Second Half of Season Underway
The men’s night league teams commenced the second half of the season, with Marown A carrying on their fine form to take a good 1-9 away win over North Ramsey A. Preventing the whitewash for the home team was Steve Walmsley who recorded a convincing 21-10 victory over Dean Kipling. For the visitors standing in for the A team captain Paul Dunn was B team captain Harry Barton who claimed a good 21-8 win over Ray Skelly. Three of the Crosby men had to work hard for their wins with Phil Kelly winning 21-17 against John Cannan, Matthew Keggen won 21-18 against Bryan Corner, whilst Paul Kelly just got home 21-19 against Gary Merrill.
Noble’s A hosted Peel A with the visitors taking an 2-8 away win. Winning for Noble’s were David Quayle who won 21-12 against Alec Taylor, whilst Tommy Collister beat Jerome Surridge 21-14. For Peel Harry Kelly beat Steve Cook 21-20, Tom Kelly & Gary Smith both won 21-18 against Mark Quinn and John Ruscoe respectively. Captain Stevie Kelly won 21-17 against David Pease, with father Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly winning comfortably 21-12 against Glenn Boland, whilst Andy Kennish continued his fine form to make it 10 wins from 11 games with a 21-11 win over Kevin Firth.
South Ramsey A hosted Douglas A on a green that has seen remarkable improvement since the start of the season. The home team recorded an 8-2 win with captain Glynn Hargraves winning 21-1 against Gary Conwell, team mate Alan Moore also running out with a 21-3 victory over Shaun Seal. Stefan Kelly had to battle hard for his 21-17 win over Jimmy Sansom, whilst Peter Collister held his composure to just get over the line with a 21-20 win over Douglas captain Andy Cannell, with Collister having a 20-16 lead only for Cannell to level up at 20-20 and Collister beating a good bowl on the last end to take the win. Winning for Douglas were Stuart Garrett and Ian Moore.
Marown B brushed aside South Ramsey B with relative ease in their 8-2 home win. Brian Kelly made light work of his game with Edward Carlyle to win 21-4, whilst Jamie Joughin stepped up from the C team to take a 21-10 win against Christian Caley. Bobby Thorne having recently returned from university won 21-10 against Ian Moore, whilst Peter Kelly had a good 21-15 victory over Tony Dugdale. For the visitors Sid Bolton just got home 21-19 against James Kelly, captain Ben Dugdale continued his return from injury to win 21-18 against Juan Killip, with Austin Hart just losing 19-21 against Luke Hyland.
Port St Mary A welcomed Castletown B with the home team taking a 6-4 win. Winning for the Port men to single figures were Dan McCabe, Trevor Quayle & Wayne Roberts over George Foy, Dave Faragher and Ross Moore respectively, with Dave McCabe winning 21-14 against Mark Saunders. Winning for the town men were Bob Clark who beat Tim Williams 21-7, captain Ron Williams who beat Rob Cooil 21-16, whilst Nathan Cooil and Aaron Richardson won 21-17 against Glenn Hargraves and Bernard Thackrah respectively.
Castletown A rescheduled their home fixture with Onchan A to a later date due to a number of their team having Southern 100 commitments.
In division two Ballaugh A remain top on 85 points after their 7-3 home win against Port St Mary C with Ronnie Callow and Colin Leece preventing a heavier defeat with wins over Patrick Grant (21-18) and John Keenan (21-19) respectively. It would take a run of poor results to stop the Ballaugh men from going back up to division one next season.
The fight for second spot can be any one of five teams with Port St Mary B occupying second place on 75 points having played a game more than the teams below them. Peel B sit in third on 71 points after seeing off their C team with a 7-3 win, Port Erin A (69) continue to climb the table and are by no means out of it after their 8-2 home win over Port St Mary B with Finch Hill A also on the same number of points slipping up with their 3-7 away loss to bottom of the table Ballaugh B. Onchan B make up the top six on 68 points, claiming a hard fought 6-4 home win over Marown C taking the aggregate by just three chalks (141-138).
In division three runaway leaders South Ramsey C extended their lead by another point to 25 points following their 3-7 away win over Peel D. The Ramsey men are looking on course to win all 20 games this season and there is no doubt that they will be playing second division bowls next season.
It is looking to be a straight fight for second spot between Finch Hill B who occupy second on 66 points, taking a 6-4 home win over Ballaugh C winning the aggregate by just five chalks (146-141) and Noble’s B in third (65) who had a comfortable 2-8 away win over South Ramsey D. Onchan C are not completely out of it on 60 points.