The 4th RIBSA Ladies Ranking Event of the season was held in Q’s Snooker Club in Clondalk Dublin on Sunday the 20th of March. In the Intermediate series Nicoletti Flynn was the first player to book a place in the final. She was joined in the final by Ronda Sheldreck.
The first frame was close the whole way through; with the breakthrough only coming late in the frame, when Ronda potted a long green and looked to be landing perfect on the brown when the pace of the table brought the white into the yellow pocket.
Nicoletti then took the green and brown, Ronda took the blue, but Nicoletti potted a super long pink to take the frame. Ronda took an early lead in the 2nd frame and held a slender lead coming to the colours. She was still ahead by 2 on the pink, when Nicoletti potted a fantastic pink to the corner pocket and landed perfect on the black to the centre pocket. She hit the black too hard and it bounced back out of the pocket, leaving Ronda a half chance of a tight cut into the centre with the rest. It caught the knuckle and went down midway between the corner pocket and the black spot, with the white close to the centre pocket. Everyone was expecting a safety shot, but without a second thought Nicoletti got down and cut the black back into the blind pocket. With this exceptional pot Nicoletti won the frame, match and her first ranking title.
A big congratulations also goes to Ronda Sheldreck as with her place in the final she secured the number 1 spot in the Intermediate rankings, taking the title of Intermediate Champion for the 2015 / 2016 season.
The senior final was contested between Claire Mill and Michelle Sherwin. Michelle got off to a good start winning the first frame comfortably. In the second frame, Claire got into her stride and was very much in command of the frame throughout. Michelle came back on the colours to make it a black ball game. After a few mins safety Michelle cut the black back into the green pocket to take a 2-0 lead. Claire had a couple of good breaks in the 3rd frame and won it well. Michelle held a narrow lead in the 4th frame, and she cleared the colours to the blue to win the frame and match.
Congratulations goes to Michelle Sherwin on taking the title of senior champion for the year.
A big thanks to Karl for preparing the tables for us, to Deborah for feeding us and keeping us watered for the day, to Alan for keeping us warm, and to Chris for the use of the facilities.
