Marown A made a solid start to their season with an 8-2 home win over North Ramsey A, with Steve Walmsley and Ray Skelly performing well to beat Dean Kipling and Peter Kelly respectively for the visitors. On Wednesday evening the Crosby men who were missing a couple of regulars made the journey north to take on the champions South Ramsey A and would have been delighted to come away with a deserved 3-7 away win. Last season Marown were inflicted with a 9-1 defeat on a tricky green, however as many teams will find there is little home advantage to be gained at this time of year.

For the home team David Bradford won convincingly 21-5 against John Gelling, whilst James Teare won his second game of the week to beat Brian Kelly 21-10. Peter Kelly and Paul Kelly both won comfortably for the visitors against Glynn Hargraves and Peter Collister respectively to leave the match finely balanced at the half way stage. In the second half visiting captain Paul Dunn led the way with a 21-6 win over Chas Grills, closely followed by Matthew Keggen who won 21-9. Colin Kelly secured the win for the visitors with a good 21-13 win over Alan Moore with the score not quite reflecting the performance of Moore. Last game on the green was Dido Kelly who battled hard to prevent another win for the Marown men to defeat Neil Withers 21-17. Marown sit in third place but are well positioned having played a tough fixture.

Onchan A lead the way at the top of the table on 16 points having recorded two 8-2 wins, seeing off Castletown A at home and Marown B away with new signing Steve Parker winning both games to make a positive start to life at Onchan. Onchan’s other new signing Frank Watson just missed out on recording two wins losing 18-21 to Peter Oates.

Peel A sit just one point behind Onchan A having beat newly promoted Noble’s A 7-3 at home with Glenn Boland making his first division debut with a memorable 21-19 win over Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly. Peel secured their second home win of the week to see off South Ramsey B 8-2, with Tony Dugdale and Steve Moore winning comfortably for the visitors. The new signing for Peel Andy Kennish also made a good start to his campaign winning both games.

Completing the top four on 12 points are Port St Mary A, who drew 5-5 away to Castletown B with the home team winning five games, but missing out on the aggregate by three chalks (134-137). Town’s Aaron Richardson will have been pleased to beat Paul Skelly 21-19. In their second fixture of the week Port St Mary A recorded a good 7-3 home win over last season’s closest rivals Douglas A, who they finished just one point behind in 2018.

Towards the bottom of the table I predict it will be a lot closer than last season. Noble’s A and Castletown B having both been promoted are well equipped to stay up, whilst South Ramsey B and Marown B will be looking to stay clear of the drop for another season. North Ramsey A and Castletown A should have enough having finished in 7th and 8th position last season. Home form will be vital for these teams, whilst avoiding heavy defeats on their travels will help their cause.

In division two Port St Mary B sit top on 17 points having seen off Port Erin A 9-1 at home on Monday evening. Alan Crebbin just prevented the whitewash with a 21-20 win for the Breagle Glen men. On a cold and wet Thursday evening Port St Mary B defeated their C Team 8-2. 91 year old Louis Callister who is surely the night leagues oldest player secured two wins to help his team to the top.

Marown C played their first ever division two game hosting Onchan B, who normally occupy the top four spots in division two and managed to record a good 7-3 home win over the visitors. Wednesday evening gave Marown a reality check suffering a heavy 1-9 away defeat to Port Erin A.

Douglas B occupy second spot on 16 points thanks to two 8-2 home wins over North Ramsey B and Peel Sunset B with Andy Foster stepping up to into B team from the C team and showing his improvement since taking up the game with two wins to start the season on a high.

Finch Hill A sit in third spot on the same points as Douglas B, starting their season a lot stronger than last season when they lost their first four games of the season. On Monday Finch Hill won 10-0 at home to Ballaugh B, whilst Wednesday evening they would have been pleased to come away from Onchan B with a 6-4 win. Results like this will help their cause to make a return to division one.

At the other end of division two North Ramsey B and Peel C will be looking to turn things around having both suffered two heavy defeats. 

In division three last week South Ramsey D were delighted to sit top of the table on 10 points at the end of the week, albeit due to three fixtures being postponed due to the poor weather on Thursday evening.

Port Erin B are well placed having played just one game recording a 9-1 home win over Douglas C with captain Harry Minor leading the way for the Breagle Glen men who will be looking to make an immediate return to division two.

South Ramsey C will be hoping to mount a serious challenge to get into division two this season, will need to put out their best team every week to help achieve that.

The final of the inaugural Club Team Championship was held on Friday evening under the floodlights at Noble’s Park in front of a good crowd. Marown reached the final after sailing through their group games, whilst Onchan came through a tough group, sealing their place in the final after seeing off South Ramsey with a convincing win in their final group game. Marown started the final as favourites, and with the format being five singles games and three doubles games the draw would be crucial to Onchan’s hopes of pulling off an upset.

