News: Reports
South Ramsey March On
Despite the miserable weather last week things are really hotting up at the top of Ellan Vannin Fuels Men’s Division One.
Leaders South Ramsey A continued to turn up the heat with another strong showing winning 9-1 at home against Nobles A. With ten games to go the northerners must now be firm favourites to take their first ever Division one title and etch their names in to the history books.
Marown A are their nearest rivals only two points back and whilst they will fancy their chances they need to start getting their best eight players on the green if they want to mount a serious challenge.
This week is a great time to start with South sitting out this week they have the chance to go top and put serious pressure on the league leaders. It won’t be easy as they host a tricky North Ramsey A team who are capable of causing one or two surprises but a big result for the Crosby men here really would put the cat amongst the pigeons.
Onchan A continue to make third place their own and chances of a spirited fight back seem to be waning week by week, but this is also their chance to strike. They have an outside chance of a maximum against Finch Hill A this week and need to take it and start closing the gap on the leaders one point at a time.
Fourth places Port St Mary A hosted fifth place Douglas A last week and as you would expect things were pretty close. Both teams secured four games apiece with Port taking the victory thanks to a pretty convincing aggregate win 155-131. It was a pretty solid away performance by the Villa men who can take heart from a couple of great escapes late on in the match to secure their four points.
Castletown A have found themselves in a really rich vein of form for the last couple of weeks and another really impressive win, 6-4 away from home against North Ramsey A, sees them comfortably in sixth place only five points behind Douglas. Town have another great chance of a win this week as they host local rivals Port Erin A and if they do manage to capitalise it really will have been a good mini-run for them.
The battle of the newly promoted teams went the way of South Ramsey B who will be delighted to have left the Villa Marina with a 7-3 win over Douglas B. Victory will taste even sweeter for Ben Dugdale’s northern charges as this win sees them leapfrog North Ramsey into seventh place.
League leaders Peel A really are the consistent team in Division Two this term and another solid showing, winning 8-2 at home against North Ramsey B, sees them extend their lead at the top of the table to eleven points.
Second placed Castletown B are still doing their best to try and secure themselves promotion and a 7-3 result against Peel B sees them put another win safely in the bag. This is a really good result for town against a high flying Peel team who are still in with an outside chance of an historic first and second finish for the Govags.
Town will need to watch themselves however as third placed Marown B are really making a late charge for promotion and are in danger of sneaking past them on the outside as Brian Kelly’s men picked up their second 9-1 win in a row, this time against Ballaugh B.
Top of the table Douglas C and second places Port Erin B exchanged 7-3 results last week, against Peel D and Ballaugh C respectively, to keep the gap at the top static at nine points.
Douglas sit out in two weeks’ time and this week is their last match for a fortnight so Ports best chance at a serious title challenge is to try and eliminate the gap and put themselves on top when the Villa next take to the green, as the week after that they travel to the Villa in a do or die match for them.
Ladies’ over 60’s Thursday 7 July
It was a tense morning at Douglas in the Trend sponsored over 60’s league on Thursday 7 July, where the home side drew on points with Ballaugh despite winning four of the six games, with all the visiting players reaching double figures. In contrast Port Erin finished with a maximum against Mooragh Park whose top scorer was Moira Anderson on 17 points. It must have been a quick match at Nobles where five of the games, two to Nobles and three to Castletown were won to single figures. The exception was the game between Flo Price and Barbara Young which Flo won 21-19.Shirley Whelan spoiled the party for Onchan by denying them a full house, while Villa enjoyed their trip to Port St Mary B, winning 4-2. Dot Mylchreest came close to levelling the games score, reaching 20 against Brenda Williams. Peel Sunset entertained league leaders Port St Mary A in a match that ended level on games. The home team fought well to all reach double figures, which enabled them to take the match by five points.
Ladies’ league Friday 8 July
It was ironic that South Ramsey and Castletown should meet again in the C Tarleton Hodgson ladies’ league the evening after the Jean Kelly final, where Castletown had won by a narrow margin. In this game the visitors had the better of the match on games, 6-3, but the home side claimed victory by just one point. The game between Purt le Moirrey and Port Erin was another which showed the advantage of fighting for every point, as despite the visitors winning 6-3 the home side taking their three games to single figures meant Purt le Moirrey ended with a 12 point advantage. Ballaugh had a successful visit to Onchan, their 6-3 win being converted to a good win on points, while the other three winning teams passed the 180 point mark. Wins to single figures by Joyce Kelly and Lynda Wilson gave Peel Sunset the advantage at Douglas where the rest of the games were very close, two games going all the way, Cath Parker winning one and Wendy Cowin the other. Rosie Winckle was the lone winner for Marown against Port St Mary, who won 4 games to single figures, while top scorers of the night were Nobles against Mooragh Park who had two winners in Maureen Wright and Rosemary Quirk.
Tight At The Top
Its getting tight at the top of Ellan Vannin Fuels Mens league division one with South Ramsey A’s lead at the top being cut to just two points by chasers Marown A.
