The Republic of Ireland Senior Teams finished in third and fourth place in the 2019 HIBSF Home Internationals in the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds after a dramatic day of top-class International snooker today.
Final Group Matches
The Ireland team ‘A’ of Brendan O Donoghue, Aaron Hill, Robert Murphy and Ryan Cronin were beaten in their last group match early in the morning by England ‘A’ to finish second in their group but they already had qualified for the Semi Finals.
The Ireland team ‘B’ of Greg Casey, Philip Browne, Philip O Connor and Aaron Holland drew 6-6 with Wales ‘A’ in their group match but they had also qualified for the semi-finals.
Semi Finals
In the Semi Finals this afternoon Ireland ‘A’ played Wales ‘A’ and Ireland ‘B’ played England ‘A’ in two exciting matches with the winning teams reaching 7pts to reach the HIBSF final tomorrow morning.
In the first semi-final Ireland ‘A’ played Wales ‘A’ and the match went all the way to an extra final frame shoot out after both teams were tied at 6-6. Irish Number 1 Aaron Hill was nominated for the shoot out against Dylan Emery but it was the Welsh potter who came out on top to knock out the Irish ‘A’ team out and deny the Irish from defending their title.
In the other semi-final it was also sad news as Ireland ‘B’ played against England ‘A’. It was the English who went in front early on but the Irish fought back to get back into the match but in the end the England ‘A’ team won 7 frames to 4 to ensure a Wales v England HIBSF Senior final tomorrow.
3rd Vs 4th Place Play Off
The final match of the day was not what every in Ireland had wanted but it saw Ireland ‘A’ v Ireland ‘B’ play each other in a 3rd & 4th place playoff in this year’s event.
In the play-off the players played two frames in each match with the first team to five points becoming the winners.
Match 1: Brendan O Donoghue played Aaron Holland and it was Brendan leading 1-0.
Match 2: Aaron Hill played Philip O Connor and it was Aaron who won it 2-0.
Match 3: Ryan Cronin played Greg Casey and it was Ryan who won it 2-0
Match 4: Robert Murphy played Philip Browne and it was Robert who won 2-0
To give Ireland ‘A’ victory 7 frames to 0.
RIBSA would like to congratulate our Senior players on an excellent performance and all attention now switches to our RIBSA Masters who are playing the HIBSF Masters final tomorrow at 12 noon.
The Juniors Under 16 and Under 21 events will then begin on Monday evening and I am sure our RIBSA players will have even more success for our association in these HIBSF events.
Click on www.hibsf.com for all the results, live streaming, player stats and schedules.
The Men’s & Masters Championship will be held from the 9th – 12th of August and the Under 16 and Under 21 Championships will be held from the 12th – 15th of August. The Billiards will be held from the 15th -17th.
Come on Team Ireland !!!!!!!!
