Fountain continue to hold all the league Aces

Snooker

FOUNTAIN Aces maintained their top of the table position following the latest round of matches in the Ballymena and District Snooker League (sponsored by Keith Williams Snooker and Pool table services).

The Antrim side overcame stubborn resistance from the visiting Parochial Hawks to move two points clear of the chasing pack following a 3-1 success in the Fountain clubrooms.

Sean French put the home side ahead with victory in the deciding frame against John Martin. Paul Bloomer then took the opening frame against Danny McGarry before the experienced Parochial cueman hit back to take the second frame. It was Paul however who took his chances in the decider to double Aces' advantage.

Richard Hayes, aided by a couple of breaks in the thirties, then gave the Aces a third point inflicting a first defeat of the season on Niall Martin, in his first season of league snooker with the Parochial club. Paul Casey salvaged a point for the Hawks with a comfortable win over Ian Templeton.

Minnesota A moved above the Hawks into second place in the table on frame difference although they didn’t have things all their own way against the visiting Dunloy Cowboys.

Indeed the North Antrim men stood on the verge of a famous victory as firstly captain Aidan McErlaine defeated Brian Hannaway in a third frame decider and then Gerard McAuley claimed a notable success over Rodney McFall.

The ‘A’ team dug deep though and Dean Greer had a good win over Randal McDonnell before captain David McClintock rescued a draw for the title favourites with a straight frames win over John Joe O’Neill. Having taken a tight opening frame, David showed no mercy to his opponent as he fired breaks of 52 and 46 in his second frame.

Minnesota B saw their good start to the league campaign come unstuck as they went down to a surprise loss against their Minnesota Strikers clubmates.

It seemed everything was going to form as David Swann put the ‘B’ team ahead with a win over Stephen Fullerton.

Trevor Alexander took the opening frame against Andrew Hutchinson but Andrew hit back in the second frame to force a decider. Trevor appeared on course for an easy victory in the decider as he led by 45 points with only two reds left. Andrew refused to throw in the towel and having gained five points from a snooker he proceeded to chip away at Trevor's lead until the league secretary finally managed to secure the frame with a long pot on the pink.

Strikers' Matthew McFall, having shared the opening two frames with Willie Dobbin, then enjoyed a good run of the balls in the decider to put the Strikers ahead in the contest.

Colin Perry then claimed the upset win for the Strikers as he prevailed in three tight frames with Stephen McFall.

In the Parochial club, Ronnie McCart's Lions battled out a 2-2 draw with visitors Dunloy United. Paul Kelly had edged a couple of close frames with Ronnie McCart to put United ahead and it appeared Cathaoir Cunning would double the advantage for the visitors as he required one of either blue pink or black for victory against Richard Russell.

Unfortunately for Cathaoir the frame winning blue stayed in the jaws of the pocked and a relieved Richard stepped in to clear up and level the overall match score.

Martin Crawley then defeated Dennis Curran to gain a second point for Dunloy before Rodney McAleese won a tense deciding frame against Brendan McTaggart to gain a share of the spoils for the Lions.

A 2-2 draw was also the result of the game in Dunloy between the host Galaxy and Fountain Jokers. Bobby Darraghs black ball victory in the deciding frame against Liam Kelly put the Galaxy ahead only for Joe Bingham to level matters with a deciding frame win against Paul McQuillan.

David Gould defeated Miceal Murphy to give the Jokers their second point of the evening but their lack of a fourth player cost them the chance of a further point with Michael McPoland having a walkover win for Galaxy in the final game.

Fountain Aces 3, Parochal Hawks 1: [60] S French 2, [55] J Martin 1 (62-11, 41-56, 57-18); [35] P Bloomer 2, [40] D McGarry 1 (67-43, 32-67, 54-25); [40] R Hayes 2, [60] N Martin 0 (79-54, 64-59); [60] I Templeton 0, [35] P Casey 2 (36-67, 46-67). Breaks - S French 22, 25 P Bloomer 23 R Hayes 32, 30 D McGarry 25.

Minnesota A 2, Dunloy Cowboys 2: [5] B Hannaway 1, [70] A McErlain 2 (90-74, 46-93, 31-76); [5] R McFall 0, [50] G McAuley 2 (24-79, 43-75); [35] D Greer 2, [15] R McDonnell 0 (68-44, 72-36); [10] D McClintock 2, [50] JJ O’Neill 0 (74-62, 98-40). Breaks - D McClintock 52, 46.

Minnesota B 1, Minnesota Strikers 3: [20] D Swann 2, [40] S Fullerton 0 (75-23, 68-62); [20] A Hutchinson 1, [35] T Alexander 2 (42-75, 66-34, 40-62); [30] W Dobbin 1, [70] M McFall 2 (58-82, 83-53, 39-67); [15] S McFall 1, [60] C Perry 2 (77-68, 68-81, 63-86). Breaks - A Hutchinson 28, 25; S McFall 27, 29.

Parochial Lions 2, Dunloy United 2: [70] R McCart 0, [55] P Kelly 2 (32-49, 52-61); [20] R Russell 2, [50] C Cunning 1 (48-66, 65-62, 72-62); [70] D Curran 0, [15] M Crawley 2 (63-73, 69-80); [20] R McAleese 2, [30] B McTaggart 1 (64-37, 36-58, 58-41). Breaks - M Crawley 33, 26.

Dunloy Galaxy 2, Fountain Jokers 2: [45] B Darragh 2, [15] L Kelly 1 (64-49, 70-79, 76-72); [45] P McQuillan 1, [35] J Bingham 2 (52-41, 36-72, 48-60); [30] M Murphy 0, [55] D Gould 2 (64-71, 27-72); [50] M McPoland w/o [50] C Lindsay.

TABLE

PWDLPTS

Fountain Aces330010

Minnesota A31208

Parochial Hawks32018

Dunloy United31116

Minnesota B31116

Fountain Jokers31116

Minnesota Strikers32016

Parochial Lions30123

Dunloy Galaxy30123

Dunloy Cowboys30123

STEWART McAULEY

The local snooker fraternity was saddened to hear of the death at the weekend of Stewart McAuley.

Stewart was a well-known figure on the local green baize scene and had a long association with the now defunct 147 Club and he was a popular figure in local snooker circles.