South had the tricky task of travelling to the Villa Marina to take on the Rayner Shield Final opponents Douglas A and will be delighted to have left with a 7-3 victory which pushes them through the one hundred point barrier as they are now on 106.
Marown A entertained Ballaugh A and a strong 9-1 victory propels them to 104, just two points behind the leaders. They will hope to keep the gap at least static this week, however they travel to Finch Hill who are capable of surprising a few people on their own patch.
Champions Onchan A are finding themselves in the no mans land of third place nine points behind second place and eleven ahead of fourth placed Port St Mary A. They will see a 9-1 win over Douglas B as a good result though and will keep trying to chip away at the gap.
Port have now found their feet and a battling 7-3 win away at South Ramsey B cements their fourth position.
Castletown A are an a charge and have flown up the table thanks to their 10-0 whitewash of Finch Hill A. This is a devastating performance from the men from the Crofts and this will give them some momentum to take into their eagerly anticipated clash with North Ramsey A.
In the only other match of the division Nobles A picked up a much needed 7-3 win over Port Erin A to keep their hopes of top flight survival alive.
Second Division Leaders Peel A still flying high after an 8-2 win over their B team sees them move ten points clear at the top. This result sees the Govag second dtring drop to third in the table.
Castletown B are trying desperately to chase them down in second place however they had to settle for a 5-5 draw at Ballaugh B after winning 5-3 on games but narrowly losing out by just five aggregate points.
Port St Mary B and MarrownB are locked on 73 points each after two strong wins, 8-2 and 9-1 respectively, has really kick started their campaigns. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that one of these teams could earn promotion if they can find top hear for the remainder of the season.
Douglas C continue to occupy top spot in division three and another solid away win 7-3 at Finch Hill B will do their title credentials no harm at all.
Port Erin B managed to close the gap ever so slightly to nine points after they won 8-2 away at Port St Mary D.
Browne Craine & Co Mens Doubles Championship
Thirty pairs made the pilgrimage to Nobles Park on Saturday in search of the first ever Brown Craine Manx Mens Doubles Championship victory, and it was John Kennish and David Bradford who managed to secure the first title.
This is a fantastic new competition putting the spotlight on the doubles format of the game and it obviously captured the imagination of the local players with some of the finest pairings I have ever seen put together.
Kennish & Bradford, who looked the most formidable pairing on paper, proved that sometimes things do go to form as they were ruthless all day. In the final they just had too much for the colourful Bob Clark & Jordan Cain with the former winning 21-13.
The eventual victors stamped their authority on proceedings in the Semi Finals as they took on Colin Kelly & Neil Withers it what potentially looked like a classic encounter. Kennish & Bradford were just too good and ran out comfortable 21-5 winners. Clark & Cain dispatched South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves & James Teare 21-12 at the same stage.
Fallers at the quarterfinal stage were Barney Kelly & Stevie Kelly, Mike Hargraves & Ian Kissack, Tim Williams & Ray Maddrell and Stuart Garrett & Ian Moore.
Thanks go to Neil Withers and the Isle of Man association for organising and running the competition but more importantly to Brown Craine who shared in our vision for a premier doubles competition and gave us the support to allow it to happen.
Ladies’ over 60’s Thursday 30 June
There were only five games played in the ladies’ over 60’s on Thursday 30 June as the Mooragh Park team were attending Lilian Slinger’s funeral.
Villa put up a tremendous performance against Nobles winning all six games, three of them to single figures, Lin Ruscoe putting up most resistance reaching 16 against Brenda Williams. All the other matches played finished 5-1 on games, Onchan getting the highest score when dropping a mere three points to Port St Mary B, whose lone winner was Pauline Worrall. Breagle’s Sylvia Maddrell was the fly in the ointment for Castletown who finished with a score of 122, while Margaret Scarffe prevented a white-wash for Marown against Port St Mary A. Peel Sunset were pleased with their performance at Ballaugh where only Voirrey Oates stood in their way towards a full house, but did not, at the time, realise that they would be the lowest scoring winners of the morning !!
Ladies’ over 60’s league Tuesday 28 June
The return matches in the Trend sponsored ladies’ over 60’s league started on Tuesday 28 June. Peel Sunset started with a maximum against Mooragh Park, while Port St Mary A fell just two short against Port St Mary B, Gill Aughton being the lone winner for the “home” side. Nobles and Onchan shared the games in a high-scoring encounter, the featured match-up seeing Sonja Lees just lose out 20-21 to Maureen Payne. Ballaugh found the journey to Marown worthwhile, coming away with four wins, two, by Ann Gale and Brenda Bowyer, to single figures, while Margaret Scarffe took Maureen Trustham all the way before going down 20-21.Villa had a 4-2 advantage on games over Breagle, while Douglas and Port Erin shared the games with the home side having the advantage on points.
