The 1st Ladies Ranking event of the season was held in Celbridge Snooker Club on Sunday 9th October. The day saw the welcome return of 2 past players, veteran Cathy Dunne, who came out of retirement, and also Michelle French who unfortunately had to forego playing last season. We also welcomed new player Claire Mill from Scotland, who is now stranger to all the ladies, as she has been on the International circuit since 2004.
Michelle French made a phenomenal start to her comeback by beating the then no. 2 treasa Keegan 3-1 in her first match. In the same half of the draw Claire Mill got off to the start she wanted by beating veteran Catherine Fitzsimons 3-0. The match was very tight in the 1st 2 frames, both going all the way to the black, but lady luck was on Claires side on the day and she fluked the black in both frames to take a 2-0 lead. Catherine went out to gather herself, but couldn’t get back into it, and Claire romped away with the last frame to win 3-0.
In the other half of the draw Cathy Dunne seen off current All-Ireland Pool Champion, Sandra Bryan from breakers in Gorey. Cathy was too solid on the day, relying on her vast experience to see off Sandra by a scoreline of 3-0, to set up a semi-final against current number 1 Michelle Sherwin.
The 1st semi-final between Michelle Sherwin & Cathy Dunne was a very tight affair. The 1st frame was Cathys all the way but Michelle pulled it back just at the end to win the frame on the black. the next 2 frames were just as close, the 2nd won by Michelle on the pink and the 3rd frame won by Michelle on the black again, to give her a 3-0 victory over Cathy.
The 2nd semi-final between Claire Mill and Michelle french was more of a one sided affair with Claire comfortably winning the 1st 2 frames. Michelle was 18 ahead coming to the colours, and felt she had hit good form, they shared the yellow, green and brown, leaving Claire needing all 3 colours to win. Michelle went for a long blue the lenght of the table to the corner, which missed by mm and rolled towards the middle pocket, to leave Claire a handy clearance on if she could hold her nerve. Michelle knew the writing was on the wall when Claire finished inches behind the black sitting about 6” off the corner pocket. Claire won 3-0.
Claire was exhausted by the time the final came to be played, which made Michelles job easier for her. Michelle palyed well in the final hitting a couple of 30’s and scoring nearly every time she came to the table. Claire had no answer and lost her 1st final by 3-0. Well done to Claire on reaching her 1st final. Claire said she thouroughly enjoyed the day and is very much looking forward to the next tournament in Breakers, Gorey.
A big thank you as always goes to Phil Martin and James at Celbridge S.C., who as always looked after the ladies so well.
