League campaign starts for snooker players

Snooker

AFTER the group stages of the Charity Shield, the10 teams in the Ballymena and District Snooker league (sponsored by Keith Williams Snooker and Pool table services) began their league campaign last week.

League favourites Minnesota A showed clubmates Minnesota Strikers no mercy as they launched their quest for the league title with a resounding 4-0 success.

Dean Greer, having moved from Strikers to the ‘A’ team, got his side off to a flier with a comfortable straight frames success over Trevor Alexander. Having won the first frame with a bit to spare Dean produced a delicate cut on the black ball in the second frame to secure the win.

The second game was an all family battle between Rodney McFall for the ‘A’ team and his son Matthew who was playing for the Strikers. Matthew, in his first season of league snooker, won the first frame but Rodney used his years of experience to draw level in the second.

Matthew was ahead by 15 at the green in the decider but after he hit he pink when attempting an escape from a snooker Rodney stepped in with a green to pink clearance to win the match.

Brian Hannaway and Bill McKane traded black ball wins in the opening two frames of their match before Brian ran away with the decider by a 75-38 margin. David McClintock completed a clean sweep of the points for Minnesota A with a straight frames success against Colin Perry.

Two more teams expected to do well this season, Minnesota B and Dunloy Galaxy met in the Cullybackey Road clubrooms and it was the B team who ran out 3-1 winners in a match where no third frame was needed in any of the games.

Andrew Hutchinson's 2-0 win over Chris Connor was cancelled out by a similar win for Galaxy's Bobby Darragh against Jordan Millar. David Swann put the Ballymena side ahead again beating Paul McQuillan before Willie Dobbin secured a third point for the ‘B’ team with a 2-0 success over Miceal Murphy.

In the Parochial club, the host Hawks got their league campaign off to a winning start with a hard fought 3-1 win over the visiting Fountain Jokers in a match where every game went to a deciding frame.

Paul Casey won the opening frame against Callum Lindsay only for the young Antrim player to level by taking the next but some steady potting from the Hawks man eased him to victory in the decider. Niall Martin then came back from a frame behind to beat Liam Kelly and double the Hawks advantage.

John Martin then had a nice 33 break on his way to a come from behind victory over David Gould before Jokers captain Joe Bingham edged a third frame decider with Hawks counterpart Danny McGarry to give his side their first league point of the season.

In Dunloy the ‘derby’ game between Dunloy Cowboys and Dunloy United was settled in United favour by Cathaoir Cunning's win in the third frame of his match with John Joe O’Neill.

Randal McDonnell had earlier put the Cowboys on the scoreboard with a victory in the deciding frame against Brendan McTaggart. Martin Crawley and Paul Kelly had then nudged United ahead with straight frame wins against Aidan McErlaine and Gerard McAuley before Cathaoirs win secured a 3-1 success for his team.

The final match of the opening week of league fixtures was in the Fountain club where the Aces played host to the visiting Parochial Lions.

The visitors secured the first point when the experienced Richard Russell saw off Sean French in two close fought frames.

After that however Fountain Aces seized control of the match. Richard Hayes won a deciding frame against Rodney McAleese to draw the Antrim side level. Ian Templeton and Paul Bloomer then ensured an opening night three points haul for the Aces with comfortable wins over Dennis Curran and Ronnie McCart respectively.

Minnesota A 4, Minnesota Strikers 0: [35] D Greer 2, [35] T Alexander 0 (57-21, 48-39); [5] R McFall 2, [70] M McFall 1 (70-96, 92-81, 91-82); [5] B Hannaway 2, [30] B McKane 1 (68-63, 65-74, 75-38); [10] D McClintock 2, [60] C Perry 0 (77-65, 94-71).

Parochial Hawks 3, Fountain Jokers 1: [35] P Casey 2, [50] C Lindsay 1 (76-36, 18-59, 69-25 ); [60] N Martin 2, [15] L Kelly 1 (67-76, 69-40, 95-21); [55] J Martin 2, [55] D Gould 1 (34-70, 68-4, 63-26); [40] D McGarry 1, [35] J Bingham 2 (39-50, 44-35, 33-50). Breaks - J Martin 33 D Gould 25c

Minnesota B 3, Dunloy Galaxy 1: [25] J Millar 0, [45] B Darragh 2 (61-65, 38-69); [20] A Hutchinson 2, [50] C Connor 0 (64-57, 62-46); [20] D Swann 2, [45] P McQuillan 0 (71-41, 66-57); [30] W Dobbin 2, [30] M Murphy 0 (43-15, 52-16).

Fountain Aces 3, Parochial Lions 1: [60] S French 0, [20] R Russell 2 (59-73, 53-81); [40] R Hayes 2, [20] R McAleese 1 (69-24, 57-64, 66-30); [60] I Templeton 2, [70] D Curran 0 (53-44, 51-19); [35] P Bloomer 2, [70] R McCart 0 (70-46, 81-37). Breaks - P Bloomer 37, 38.

Dunloy Cowboys 1, Dunloy United 3: [15] R McDonnell 2, [30] B McTaggart 1 (64-72, 74-60, 69-21); [70] A McErlaine 0, [15] M Crawley 2 (71-86, 69-87); [50] G McAuley 0, [55] P Kelly 2 (37-67, 36-48); [50] JJ O’Neill 1, [50] C Cunning 2 (55-20, 18-57, 29-49). Breaks - M Crawley 28.

MINNESOTA HANDICAP

John McAllister was the winner of the weekend Minnesota handicap, beating Tom Doran in the final.

Beaten semi-finalists were Johnny Colville and Gary Clarke, who had been in sparkling form with breaks of 110, 87, 58 and 56.

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