Ladies’ league Friday 1 July
The rain which had been threatening all day on Friday 1 July stayed away from most of the matches played in the C Tarleton Hodgson sponsored ladies’ league that night. With all the re-arranged matches the top of the league table is a bit distorted, but Port St Mary, Castletown and South Ramsey seem to be the teams fighting for top spot. (Can I remind captains to let me know when matches have been re-scheduled and the date on which the match will actually be played ). Top scorers of the night were Castletown, dropping just one game to Purt le Moirrey, whose lone winner was Chris Price .Port St Mary were pegged back by Nobles in a low scoring encounter winning just 4 of the 9 games, three to single figures which did give them the advantage on points despite Paula Firth’s good win. South Ramsey won 7 games but with the two winners for Ballaugh, Christine MacDonald and Jenny Maddrell, winning to single figures, they too ended with a disappointing total. Marown had a terrific win against Douglas, ending as second highest scorers of the evening, with some very close games particularly the 21-20 win by Pat Withers over Sue Caley. There were also good wins for Peel at Port Erin and for Mooragh Park who had six wins against Onchan.
Isle of Man vs Derbyshire
Isle of Man County Squad 2015
The Paddy Power sponsored Isle of Man Senior Men’s county team took the greens for the final time this year and fell just short of finding their first illusive overall victory.
They took on a very strong Derbyshire team both at Castletown and away in Burton on Trent and despite losing out in both legs can draw many positives from another brilliant display at the highest level.
It was an emotional day all round for both counties as they spent the match was dedicated to the memory of both our own Lillian Slinger and Derbyshires Darren Smith, two of the finest exponents our sport at seen.
It had almost become the norm for the Manxmen to win their home leg, having done so on the last three occasions, and the performance of the visitors to stop them was a stark reminder of just how hard bowls is at the top table.
Gellings home man of the match Phil Kerruish was the only local winner in the first four and he was simply magnificent as he beat Belvedere’s ‘Matt Kelly-Walley 21-13. Paul Stretton (Belvedere) won the Endsleigh Insurance player of the leg award for his 21-12 win against Peter Collister.
There was more success in the next four blocks as the Isle of Man added two more victories with Port St Mary’s Ewan Cooil winning 21-12 against Chris Adams (Burbage) and John Kennish fighting his way back with a brilliant performance to win 21-19 over John Dewey (Belvedere).
David Bradford added his name to the winners list playing extremely well to beat Paul Hawker (Whaley Brodge) 21-15. That was in for the locals on home soil as they went down 8 games to 4 and by 30 points.
Across he water something quite remarkable was happening as the men in red in yellow put in their finest away team performance to date and at one point and unprecedented away leg victory looked on the cards, however they lost out by just four points overall.
Barney Kelly led from the front with a totally assured Captains performance to put the Isle of Man 1-0 up as he beat Dave May 21-17. Neil Withers lost out by the narrowest of margins in the next game going down 21-20 before Jordan Cain righted the ship with another inspired away county performance beating Conor Chamberlain 21-18.
The Island didn’t have to wait too long for their next win as Rob Monk was in truly sensational form to win 21-9 against Neil Worthington and pick up the Endsleigh Insurance Man of the match awards for his efforts. I can’t put into words how well he played and I am sure he made his grandma Lillian proud with his breathtaking performance.
Matthew Quirk and Peter Slinger both came close, scoring 20 and 19 respectively, before Paul Skelly picked up his first county win and the Isle of Man award for man of the match after a spirited performance to fend off the battling Mick Grattan 21-19.
Phil ‘Rambo’ Kelly is fast becoming the patriarch of the Isle of Man team and he put in another stunning display last man on to beat arguably Derbyshires best player Paul Chamerlain 21-15. To put this into perspective Chamberlain has won his other two home matches this year 21-4 and 21-6. Five wins, two 20’s and a 19 is not just competing away from home it is showing that we really can mix it with the best. I am sure it will not be too long before our stars align both at home and away to bring us the overall match victory we so desperately want to see. A massive thank you to sponsors Paddy Power, Castletown for hosting the match and anyone else who helped in any way.
IOM Ladies’ Championship
Ladies Manx Champion Winner 2016 - Jenny Moore
There was an entry of 27, at Marown on Saturday 2 July, for the Ladies’ Manx Championship, which with a start time of noon enabled the competition to be concluded in one day rather than the scheduled two. The weather was fine for most of the afternoon with the odd light shower, however the rain became much heavier during the final. The competition was once again sponsored by Ann Gale and Dave McTaggart.
The tricky green meant that there were a few one-sided games but also some very close encounters, in particular the quarter-final between Ann Gale and Mary Alderson where Mary just edged it 21-20.
Quarter-finals: Helen Martin 21, Janet Monk 18; Jenny Moore 21, Caroline Parker 5; Mary Alderson 21, Ann Gale 20; Elaine Moore 21, Fiona Kennish 7
In the semi-finals Jenny was in ruthless form coming through 21-4 against Helen Martin, while Elaine had more of a tussle before coming through 21-12 against Mary Alderson.
This pitted mother against daughter in the final. Although Elaine won the first two ends, Jenny showed that her form of Festival week had not deserted her as she powered to a lead of 15-5.At 19-8 down Elaine staged a mini break back but in vain as Jenny came through to win 21-12.
Association president Rosie Winckle thanked the Marown club for their help during the afternoon and for providing the refreshments. Thanks also went to Ann and Dave for their continued sponsorship, before Ann presented the prizes.