First off for Marown was Matthew Keggen winning 21-12 against Colin Spence, with Spence staging a mini-comeback after being 4-16 down before losing out. The first doubles game off was Paul Kelly and Neil Withers who were up against Kevin Quirk and Peter Slinger with the Marown men seeing off the Onchan pair 21-14 in a high quality game. Third game off was another doubles game with Harry Barton and John Kelly performing well to beat Mark Kelly and Edward Carlyle 21-10. The last game off from the first half of the match was another Marown win with Brian Kelly beating Bernie McPhee 21-18, which was the closest game of the night. At the halfway stage, the chalks were 84-54 with Marown holding a 30 point lead.

Fifth game off on the night was Peter Kelly who helped increase Marown’s lead to an unassailable 44 chalks thanks to a 21-7 win over Mike Alexander. Onchan replied with the biggest doubles win of the night with Jordan Cain and Rob Monk playing the short lengths well to seal a 21-8 victory against the experienced pairing of Phil Kelly and John Gelling. With the match now secured with Marown having scored enough chalks in the two games left on the green, Onchan then recorded their second win of the night with Matthew Quirk holding off a strong challenge from Juan Killip to record a 21-17 win. The last match of the night was between Colin Kelly and Neil Dunwell with Kelly recovering from 2-8 down to eventually win 21-15. Marown won by 33 chalks (151-118) winning 6-2 on games.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves who congratulated Marown on a deserved win, whilst also thanking Noble’s Bowling Club for hosting the final and providing refreshments. Marown’s Neil Withers then accepted the winners shield and also congratulated his team and thanked their supporters. With his Association hat on Withers then gave a bit of background to emphasise why the competition was introduced, with the idea of increasing involvement from across the teams within a club and also to help create a better atmosphere around the green.

Marown C were crowned champions of Ellan Vannin Fuels division three in their winner takes all game at home to Ballaugh B with a superb 9-1 win in front of a 60 plus crowd to gain promotion to division two in style.

Leading the way for the Crosby men was captain Stephen Rundle who dug in and kept his composure to see his game out 21-19 against John Kneen. The Marown men’s nerves would have been helped further winning three games 21-16 with Darren Kerruish, Dan Smith and Kevin Kelly beating Tony Quine, Phil Quayle and Fred Waggett respectively.

Jamie Joughin beat John Looney 21-5, with Karl Parker winning 21-9 against Percy Faragher. Steve Wilson had a fairly comfortable 21-14 win against Dickie Watson. John Bolton spared the whitewash for Ballaugh with a 21-14 win over Carey Dewhirst.

This is a great achievement for the team and indeed the whole club, who have introduced new players into the game, with this continuing this season with Kevin Kelly and Karl Parker taking the game up recently with both players contributing to the overall success of the team.

Castletown C finished in third spot, but may have been left wondering what might been having finished just 10 points off the top, with their cause not helped by having to give 15 walkovers to the opposition during the season, which will have cost them extra points on individual wins and the aggregate with having to give 21 chalks away before the match has started.

Peel D hosted Douglas C recording a 7-3 home win, with young Ryan Tate turning in a good performance to win 21-8 against James King, with Dad Steve Tate not to be outdone winning 21-6 against Les Quayle.

Onchan C travelled north over the mountain to take on South Ramsey D to record a good 2-8 away win. Home winners were Ian Moore who has secured the individual merit in division three following a fine season winning 18 games from 20 played, whilst younger brother Jay Moore beat Erwin Gelling 21-15. The home team performed well despite the defeat with Steve Kelly losing 17-21 to Kelvin McNicholl, skipper James Moore, Matthew Corkill and Richard Davies all losing 19-21 to David Clucas, Graham Atkinson and Brian Kelly respectively, whilst Franz ten Donkelaar just lost 20-21 to Denis Maxwell.

Finch Hill B were another team to end the season on a high with a 0-10 away win against bottom of the pile Douglas D who were forced to give three walkovers to the Finch Hill men.

Noble’s A sealed their place in division one for the 2019 season with a 6-4 away win against Finch Hill A, which was enough on the night to seal the title by six points. This concludes a successful season for the Noble’s men following their Rayner Plate victory earlier in the season. Long time leader in the merit chase Dave Pease suffered a 19-21 defeat to Tony Epifani.

Castletown B finished second in the table suffering a disastrous 3-7 home loss to Peel C, who managed to do the double over the southerners with these two results ultimately costing Castletown the league.

Port St Mary C took the bragging rights over their B Team with a 6-4 win, taking the aggregate by just five chalks to upset the higher ranked team.

Port Erin B hosted North Ramsey B with both teams missing a player the score ended 4-5 to the northerners. The visitors just missed out on an extra three points with Barry Teare and Gary Lenton losing out 19-21, whilst Alex Yates lost 20-21 to Alan Crebbin.

Ballaugh A put their away day woes to one side to brush aside Noble’s B with a resounding 1-9 win. John Keenan sealed the individual merit trophy in division two with a 21-15 win, capitalizing on the loss of Dave Pease.

