Railway Blues lift the Knockout Cup in an Epic Final

The first two frames were shared with Blues Craig Laughlin going in front and Chris Carson levelling for Galacticos.

A barrage of Blues’ frames for Josh Mcilroy, Robin Blair and Captain, Ryan Stewart put the blues 4-1 ahead.

Galacticos dug deep and international pool players, Roger Smith and Ali Wilson reduced the arrears to 3-4 at the break.

The second half got underway and Ryan Stewart secured his second frame of the night defeating Roger Smith. Blues’ Wes Smith and Josh McIlroy put the Railway Blues within touching distance of the cup at 3-7.

Galacticos are simply too strong to just roll over and one by one they fought back with wins for the reigning Carrick & District Pool League individual champion, Gary Wallace, Ali Wilson and Chris Carson to bring it back to 6-7. The experienced Paul Harris held his nerve for Galacticos to send this great match to a play off.

Galacticos’ ‘ever reliable anchor man’, international A team player, Gary Wallace was selected and Railway Blues’ Ryan Stewart faced off in a one frame shoot out for glory.

The pair endeavoured to take control of the table in a tactical battle. Gary played a great safety before Ryan found a shot cannoning his ball into the middle pocket off one of Gary’s. With just about enough of the potting angle Ryan took a tremendous long pot landing perfect on one of his tricky colours to the middle. He dropped it in and took his last two balls, controlling the cue ball and sinking the final black for the unlikeliest but most popular victories of the season. This was a fabulous win for the underdogs and a great advertisement for our league. All players shook hands and hugged and the sportsmanship within our pool league shone through.

Galacticos were magnanimous in defeat and Blues were ecstatic in victory… and rightly so.

A big thanks go to Greenisland Workingmen's Club for hosting the final.