Aidan Murray, once again won the Senior Billiards Event defeating Larry Drennan 2 sets to nil. The fourth tournament of the Senior Billiards series was played at the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow on Sunday, 2nd of December 2012. This was the second event of the season to be played in the short format, ie best-of-three 150up. Aidan Murray (Wicklow), having made a good start to the season by getting to every final so far, further consolidated his position at the top of the rankings by taking the season’s fourth scratch tournament title.
The semi finalists in the top half of the draw were Aidan Murray (Wicklow), who easily saw off Brendan Devlin (Celbridge) in the quarter final and Joe Doheny (Borris-in-Ossory), who won a tight quarter final match against Aonghus McAnally (Portmarnock). In the semi final, Joe was first to show, leading by almost 50 points and needing a further 16 to clinch the first set. Aidan’s response was decisive, running out the first set with an unfinished 63 and, thanks to a well compiled 80 break, took the second set, and the semi final, before Joe could get going.
The quarter final in the bottom half of the draw was a tight tussle that went all the way between Robert McCrum (Celbridge) and Kevin Christie (Portmarnock), Robert taking the match by 2 sets to 1. Although he played well in his semi final against the No 2 seed Larry Drennan (Kilkenny), Robert was no match for an in-form Larry, who claimed his place in the final 2 sets to nil.
The final was a repeat of the previous round in that the season’s top two seeds, Aidan and Larry, met again to contest the tournament title. In contrast to the previous round, however, when Aidan pinched the match by the slenderest of margins, he was always the player in control, taking the match from a tiring Larry by 2 sets to nil.
The next Senior Billiards round of the season takes place at the Ivy Rooms, Carlow on Sunday, 24th February 2013. The format will be seeded draw 400up, untimed. Entries will be accepted before 10.30am on the morning of the event.
Another billiards event will be the annual Pat O’Sullivan Memorial Tournament, to be held on Sunday, 20th January 2013. The format will be 400up, time limited to 90 minutes, handicapped, venue to be confirmed. It would be fitting that as many billiard players as possible should participate in memory of a dedicated and sadly missed member of the Billiards fraternity.
Our thanks are due to Jim Leacy for the excellent facilities at The Ivy Rooms and Marian and staff for their help on the day.
Results (all matches best of three 150up, no time limit):
