Eugene Hughes wins the 6th event of the season beating Aidan Murray 350 – 238. Eugene holds on to his No. 1 place on the rankings with 10 points between himself and Aidan and one event to play before the Championships.
The sixth tournament of the Scratch Billiards series was played at the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow on Sunday, 18th of March 2012. Carlow player, Eugene Hughes, in keeping with his No 1 place in the rankings, consolidated his position when he claimed his third win of the season.
In the quarter finals in the top half of the draw, Rodney Goggins (Wexford), fresh from his international appearance at the European Snooker Team Championships in Bulgaria and making a welcome return to the three ball game, celebrated his return with a solid win over current Champion Larry Drennan (Kilkenny), while Robert McCrum bowed out to this season’s No 1 player, Eugene Hughes. In a close semi final, both players scoring freely when at the table, Eugene, thanks to a timely break of 75, established a 50 point lead, which he maintained to end of the match.
In the two preliminary rounds in the bottom half of the draw, promising young Dun Laoghaire player Wayne Doyle and Brendan Devlin (Celbridge) won through to the quarter final stage, Wayne with a decisive win over Borris-in-Ossory player Joe Doheny, and Brendan with an equally decisive win over Aonghus McAnally (Portmarnock). In their quarter final, Brendan made all the running, amassing a 100 point lead, which he held until the last 15 minutes of the game. Despite a spirited rally by Wayne, scoring more heavily than Brendan when at the table, he found himself 17 points in arrears when time ran out. The other semi finalist in this half of the draw was Aidan Murray (Wicklow), who had a solid quarter final win over Dun Laoghaire veteran Victor O’Gorman. The semi final was a close scoring game, both players scoring well when at the table. A timely break of 68, followed almost immediately by a further 50 point visit, occurring at a crucial point towards the closing stages of the game, gave Aidan a margin that was just too much for Brendan to overcome.
The Final was yet another showdown between two of the country’s leading billiard players. From the start, Eugene was the more effective player, establishing a double-scores lead at an early stage in the game. An impressive 59 contribution consolidated Eugene’s lead, which he built on with consistently better scoring than Aidan. A late rally by Aidan, including a 70 break, still left him well adrift in scores when time was called. Congratulations to Eugene on a fine win, which means that he and Aidan now share the season’s results at three tournament wins each. With one more round and the Championships still to come, we face the prospect of an intriguing finish to the season.
The next Scratch Billiards round of the season, which will be the best of three 150 up format, untimed, takes place at the Ivy Rooms, Carlow on Sunday, 1st April 2012. Entries will be accepted before 10.30am on the morning of the event.
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 400 up, 90 minute time limit):
