The third RIBSA Billiards ranking event of the season took place on Sunday 2nd December in Celbridge snooker club in Co.Kildare as reigning national senior long-up champion Wayne Doyle came out on top to take the event along with winning the first event back in September. This event was a 90 minute format and 11 players took part.
Early eliminations were John Kehoe (Ballindaggin), Robert McCrum (Celbridge) and Aonghus McAnally (Portmarnock). The semi final pairings featured Aidan Murray (Ivy Rooms) and Larry Drennan (Kilkenny Shed) who had wins against Joe Doheny (Borris in Ossory) and Lloyd Myers (AOH Cork) turned out to be a one sided affair as Aidan was relentless in his scoring when on the table that included a break of 115 to book his place in the final as Larry was probably feeling the effects of a long days play.
The other semi final included the Doyle brothers from Dun Laoighaire, Wayne and Ross. Ross won a close game against Brendan Devlin (Celbridge) but ended up on the wrong side of another close match with Wayne who hit a 175 break in his quater final win over Eugene Hughes (Baltinglass) to set up another final showdown with Aidan by beating Ross with 57 points to spare.
In the final Wayne made most of his time when on the table as he beat his previous break of 175 with to produce an impressive 190 and never looked back to win by 390 – 239 despite Aidan scoring well but met a player hitting top form at the right time to take the third event of the season and going back on top of the rankings.
Thanks as ever goes to Brendan Devlin as Tournament Director and Celbridge snooker club for hosting the event. The next billiards ranking event of the season will take place in the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow on Sunday 13th January, to enter call or text Brendan Devlin on 086-6062420.
Pre Quaters:
Aidan Murray (61) 304-211 John Kehoe
Joe Doheny (62) (64) 493-279 Robert McCrum
Aonghus McAnally 230-294 Larry Drennan
Quater finals:
Aidan Murray (59) 340-253 Joe Doheny
Lloyd Myers 263-334 Larry Drennan
Ross Doyle 286-278 Brendan Devlin
Eugene Hughes 426-466 (175) Wayne Doyle
Semi finals:
Aidan Murray (115) 369-148 Larry Drennan
Ross Doyle (51) 407-464 Wayne Doyle
Final:
Aidan Murray 239-390 (190) Wayne Doyle
Breaks:
Wayne Doyle 175, 190
Aidan Murray 61, 59, 115, 80, 68, 56
Joe Doheny 62, 64
Robert McCrum 60
Ross Doyle 51
● Report by John Kehoe