The National Billiards Long-up Championship qualifiers took place once more at the Snooker and Billiards Ireland Academy of Excellence in Carlow on Sunday 16th March continuing on from the previous day’s National 100up Championship qualifiers in a big weekend of Billiards at the business end of the season. The end result of the day’s play saw a surprise finalist in the form of the former National Champion Eugene Hughes who knocked out Aidan Murray in the quarter finals before seeing off Joe Doheny to book his meeting with Wayne Doyle on finals weekend in May.
The last 16 games saw Anthony O’ Flaherty breeze through to the quarter finals in a comfortable win against newcomer John Fitzpatrick from Mountrath in Co. Laois, there were also wins for John Kehoe, Lloyd Myers, Larry Drennan and in particular Eugene Hughes who compiled breaks of 51 and 64 in his win over Robert McCrum.
The quarter final matches saw Wayne Doyle in serious form to defeat Anthony O’ Flaherty with breaks of 90, 58, 56, 54, 62 and 84 unfinished for good measure. Lloyd Myers and Joe Doheny won their matches with 100 plus points to spare but the close game of the round saw Eugene Hughes roll back the years with a win well deserved to dethrone defending champion Aidan Murray in the process.
The semi finals saw Wayne Doyle continue to perform to a very high standard with a convincing victory over Lloyd Myers by 600-201 which included the high break of the event with 116 to go along with further breaks of 71, 71, 70 and 58 who now plays veteran billiards great Eugene Hughes who had a 104 points to spare in his semi final win against Joe Doheny that saw the game neck and neck for long spells but Eugene scored slightly heavier in his visits to the table that gave him the daylight he needed to see off Joe to make a welcome return to a National Billiards Championship Final as he is set to go toe to toe with Wayne Doyle at finals weekend in May in his quest to win his first National billiards senior long-up title since 2009 and Wayne looks to claim back his crown that he lost to Aidan Murray last year.
Thanks again to John Kehoe as Tournament Director and SBI HQ as the host venue. The next billiards events are the National Intermediate Billiards Championships both short and long formats that will take place in Rathkeale Snooker Club on the weekend of the 29th and 30th March and players must enter online before Friday 28th at 7pm.
Last 16:
500up/2.5hrs:
- Anthony O’ Flaherty 500 – 187 John Fitzpatrick
- Aonghus McAnally 361 – 445 Lloyd Myers
- Brendan Devlin 358 – 483 Larry Drennan
- John Downey 323 – 500 John Kehoe
- Robert McCrum 275 – 500 Eugene Hughes
Quarter Finals:
500up/2.5hrs:
- Wayne Doyle 500 – 137 Anthony O’ Flaherty
- Lloyd Myers 451- 361 Larry Drennan
- Joe Doheny 479 – 379 John Kehoe
- Eugene Hughes 383 – 347 Aidan Murray
Semi Finals:
600up/2.5hrs:
- Wayne Doyle 600 – 201 Lloyd Myers
- Joe Doheny 496 – 600 Eugene Hughes
High Breaks:
- Wayne Doyle 116, 71, 71, 70, 58, 90, 59, 56, 54, 62, 84unf.
- Aidan Murray 69
- Eugene Hughes 51, 64
- John Kehoe 58
Doyle v Hughes – Long-up Final
