The 2015 National ladies 6 reds championship took place in Newbridge CYMS on Sunday 12th April. Everyone played each other 2 frames in a round-robin format, with 1 point being awarded per frame and the top 4 on points qualifying for a semi-final place. Most of the frames were very tight and there was a good standard throughout the day.
Maria Murray played some excellent snooker throughout the day, keeping her best for defending champion Michelle Sherwin in their 2nd frame, where she potted a fantastic blue the length of the table and then took a pink that was 2 inches off the cushion the length of the table into the yellow pocket to get a well deserved 1-1 draw. Young Katie French was outstanding into the middle pockets today, and Rhonda showed great improvement to her game that is the fruit of her hard practice. Newcomer Kim Cuthbert also showed great improvement after her coaching day with PJ.
Michelle Sherwin and Claire Mill were tied in 1st position after the round-robin with a total of 12 points from a possible 14; Michelle French was in 3rd place with 11 and Catherine Fitzsimons took 4th place with 9 points. As 1st played 4th in the semi-finals Sherwin and Mill had to have a playoff frame for 1st place, which Mill won to book a semi-final place against Catherine Fitzsimons; leaving Michelle Sherwin and Michelle French to face off in the other semi-final.
Sherwin got off to a good start against French winning the first frame comfortably. The 2nd frame was much closer, but Sherwin managed to pip it on the pink. French got off to an early lead in the 3rd frame, but Sherwin pegged her back and won the frame to get a 3-0 win and book her place in the final. The other semi-final was a much closer affair, with both Claire and Catherine playing at the top of their games. There was nothing to pick between them the whole match. At 2-2 Catherine needed a snooker with just pink and black left. She played an excellent shot to get the snooker; Claire failed to get out of it and Catherine pot the pink to go 6 ahead. Both players had a couple of shots at the black; but a miss-hit safety by Claire left Catherine an easy pot to the centre which she took to win the match 3-2 on the black.
The 1st frame in the final was very close, with Sherwin winning it narrowly on the black. The next frame was also close with Sherwin winning it on the blue. A confident Sherwin took the lead in the 3rd frame and held on to win the frame comfortably enough and retain her national 6 reds title.
Once again all of the ladies would like to thank Leo and everyone at Newbridge CYMS for all of their help; big thanks to Charlie Sweeney for his help on the day. Next up for the ladies will be the national championships down to the final 2 in CYMS on 2nd May.
