Cunningham wins nervy encounter

O’Doherty went into the match with a 30 point head start on his opponent.

1st frame: O’Doherty broke with an in off white giving Cunningham his first four points.

Cunningham knocked in a very hard 22 break but O’Doherty was the man in form with his long potting knocking in breaks of 19 and 15.

Cunningham needed pink and black but O’Doherty secured the frame on the pink ball.

Cunningham 61 points O’Doherty 71 points

2nd frame: O’Doherty, who had got to the final for the second time in his career, was determined to win with five balls left on the table he was 63 points in front of Cunningham who by this stage was facing defeat and conceded the frame

Cunningham 13 points O’Doherty 79 points

3rd frame: O’Doherty must have thought he had it in the bag having gone 25 points up to take the third frame and put Cunningham under pressure.

However, he missed an easy green into the middle pocket leaving Cunningham to clear the table and take the frame.

Cunningham 65 points O’Doherty 54 points

4th frame: O’Doherty was a potting machine going 68 to two points in front of Cunningham leaving O’Doherty with another frame.

Cunningham 3 points O’Doherty 70 points

5th frame: The ever-experienced Cunningham came out from a short break in play stronger than ever and knocked in a nice 24 break as well as a 43 break, leaving him 35 points in front of O’Doherty and securing the frame.

Cunningham 78 points O’Doherty 43 points

6th frame: Cunningham was now three frames to two down and knew he had a chance of winning if he could hold it together and O’Doherty - needing just one important frame to win - couldn’t get over the wire.

O’Doherty came out strong knocking in a 16 break going 46 points in front before Cunningham potted a ball but Chris gave it his all and the experience showed when he knocked in breaks of 27 and 32 to win the frame and take it to a deciding frame knockout.

Cunningham 82 points O’Doherty 50 points

7th frame: Chris knocked in a nice 16 break but the pressure was now on O’Doherty who fouled on the blue, giving Chris a bonus five points. With O’Doherty in trouble and needing a snooker at the blue ball, Chris only needed blue to win. He missed it a couple of times but finally potted blue to secure frame and match.

Cunningham 69 points O’Doherty 43 points

4 frames 3 frames

Meanwhile, an All Ireland ranking tournament was held at Rafters on Sunday 10 January.

Local player Dylan Murray has made it through to the semi-finals which take place this Tuesday night at 7.30pm at Rafters.

This is one of the most important games Dylan has had in his career.

All Rafter’s staff and club members wish him luck and everyone is invited to come and see him play and show their support.