One of the biggest billiards international team events of the calendar took place on Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th November as Celbridge hosted the 4 nations billiards international for the first time since 2012. England, Austria, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland once again competed for the prestigious international prize.
The Saturday first session started with wins for the Republic and England that produced eleven 50 plus breaks. The next session saw England’s Rob Hall produce the highest break of the weekend with 324 which he also added breaks of 210, 74 and 85 in his win against the Republic’s Joe Doheny. England gradually opened a lead of 6 points on the total standings when Saturday was over.
The first session on Sunday saw England continue where they left off from the first day by increasing the lead to 8 points when they defeated Northern Ireland 10-2 in session 1. Republic of Ireland on their part also played well and looked set to finish runners up for the first time since 2013 when they established a 12 point lead over third placed Northern Ireland.
Austria had a much better day than Saturday and players like Martin Schmidt and Werner Rieschl were carrying the team with some good performances and collected 17 out Austria’s 23 points together impressively. In the end England once more showing their dominance by taking the title once again by 17 points ahead of Republic of Ireland in second with Northern Ireland third at 30 points and Austria with 23.
Tournament officials Clive Scott and Brendan Devlin presented England captain Rob Hall with the trophy after a very enjoyable weekend of billiards. Thanks to Tournament Director Clive Scott and assistant tournament director Brendan Devlin, Phil Martin and Celbridge snooker club for hosting the prestigious international event.
England – 54pts
Republic of Ireland – 37pts
Northern Ireland – 30pts
Austria – 23pts
England
Rob Hall
Craig Fitzpatrick
Adam Clarke
Nathan Mann
Simon Snee
Mark Graham
Richard Whittle
Ron Bickerdike
Austria
CW Steiner
Werner Rieschl
Martin Schmidt
Stephanie Dolezal
Markus Bauer
Christian Pleschko
Northern Ireland
Frank Trainor
John McIntyre
Keith McCready
Chris Johnston
Paddy Donnelly
Kenny Campbell
Tony Buttimer
Tommy Hunter
Republic of Ireland
John Kehoe
Joe Doheny
Aidan Murray
Wayne Doyle
Ross Doyle
Robert McCrum
