It’s a Nations Cup Pool coup for Coleraine

Pool supremo Trevor Harte and the Northern Ireland Pool AssocationCommittee have been successful in its bid to stage the prestigious tournament which will take place in the Lodge Hotel, Coleraine in November.

It will be the first major competition the NIPA has hosted since 1996.

Competition for the Men’s, Ladies, Seniors and Masters will take place from Monday to Thursday, November 10-13.

The Under-18s and Under 23s will then be staged on Saturday, November 15 to Monday, November 17.

The competitions will be played on 21 Supreme tables.

Organised by the European Blackball Association last year saw players from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Gibraltar, Malta and Libya take part.

Hosting the championships is a major coup for the NIPA and the administrative know-how of Trevor Harte.

Meanwhile the Northern Ireland Snooker Championships will be hosted by Rafters Snooker Club in Ballymoney on Sunday, March 30 and Sunday, April 6.

The quarter finals and semi-finals will be staged on Saturday, April 12 with the final being held on Sunday, April 13.

Locally Potters A took another step closer to the Tennet’s Coleraine Pool League title with victory over Racks A last week.

Garth Johnston was in great form for Racks with some great finishes in the early sessions. The game went down to the final session with two old campaigners, Nigel Craig and Willie Eakin, battling it out for the win.

Willie came out on top to seal the win for the hosts.

Bullseye caused the biggest upset of the night as they beat Sperrin.

It was a tight encounter going into the final session, but up stepped Maverick AKA Steven Warwick playing some unbelievable pool to beat Adam Watt. This set up Keith Hunter who sealed victory with a win over Paul O’Connor.

The Railway Arms showed how good they can be with an 11-9 win over Forge Bar.

Having trailed 9-3 they dug deep to win the remaining eight frames and somehow grab the overall victory.

In Division Two leaders Potters B kept up their winning run with a 16-4 victory at Sperrin B.

The result was never in doubt and the Potters young guns willrelish the chance of promotion next season.

Once again James Nesbitt was the top man.

Elsewhere the Social Club kept the preasure on the leaders with an 11-7 win at Tigers.

And Bullseye Old Boys beat Village Tavern 11-9, and the Grvoe Bar won again beating the Roost 11-9.