Gr-eight stuff from Forge and McNulty's

Even after only two games, none of the six teams can boast a 100 percent record.

Yet again, two of the matches ended in stalemates, with Raymond Stockman's Sperrin the only team to pick up two points.

Forge B have sneaked ahead in Division 2 with victory over Railway Arms, but it's still very early days.

Division 1

Forge A 4, McNulty's A 4

Arguably the match of the week ended with McNulty's rescuing a point when they looked on the brink of defeat.

Both teams deserve a lot of credit as some of the pool on show was from the very top drawer. Davy Tosh started the ball rolling in typical fashion as he produced two classy finishes, including a fine cut on the black in the second, to beat Allen Tosh.

Neville Smyth and Lee Hull teamed up to level the scores, taking out a superb eight ball finish in the opener, before taking advantage of a hung black by Andy Park in the second.

McNultys were back in front as Marc Hutchinson made the most of a foul break by Lee Hull in the first, before producing an eight ball finish from the break in the second.

Forge captain Willie Eakin must have liked what he saw as he levelled the matter by running out two awesome eight ball finishes, giving Willie Boreland only one shot in the process.

Tosh and Park teamed up in the next doubles match, amazingly producing another eight ball finish from the break (five in a row!)

However, Eakin and partner Allen Tosh slowed things down, and with some smart tactical play turned the match around to put Forge in front for the first time.

Neville Smyth met Damien Reid in the next, and after a very scrappy opener Smyth pulled through.

Reid replied with another break and finish, before Smyth did exactly the same in the next, continuing the great pool on show.

However, standards somewhat slipped in the next match with Raymond Baxter facing Adrian O Kane. With both players struggling, this was not one for the purist.

Baxter won the first after having missed a straightforward finish earlier in the frame. O' Kane got back into the match, taking advantage of another failed attempt at a finish by Baxter.

The decider was a tense affair, with O'Kane pulling through to keep his team in the match.

McNulty's rescued a point in the final match, as their very strong pairing of Hutchinson and Boreland were just too solid for Eakin and young Scott Clarke.

Sperrin A 4, Forge Bar 4

A game of two halves at the Sperrin club, as the Sperrin A had raced into a 4-0 lead, only to be pegged back by a dogged display from the Forge Bar.

Ryan Craig proved too strong for Sean McNicholl in the opener. McNicholl then teamed up with Baird in the doubles but again enjoyed no success as they ran into the father and son pairing of Noel and Lyam McDermott, who ran out convincing winners.

Noel followed up by defeating an out of sorts Chris Wade, before Gareth Johnston made it 4-0 as he registered a good victory over Paul Baird.

With the Forge on the ropes, the young guns came out fighting. Adam Watt and Corey Sweeney potted Ryan Craig and Chris Mulholland into submission, before the Forge pairing won their singles matches, beating Tommy Morrow and Nigel Craig respectively.

Watt was particularly impressive against Morrow, pulling out a super break and finish in the second. Watt made it three from three as he partnered Wade in the last doubles match.

They took out a break and finish in the opener, and even though they lost the second, they held on in the decider to rescue an excellent point.

Triangle 0, Sperrin 5

Sperrin made short work of the students in this clash.

Billy Moore's attacking play was too much for Mark Broderick in the opener.

Lee Caulfield and Aaron Moffatt made it 2-0 in no time, before Caulfield managed to get the better of Darren Leonard in three tough frames.

Raymond Stockman won the first frame against Darren Ryles, but Ryles produced an excellent double on his last red to take it to the decider. However, the experience Sperrin man knuckled down in the decider, giving Ryles no chances.

Victory was secured as Stockman, teamed up with Paul O' Connor, who was making his first appearance of the season, and the experienced pairing proved too strong over three frames for the pairing of Ryles and Chris Canning.

Division 2

Forge B 5, Railway Arms 2

Forge B are now the only team in the whole league to maintain their 100% record, although they were made to work hard for this victory.

Forge B's new signing John Huston showed some glimpses of top form with a hard fought victory over Wahib Ziani.

The home side went two up as Aaron McCorkell and Steven McIlroy came from a frame down to beat Arthur McMullan and Scott McClelland.

McClelland performed better in his singles match, as he played some controlled pool to defeat Julie Henderson.

McIlroy registered his second victory as he got the better of Johnny McDowell, before Andy Hutchinson and Daniel McAuley sealed the first point in the doubles match.

Ronnie McMullan gave the Arms hope with a great recovery to beat Aaron McCorkell. Arms captain Arthur McMullan should have taken the match to the last game, however, after going one up, he gave opponent Hutchinson too many chances and the Forge man didn't need a second invite to take the match for his team.

Roost B 4, Sperrin B 4

Simon McIlreavy was in good form as he disposed of John Cameron in the opener.

The visitors went two up as Steven Spence and John Sweeney took advantage of some slack play by Cameron and Rodney Leighton.

Spence doubled up as he came from a frame down to beat Eddie Mullan, including an eight ball finish in the second.

Uel White finally got the home side on the board as he beat Andy Lindsay easily, although Lindsay got revenge in the doubles alongside Peter McMullan.

With the Roost staring defeat in the face, they pulled out all the stops.

First of all, Leighton was tood good for McMullan before Gareth Mullan took it to the last with an impressive victory over John Sweeney. Eddie Mullan and Uel White grabbed a point for Roost as they teamed up in fine fashion to beat McIlreavy and Spence.

McNulty's B 7, Roost A 1

McNultys B found their feet with this impressive win.

Keith Hunter won the first against Pat Conway, even though he was not at his best. Hunter teamed up with Chris McColgan to make it 2-0 with victory over Stephen McMullan and George Cameron.

McColgan met McMullan in the next singles match, and McColgan was very unlucky as he potted black and white in the decider to hand victory to his opponent.

Davy Logue had to dig very deep in the next, as he scraped through against Charlie Speight.

Logue doubled up as he, along with Geoff Butcher, were victorious over DD Campbell and Speight.

Butcher sealed the victory for the home side, taking a good finish in the first, before winning a scrappy second against Campbell.

** The next league meeting will be held in McNulty's Bar on Monday, October 11. All teams are asked to attend. Committee at 7.30pm and captains at 8.00pm

Fixtures

This week

Sperrin v Forge Bar

McNulty's v Sperrin A

Forge A v Triangle

Roost A v Sperrin B

Railway Arms v Roost B

Forge B v McNulty's B

Next week

Sperrin v McNulty's A

Forge A V Sperrin A

Triangle v Forge Bar

Railway Arms v Roost A

Roost B V Forge B

McNulty's B v Sperrin B