Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

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.