneen 21-19 to leave his team needing only one more win to retain their crown. With the two remaining games on the green finally balanced the scene was set for an ending so suspenseful that it could have been scripted.

Paul Kelly moved through the gears and held his nerve brilliantly to see off the challenge of Peter Kelly 21-16 to keep his team in the running leaving everything resting on the game between Ian Moore (Douglas) and Dean Kipling (Marown).

Moore was ahead 20-17 and led out to try and bring home the trophy for his team. He headed straight for the corner however he got a little tight with his first bowl and it just went off the green. Last years division 1 merit winner Kipling capitalised and played a great bowl which Moore just failed to beat with his second. Kipling then picked up a two to tie the scores at 20-20.

Kipling put up two brilliant woods to leave Moore lying game down but he held his nerve and with everything resting on the fate of his final bowl he struck the jack off the green, killing the end and keeping the Douglas hopes alive in the process. However it was not meant to be for the challengers as Kipling, who seemed to thrive in the pressure cooker atmosphere, led magnificently and picked up the final point required for a Marown win.

It is heartbreaking for Douglas who came so close to winning the shield for the first time in over 50 years, but it wasn’t meant to be. Marown just had the edge by the smallest of margins winning 5-4 on games with the scores ending 167-165 on points in a match that had everything. In sport there are always winners and losers and Marown are brilliant champions but Douglas are far from losers after this performance, the real winners on Friday night were those lucky enough to watch this epic encounter which I am sure will be stored in the memory banks for years to come.

Winners (Marown A)

Runners Up (Douglas A)