Thursday, 06 March 2025 / Published in Billiards

Doyle Wins Billiards Ranking 5

Cyms Newbridge made a welcome return as host venue for the 5th billiards ranking event of the season that took place on Sunday 2nd March and it witnessed a welcome return of Wayne Doyle who won his 3rd event this season after suffering a work accident back in mid January but has recovered well to edge reigning National Long-up Champion Aidan Murray in a final that both players had performed well below par in comparison to the standards they are capable of.

Last 16 matches saw wins for Wayne, Aidan, as well as Jason Dowling and Eugene Hughes who scored an 85 break in his win over Dungarvan’s John Downey. In the quarter finals Wayne Doyle got the high break of the day of 101 in his convincing victory against ex multiple National billiards champion Eugene Hughes. Other quarter final matches saw Larry Drennan defeat Darren Ryan as well as Joe Doheny overcoming Brendan Devlin but the close game of the round witnessed Aidan Murray edge Jason Dowling by 26 points when he compiled a timely 53 break when the game was close and Jason led for most of the encounter before Aidan delivered the final blow in the dying minutes.

The semi final stage turned out to be comfortable enough wins for both Wayne and Aidan who significantly improved his form from the quarter final as he had over 200 points to spare against newly crowned Pat O’ Sullivan Memorial winner Joe Doheny. Wayne beat Larry Drennan in the other semi final that was slightly closer but Wayne always looked comfortable throughout on a scoreline of 399-239 with Wayne registering a 98 break.

The final itself failed to live up to the expectations of both players who struggled to score heavily when on the table with 3s, 5s and 7s etc after 30 minutes into the game. The lead changed back and forth but then Aidan hit a 36 break and looked in command for a short period but Wayne this time struck the crucial blow with a 46 break with just under 5 minutes left he was around 30 points in front and Aidan had to score in a hurry but time was up and Wayne was the winner by a mere 19 points with the final score of 235-216 to take his 3rd ranking event win out of 5 going into the championships in two weeks time.

Big thanks to Jim Carrick and Cyms Newbridge for the hospitality and the wonderful conditions with the tables that were outstanding quality and to John Kehoe once more as tournament director. The next billiards events will be the National Short and Long up format championship qualifiers which takes place on 15th and 16th March at the Snooker and Billiards Ireland Academy of Excellence in Carlow. The online entry will close on Friday 7pm 14th March and draws for the two events will be performed soon afterwards.

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