Fourth placed Peel B hosted third placed Onchan B with the westerners unable to overtake Onchan they could have drawn level with them if they were to secure a maximum 10-0 win. The Peel men did manage to secure a good 7-3 win to end the season just three points behind Onchan, which also allowed them to finish three points ahead of Ballaugh A.

South Ramsey A confirmed their dominance of the Ellan Vannin Fuels sponsored division one with their third straight league title following a 10-0 home win over Port St Mary A on a particularly wet Monday evening.

Five of the home team wins were to single figures with the most notable being David Bradford defeating Paul Skelly 21-4. Three of the visiting players made it into double figures with Wayne Roberts losing out 15-21 against Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly and Steve Franks losing 13-21 to Peter Collister. There was also a first league defeat of the season for Port St Mary captain Trevor Quayle losing out 12-21 against South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves to shake things up at the top of the individual merit.

At the start of the season I stated that Marown A were favourites for the league with the squad they had, and I am surprised that a stronger challenge did not come from the Crosby men, however I am sure that they will be back next year.

Marown A took on their B Team and without taking too much away from the B team the weather did play a part in levelling things up, with the B team securing a 7-3 win over the higher ranked team to officially secure their place in division one for next season after gaining promotion last year. The three winners for the A team were Paul Kelly who won a close game against Brian Kelly 21-19, with Colin Kelly and Neil Withers both winning to single figures. For the B Team captain Harry Barton led the way with a 21-17 win over opposition captain Paul Dunn, Steve Bridson recorded a memorable win to the same score over Dean Kipling, John Kelly beat Phil Kelly 21-19, with James Kelly beating Matthew Keggen 21-10 and Arnie Withers defeating Peter Kelly 21-9.

At the other end of the table South Ramsey B have all but secured their top flight status for another year with a 7-3 home win over near neighbours North Ramsey A. Austin Hart having waited most the season for a league win has now won three of his last four games with a 21-20 victory over Allan Callow with his confidence soaring on the back of picking up his first win. Home team captain Ben Dugdale recorded a 21-18 win over Steve Parker, with the other three wins from Steven Waters, James Teare and Sid Bolton all being fairly comfortable. For the visitors Ray Skelly and Geoff Porter defeated George Brew and Christian Caley respectively, whilst Tony Smart won to single figures.

Port Erin A made the trip to ‘The Villa’ to take on Douglas A, with the Breagle Glen men taking three games off the home team with Dave McCabe beating Mervin Sayle 21-20, Derek Cadamy won 21-18 against Shaun Seal and captain Bernie Durcan won 21-8 against Gary Conwell.

Douglas B are officially relegated, however they did pick up one of their best results of the season taking four games off Peel A away from home with Pat O’ Donohue, Andy Cannell, Andy Foster and Gordon Wynne-Smythe the winners.

In division two Noble’s A edged closer to winning the league following a 9-1 home win against Peel B. For the home team John Ruscoe and Reginald Temporaza won to single figures, whilst for the visitors Harry Kelly prevented a whitewash with a 21-11 win over David Quayle. Noble’s have two fairly straightforward fixtures left to play against their B Team and away to Finch Hill A.

Castletown B sit just four points behind Noble’s following their 8-2 away win against Port St Mary C, helped by Ross Moore and Aaron Richardson both sneaking 21-20 wins against Derek Cain and Louis Callister respectively, however they still face a tough away game against Port St Mary B, finishing up with a home game against Peel C.

In the individual merit stakes Dave Faragher (Castletown B) suffered a hammer blow to his hopes following a 4-21 defeat against Bernard Thackrah (Port St Mary C), which has allowed David Pease (Noble’s) and John Keenan (Ballaugh) to leapfrog Faragher at the top.

At the other end of the table Port Erin B have been relegated to the third division, following a 3-7 home loss to Noble’s B who themselves are all but relegated with just two games left and sit 17 points from safety.

In the third division Marown C sit on the brink of winning the title and gaining promotion to the second division following a fantastic 10-0 away win against Onchan C. Marown have done some fantastic work as five years ago their B Team pulled out of the league as they couldn’t field a team that season. Since then the club led by Neil Withers have done some fantastic work to recruit new players into the game which culminated in Marown introducing a C Team into the league in 2016 and got them to where they are now, with players who have stuck together and improved each year, with some of their players enjoying some success in open competitions with Steve Wilson winning a men’s doubles at Castletown last year and Walter McCarthy performing brilliantly to win the men’s doubles in the September festival.

Ballaugh B are by no means down and out from taking the title themselves, and sit 10 points behind the league leaders with a game in hand. Their cause wasn’t helped by dropping four games against their C Team with a 6-4 win.

Sitting just three points further back on Ballaugh B in third place are Castletown C who took their turn to sit out the fixtures last week.

South Ramsey D Team player Ian Moore looks to have secured the individual merit title following another comfortable win away from home winning 21-11 against Tommy Rougvie (Douglas C). Moore has lost just one league game all season losing 20-21 at home to Trevor Jones.