Minnesota B complete league comeback with Knockout Cup win

Keith Williams hadn't assembled his team to be ready for the first competition of the season the Charity Shield but the team was ready in time for the start of the league season.

After a slow start to their league campaign the Ballymena side have made good progress culminating in the Knockout Cup success. Minnesota B were pushed all the way in the final by a good Rafters Potters side who had originally decided not to compete in the Knockout Cup before they had a change of heart.

The first two games in the final saw Minnesota's Willie Dobbin pitted against Rafters' Lee Gibson and Minnesota man David Swann taking on Mark Heggarty on the other table.

The first frame between Willie and Lee was fairly even until Willie missed a relatively straight forward pink to the middle pocket and the Rafters man stepped in with a 22 break to establish control in the frame.

Lee continued to pot well and had opened up a 36 point lead with only one red left. He then fluked the last red and potted the yellow. Willie played on despite needing snookers but when Lee fluked a snooker on the green the Minnesota man decided enough was enough for that frame.

The early stages of the second frame saw Lee storm into a 40 point lead with the aid of some clean potting including a 22 break.

By the mid point in the frame Willie had reduced the deficit to 28 and a 22 break brought him right back into contention in the frame. A missed blue by Willie to the green pocket ,however, allowed Lee the opportunity to gain the upper hand in the frame once again.

Some steady potting from the Potters player enables him to move into a 20 point lead at the colours. Lee then took the yellow and green to leave Willie needing a snooker. When Willie went off the brown Lee completed a comfortable two frames win by potting brown and blue.

On the other table Swann was conceding 30 points on handicap to Rafters' Mark Heggarty.

A couple of fouls by Mark and two reds and two blacks from David enabled the Minnesota player to close within 13 points during the early stages of the frame.

A well constructed 35 break from David made him favourite for the frame and at the colours he held an 18 point lead.

Mark potted yellow and green but was unable to make a difficult pot on the brown. David potted brown and blue to take a 78-60 lead with only pink and black remaining and he secured the frame with a pink to the centre pocket.

In the second frame David looked set for a sizeable break early on when in amongst the reds but an under-hit positional shot on the black forced him to opt for a safety shot rather than take on a difficult black with the rest.

Mark gradually gained the upper hand in the frame and held a 22 point lead with two reds left. David used his experience to claw his way back into the frame but with only the blue, pink and black left he still trailed by 13 points.

Mark then played a poor safety shot on the blue which left the blue over a corner pocket. David potted blue and pink but failed to get ideal position on the black. He then executed a great pot on the black along the bottom cushion to the corner pocket to leave the sides locked at two frames each at the mid point of the final.

Minnesota's Jordan Millar then did battle with Potters captain Paddy McCook with Paddy defending a 20 point starting advantage.

Jordan's safety play had allowed him to force errors from his opponent and at the colours the Minnesota man had overturned his initial starting deficit to hold a 16 point lead.

Paddy found himself requiring a snooker at the blue and he not only got it he was also awarded a free ball following Jordans failure to make contact with the blue.

Unfortunately for the Rafters man his nominated choice of free ball rattled in the jaws of the middle pocket and Jordan stepped in to double the blue to the green pocket and put Minnesota ahead for the first time in the final.

On the other table Rafters Ryan O’Doherty received a 30 point start on handicap against Andrew Hutchinson. This advantage was pretty much wiped out as Andrew pieced together a nice 29 break. The lead then changed hands 3 or 4 more times and at the last red the scores were level.

A great long pot from Andrew on the final red left him in ideal position on the black. He gained near perfect position from black to yellow to put himself in pole position for the frame. Having potted the green and brown he missed what he would have considered a fairly easy blue to lead by 17 with a possible 18 points remaining.

Ryan contemplated taking the blue past the pink to the yellow pocket but decided against it and played what looked to be a decent safety shot. Not safe enough as it turned out because Andrew produced a cracking pot to the corner pocket and when the pink disappeared too Minnesota B were a frame from being crowned Knockout Cup winners.

In the second frame of the Hutchinson/O’Doherty match Ryan found the form he was capable of producing and made all the running in the frame.

Despite Andrew's best efforts the Rafters man was always in control and well on the way to putting a third frame on the board for the Ballymoney side.

Back at the Jordan Millar/Paddy McCook match both players knew that Ryan O’Doherty was well in command of the frame of his match so therefore the final frame of their game was the most important of the final. Both players became nervous and play became scrappy but as with the first frame Jordans better safety play had helped him establish a slight lead at the colours. With Jordan holding a 12 point lead a missed pot on the brown from Paddy not only left the brown on but also freed the blue from a relatively safe position on the side cushion. Jordan sank the brown and blue to move 21 points ahead.

Paddy however refused to throw in the towel and conjured up a great snooker on the pink when he left the cueball tight behind the black. After studying his angles Jordan produced a great four cushion escape to hit the pink and when Paddy failed to get the pink safe Minnesota B had a trophy in their first season back after a three year absence from the Ballymena and district snooker league.

Minnesota B had qualified for the final with a comfortable 5-0 success in the semi final against Dunloy Cowboys. Rafters Potters on the other hand had a massive struggle with Fountain Jokers before Lee Gibson prevailed on the final black of a tie break frame against Joe Bingham to give the Ballymoney men a 5-4 win.

Final - Minnesota B 5, Rafters Potters 3: [35] W Dobbin 0 [35] L Gibson 2 (20-63, 46-84); [20] D Swann 2, [50] M Heggarty 0 (84-60, 62-57); [15] A Hutchinson 1, [45] R O’Doherty 1 (76-48, 36-88); [35] J Millar 2, [55] P McCook 0 (75-42, 84-57). Breaks - David Swann 35, Andrew Hutchinson 29, William Dobbin 22, Lee Gibson 22, 22.