Laxey beat St Mary's and Rushen to semi-final place

Laxey claimed the the remaining Railway Cup place with a comfortable win at Castletown.

The competition is for the top four sides in the Canada Life International Premier League at the halfway stage of the season, and St George's, Old Boys and Peel were already in the hat.

St Mary's and Rushen could also have made the cut, but four goals without reply at Castletown made sure Laxey will be involved in next Saturday's draw (October 30). All the goals came in the first half, with Lee Cowley grabbing a hat trick and Frazer Vaughan the other name on the score sheet.

St Mary's, who were fourth going into Saturday's games, were beaten by a second half wonder-strike from Old Boys' Robbie Ward at Blackberry Lane. The win lifted Old Boys to second in the table.

Reigning premier league champions Rushen knew their slim chances of qualifying were fading as the scoreline from Castletown reached Croit Lowey, although they did all they could with an impressive 3-1 win against second placed Peel. A Daniel Bell free kick gave the visitors the lead in the first half, but Rushen equalised just before the break with a header from Island international Michael Baker. The home side got their noses infront through Aaron Hawley, after good work from Josh Kelly, and Josh Kelly himself secured the three points with another second half goal, direct from a corner!

League leaders St George's beat Corinthians 4-1 at Ballafletcher to stay three points clear at the top of the table. The scorers for the visitors were Keiran McNulty, junior Island international Steven Corlett, Frank Jones and Sam Craine. St George's were 3-1 up after 45 minutes, and Corinthians' first half reply came from Danny Gerrard. It was a bad day for Corinthians as they had Stuart Smith sent off and their manager, Johnny McDowell, had to leave the ground because of comments made to the referee.

Bottom side Gymns went down 5-3 at home to Ayre, a Jason Caine hat trick and goals from Tony Corlett and Christian Penswick doing the damage for the northern side.

In the day's other tussle at the bottom of the table, Ramsey defeated Michael 3-1 at Ballacloan. Ramsey led 1-0 at half-time and their scorers were Jamie Moffatt, who got two goals against his old club, and Isle of Man FA football development officer Lewis Qualtrough. Keiran Quinn replied for Michael.

A seven goal thriller at Mullen-e-Cloie saw second division leaders St John's defeat second placed Union Mills by a single goal. The visitors took the lead after eight minutes, through centre forward Steven Quine, but St John's fought back and led 2-1 at half-time, with a Nick Hurt penalty and a goal from Callum Gallagher. Brothers Andy and Steve Glover doubled the Saints' tally in the second period, which was just enough to bag all the points. A second for Steve Quine and a goal from Chris Kelly completed the scoring for the Millers. The win put St John's nine points clear at the top at the halfway stage of the season, and on course to make an early return to the top flight.

Ramsey Youth Centre moved up to second in the table, two points ahead of Union Mills and Colby, with a 4-1 home success against Braddan. The scorers for Youth Centre were Daniel Tate, Connell Hughes, Steven Oates and an own goal. Colby beat Onchan 2-1 at the Nivision Stadium and stayed fourth, behind Union Mills on goal difference. It was 1-1 at the break and the men on target were John Quaye for Onchan, and Juan Kinvig and Chris McKenna (penalty) for Colby.

Elsewhere in division two, there were comfortable victories for mid-table sides Police, Pulrose and Marown. Police beat Foxdale 5-1, Pulrose defeated Malew 7-1 and Marown had a 4-2 win at Ronaldsway.

The draw for the Parkinson Railway Cup semi-finals will be made live on Manx Radio on Saturday, October 30. The matches will be played on Saturday, November 27, and the final is now likely to be on Monday, December 27, the day after Boxing Day. The FA is set to put the showpiece game back a day because it believes more people would be able to watch it on a bank holiday.