Thursday, 24 October 2024 / Published in Billiards

Doyle wins Victor O’ Gorman Classic

The second billiards ranking event of the season took place on Sunday 20th October at the Snooker and Billiards Ireland Academy of Excellence in Carlow which was also known as the Victor O’ Gorman Classic which was in it’s 3rd year of existence and also saw Wayne Doyle of Dun Laoighaire win the trophy for the 3rd year in succession in a back and forth battle against reigning National Long-up Champion Aidan Murray.

13 players took part in a very competitive day’s play, in the preliminary round John Kehoe had a fine win against Ciaran Doyle as did Ciaran’s brother Wayne over Lloyd Myers. Larry Drennan had a good win against Rathkeale clubman Anthony O’ Flaherty while Aidan Murray beat Brendan Devlin and Robert McCrum overcame Annette Newman.

In the quarter finals Wayne Doyle was in devastating form against Robert McCrum with a 305 points margin to spare, Joe Doheny was also impressive against Dungarvan clubman Dylan Rees while Aidan Murray won against John Downey without playing at his best. The close game of the round was John Kehoe edging it against veteran Larry Drennan by 21 points when time ran out.

Semi final stages witnessed the high break of the day when National Short format champion Wayne Doyle hit 93 in another comfortable win against Borris in Ossory native Joe Doheny while Aidan Murray had a tough match against John Kehoe which was neck and neck up until the last 3 minutes when Aidan scored a 20 odd break to get over the line despite still not playing at his best.

The final was a tough but entertaining spectacle of billiards and Aidan Murray was the first to make his mark with a break of 75 to go 80 plus points ahead while Wayne struggled to get going but little by little Wayne clawed his way back with 30 and 40 plus breaks to move ahead but it was still anyone’s game.

Both players missed several times when on the table but eventually Wayne had the momentum and went 50 points ahead although Aidan reduced it to 35 points but time ran out and Wayne Doyle was once again a well deserved winner of the coveted trophy of the man who mentored him in his rise to the top of Irish Billiards. Victor O’ Gorman’s son Gary was on hand to present the trophy to Wayne who has now won it three years on the trot on a scoreline of 282-247.

Anthony O’ Flaherty won the plate final against Annette Newman by a close margin. Thanks to John Kehoe once more as tournament director and Snooker and Billiards Ireland Academy of Excellence in hosting the event.

The next billiards event on the calendar is the Paddy Murray Memorial that will take place in Edenderry on Sunday 3rd November.

Pre Quarters: