WEST OF SCOTLAND LEAGUES - Double title joy for Renfrewshire as Ayrshire Youths falter in final match

Renfrewshire tasted double title success, in both the A and Youths West Of Scotland Inter County Leagues, following the last scheduled round of fixtures on Sunday 26 October.
For the second successive week, all matches were played in wet and windy conditions.

Bidding for their 13th successive A League title, Renfrewshire lined up against Dumbartonshire at Erskine GC knowing that victory would see them secure the title without having to play their final outstanding game against Lanarkshire, which was postponed last week.

Renfrewshire made no mistake, beating their visitors by 6 - 2 to ensure the title once again.

RENFREWSHIRE    6    DUMBARTONSHIRE    2

Glasgow secured second place in the table with a 4.5 - 3.5 home win over Stirlingshire at Sandyhills, in a match played in terrible conditions with heavy rain and strong winds, though both teams were commended by officials who played the match in great spirits, with the result in doubt right to the last game.

Barry Hume won by 2&1 over Ryan Campbell to put Glasgow ahead but Jamie Savage was beaten 5&4 by David Buchanan to square the match. Gordon Miller won by 3&2 and Fraser Grant won by 2&1 to put Glasgow 3 - 1 in front but Stirlingshire won the next 2 games, Mark Hislop by 5&4 and Lindsay Blair, the match was levelled at 3 - 3. John Laurie won 3&2 to put Glasgow 4 - 3 ahead and a draw looked likely until Craig Morrison of  Haggs Castle fought back from two down with four holes remaining to gain an all important half point to give Glasgow the match by 4.5 - 3.5.

GLASGOW    4.5    STIRLINGSHIRE     3.5

Ayrshire finished the campaign with a 5 - 3 home win over Lanarkshire in their final fixture, to ensure that they secured third place in the league table.

Match details (Ayrshire names first) :-

John Shanks (Irvine) beat Steven Rennie (Drumpellier) by 2&1
Stuart Robin (Prestwick St Cuthbert) halved with Ed Wood (Crow Wood)
Michael Smyth (Royal Troon) halved with Robert Jenkins (Crow Wood)
Tommy McInally (Loudoun) beat Kenny Gallacher (East Kilbride) by 7&6
Steven Wallace (Prestwick St Cuthbert) lost to Mark O'Donnell (Hamilton) by 2 holes
Scott Brown (Turnberry) beat Jamie Lamb (Lanark) by 3&1
Stephen Spence (Royal Troon) beat Scott Douglas (Strathclyde Park) by 2&1
Malcolm Pennycott (Whiting Bay) lost to Graeme Cross (Hamilton) by 2 holes

AYRSHIRE    5    LANARKSHIRE   3

Present positions, with only one outstanding match remaining, are :-

COUNTY	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff.	Pts
RENFREWSHIRE	4	4	0	0	21	11	+10	8
GLASGOW	5	3	1	1	22.5	17.5	+5	7
AYRSHIRE	5	2	2	1	20	20	0	6
STIRLINGSHIRE	5	2	1	2	24.5	15.5	+9	5
LANARKSHIRE	4	1	0	3	14	18	-4	2
DUMBARTONSHIRE	5	0	0	5	10	30	-20	0

In the Youths League, Renfrewshire pipped Ayrshire for the title, on the countback of individual ties, after the league leaders lost out to Lanarkshire at Lanark in their final match.

Needing a draw in their last fixture of the season to retain the title, Ayrshire went down by 5 - 3 to their hosts.

Match details (Lanarkshire names first) :-

Andrew Thomson (Lanark) beat James Johnstone (Ayr Belleisle) by 1 hole
Andrew Steven (Easter Moffat) lost to Greg Telfer (Prestwick St Cuthbert) by 4&2
Callum Conacher (Wishaw) beat greg Vernon (Kilmarnock Barassie) by 6&4
Dominic Dougan (Airdrie) beat Robbie Fitzpatrick (Irvine) by 3&1
Fraser Kane (Kirkhill) beat Alasdair Berry (Irvine Ravenspark) by 7&5
David Fair (Strathaven) lost to Gary Morrison (Kilmarnock Barassie) by 3&1
Kieran McVicar (East Kilbride) beat Sandy Walker (Ardeer) by 3&1
Robbie Whelan (East Kilbride) lost to Craig Telfer (Prestwick St Cuthbert) by 3&1

LANARKSHIRE   5   AYRSHIRE   3

The result left Renfrewshire needing a win by any margin to match Ayrshire on points and take the title by tie difference, following the frankly unacceptable and unsporting actions of the Lanarkshire players and officials the previous week, who apparently refused to play on and conceded their match to Renfrewshire when behind in six of the eight ties, citing 'overhead conditions'. This resulted in an 8 - 0 score in favour of Renfrewshire which allowed them to match Ayrshire in tie difference at +10, meaning, as it subsequently transpired, that a win by any margin would give Renfrewshire the title in the event that Ayrshire lost their final match.

To the credit of the Renfrewshire team, they did not let the unsavoury situation, which was not of their making, distract them from the task in hand and they secured a convincing 6.5 - 1.5 away win against Dumbartonshire at Milngavie to take the points and the trophy for 2014.

DUMBARTONSHIRE   1.5   RENFREWSHIRE   6.5

The other match, between Stirlingshire and Glasgow at Buchanan Castle, was called off due to the course being closed, and as the result had no bearing on the rest of the league positions, the teams agreed to count the match as a 4 – 4 draw rather than arrange a replay.

STIRLINGSHIRE   4   GLASGOW   4

Final placings in the Youths League are :-

COUNTY	P	W	D	L	F	A	Dif	Pts
RENFREWSHIRE	5	4	0	1	27.5	12.5	+15	8
AYRSHIRE	5	4	0	1	24	16	+8	8
LANARKSHIRE	5	3	0	2	18.5	21.5	-3	6
DUMBARTONSHIRE	5	2	0	3	21	19	+2	4
STIRLINGSHIRE	5	1	1	3	16.5	23.5	-7	3
GLASGOW	5	0	1	4	12.5	27.5	-15	1

For the integrity of the competition it can only be hoped that there is no repeat of the actions of the Lanarkshire team and officials which transpired last week in the future, for the benefit of all teams competing in the competition.

The A and Youths League Championship trophies will be presented to Renfrewshire at their own Annual Dinner at Renfrew Golf Club  on Friday 14th November and the Boys League trophy will also be presented to the 2014 winners Dumbartonshire