After a hiatus of 126 days, the Mac’s Builders Merchants-sponsored Snooker League returned last week with only four rounds left to play.

Week 19’s belated set of fixtures saw Newbys DSC looking to protect their five-point lead. There may have been some rustiness and sadly two teams were short on personnel but as usual there were plenty of tight frames with five of the six matches ending 3-2.

Newbys DSC 3-2 Finch Hill Mob

Newbys captain Simon Gardner described the standard as ’very poor’ with last season’s champions travelling to face this year’s pretenders to the title.

Regardless of the standard, Newbys were happy to go 3-0 up with wins for Johnny Myers 76-50 over Peter Kirkham (20 break), Calum Gardner 58-31 against Steve Finnegan and Ste MacDonald 78-67 over Peter Crellin.

Thankfully for the chasing pack the Mob fought back and took the final two frames, Simon Gardner 62-63 to Steve Oates and Zain Abideen 30-78 against Lee Hunt. A 15th league win for Newbys and another hurdle overcome.

Finch Hill Young Guns 2-3

Peel Legion

Second-placed Peel Legion missed a golden opportunity to close the gap with Young Guns only able to field three players.

Dollin Mercer took the first frame for Young Guns 68-43 over Don Humphries, the Peel man giving away numerous fouls. Brendan Clague then effectively made it 2-2, winning a scrappy frame 56-28 against John Kelly. The latter was unable to make any inroads into Clague’s handicap start with the colours going safe and Clague himself potting well.

The decider pitted Michael Lowe versus Geoff Hall and the latter gradually pulled back Lowe’s 28 start before things got a bit edgy. With Hall requiring pink and black, he left the pink over the pocket but Lowe was only able to rattle it and a relieved Hall gratefully cleared up for a 53-61 win.

Malew 1 0-5 DSC Hurricanes

A maximum haul of points was just what third-placed Hurricanes needed as they notched their 15th win of the season.

Paul Smith was certainly not rusty as he rolled back the years with the week’s highest break of 44 and backed it up with a further 27, finally running out a winner over Dennis Quaye 77-109. The next frame ended John Faragher 43-61 Nigel Kermode and a 22 break from Chris Dagnall made it 0-3 after he beat Tom Collister 86-66.

The final two frames were black ball affairs, Gary Conwell taking his with a cocked hat shot to beat Tony Cubbon 68-54.

In the finale, Eric Drinkwater jawed the black leaving a simple task for Steve Munk who won 54-61. A very timely big win for the Hurricanes.

Finch Hill Rockets 3-2

Finch Hill Musicians

Musicians also arrived two players short but again it was tough going for the Rockets who still held outside title ambitions.

The Rockets took the first frame thanks to Matt Radley’s 49-34 win over Matthew Dodd, before the Musicians hit back with wins for Vinny Dale 76-38 over Ron Grogan and John Kennish 88-79 against John Spellman, a 31 break from the island champion helping him overhaul Spellman’s 49 start.

Port St Mary Legion 2 - 3

St Olave’s

St Olave’s also kept their faint hopes of glory alive with a very hard-fought away win against Port St Mary Legion.

Darrell Thacker of St Olave’s looked to have blown the first frame when he feathered the white on frame ball pink, but opponent Dave Pickersgill then missed the easy pink leaving Thacker to take it 65-56. Paul Smyth potted well in making it 0-2, leading all the way against Phil Joynes who was relying on some good doubles. An untimely miscue followed by a missed snooker cost the latter and the frame ended 40-61 after Smyth cleared brown to pink.

PSM hit back with Sean Roberts taking a to-and-fro third frame 74-54 over Dave Kelly - a missed final pink from Kelly left it for Roberts to clear up. The best frame of the night followed with Marc Morley receiving a 63 start against St Olave’s man Sean Corkish.Breaks of 23 and 37 from Corkish put him into a lead of 19 points with the last four balls remaining, but Morley calmly cleared these for a 22 break to edge it 92-89.

The decider between Terry Boyle and James Kerr saw Boyle miss some chances to extend his 35 start before Kerr got into gear and closed the gap. The early final colours were shared and, with Kerr requiring only the pink to win, he left it hanging in the jaws of the yellow pocket. Boyle was somehow unable to put it away and the frame ended Boyle 66-68 Kerr.

DSC Wannabes 2 - 3 Malew 2

Mark Quinn from the visitors picked up his 13th win of the season after pulling back Stevie Cowin’s 35 start to win 55-70. Tony Pring then made it 0-2 by the narrowest of margins over Paul McKinstry 42-43. Fred Corris got one back for the Wannabes with a wide margin win 78-41 against Alec Oates, but Jimmy Goodwin made the match safe with his 25-61 victory over James Teare. The final frame of the evening saw Dave Corris have a run of 20, the first big break of the season for the Wannabes helping him edge out David Quayle 75-65.

This all leaves Newbys on 60 points, Hurricanes now go second on 56 with Peel on 55. The Rockets and St Olave’s are on 52 points and runners up is probably the best they can hope for now. With the top two, Hurricanes v Newbys meeting next week at Douglas Snooker Bar, this could go a long way to deciding the title and it may be a long and tense night.

Calum Gardner with 13 wins heads the individual league with John Kennish, Sean Corkish, Zain Abideen, John Kelly and Mark Quinn also on 13 wins but having played extra games. John Kennish with 52 points still holds a healthy lead over Sean Corkish on 43 in the high break league.

MIKE CROOK