Historic treble win for Larne teams at inter-league event

Larne Pool League’s representative teams made history by winning an unprecedented treble in St Comgalls Club during the ‘A’ and ‘B’ team interleague championship.
Robert Wilson, Bill McIlroy, Barney Hylands and Alex Irwin, Managers of Larne Pool League's A, B and Plate Teams who swept the board at the recent Inter League Champioship in St. Comgalls Club. INLT19-213-AMRobert Wilson, Bill McIlroy, Barney Hylands and Alex Irwin, Managers of Larne Pool League's A, B and Plate Teams who swept the board at the recent Inter League Champioship in St. Comgalls Club. INLT19-213-AM
Robert Wilson, Bill McIlroy, Barney Hylands and Alex Irwin, Managers of Larne Pool League's A, B and Plate Teams who swept the board at the recent Inter League Champioship in St. Comgalls Club. INLT19-213-AM

Larne’s B1 team, led by Bill McIlroy Snr., won two out of three group games to book their place in a semi-final where a strong Coleraine team waited. With the score finely poised at 11-10 to Larne, one frame remained for Larne to book their place or play a decider. And it was Stephen Burns who held his nerve to take Larne to a 12-10 victory. Carrick awaited in the final - they had won the event three years in a row.

However, Larne showed no mercy and raced into a strong five-frame lead. They never looked back and secured a memorable 17-11 victory, with Alan Johnston potting the winning black.

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The Larne B2 team, led by Alex Irvine and Rab Wilson, overcame Ballymena with another epic 12-10 win to secure the plate. League stalwart Hugo Manson pocketed the winning black.

Meanwhile, Larne had high hopes for the prestigious ‘A’ event. A routine 17-5 win over Ballynahinch set up a winner-takes-all match against Ballyclare. Larne were thankful to Ed McDowell for holding his nerve to win the last frame for a 12-10 victory.

In the semi-final against past winners Antrim, the lads comfortably won 12-6.

The final provided an engrossing contest with Coleraine in a race to 17. The match went all the way and Larne had Ellis Martin to thank when he remained cool to bag the last frame in front of a packed crowd to complete the treble.

All in all, a terrific achievement for the league and its players.