Raft of finals brings snooker season to close

SEVERAL finals were played last week to finish off the season in the Ballymena and District Snooker league (sponsored by Arkmedia).

The final of the Non handicap Individual competition was between Minnesota’s Rodney McFall and Triangle Aces player Willie Boreland.

The tone for the final was set early in frame one with Willie opening up with a 30 break before missing a difficult cut on a red. Rodney replied almost immediately with a 27 bringing him to within half a dozen points of his opponent.

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At the colours Rodney had nudged into a three point lead and looked favourite for the frame after potting yellow and green and then forcing a foul on the brown from Willie.

Rodney potted the brown but over-ran his position finishing almost up against the blue. A poor safety on the blue from the Minnesota man allowed Willie to pinch the opening frame by potting blue pink and black.

The second frame saw Rodney take an early red and black before missing what was for him a reasonably easy red. Willie made Rodney pay heavily for the miss and with some good positioning of the cueball particularly around the black spot area he compiled a nice 53 break to establish control of the frame. Another three reds with blacks gave Willie a comfortable win for a two frame lead.

In frame three Rodney made 24 on consecutive visits as he set about reducing his frame deficit. Willie just couldn’t get a clear opening for a pot in the frame and Rodney gradually eased his way to the frame without allowing his opponent to pot a single ball.

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Frame four was not as open as the previous frames as both players found the main valued colours to be tied up for most of the frame. The frame remained tight with only a couple of points between the players until Willie had a break of 27 taking the last 4 reds and then the yellow to leave Rodney needing snookers.

Rodney potted the green but then fouled on the brown and immediately conceded the frame. Frame five was back to being a more open frame with little to separate the players until midway through.

Rodney appeared to be taking control but a great red from Willie enabled him to get great position on the black and as with the second frame the Coleraine man was in fine potting form as he compiled a well crafted break of 53 to take the match.

Scores: Willie Boreland 4, Rodney McFall 1 (57-50, 78-14, 0-58, 64-34, 76-26).

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The final of the 0-25 handicap competition was also played and remarkably the final was between Rodney McFall and Willie Boreland again this time with the Minnesota man receiving a 5 point start on handicap.

Willie was ahead for most of the first frame without either player making a break of any note before Rodney took green brown and blue to trail by a single point. Willie potted a good pink but was unable to gain position on the black. A sustained period of safety on the black ensued before Rodney seized his chance and potted the black to force a respot. The safety exchange didn’t last so long on the respotted black with Rodney knocking in a fine long pot to take the opening frame.

In frame two Willie again made the early running and although Rodney tried bravely to get back into the frame a break of 30 Willie as he had in their previous final was in good potting form and he wasted no time at all in taking frame three with a frame winning break of 55 to put himself within a frame of adding the handicap competition to the earlier competition he had won.

Rodney made his best break of the night a run of 35 as he raced into an early 40 point lead in frame four and the popular Ballymena player appeared to be well on his way to levelling the match as he led by 45 with only three reds left.

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Willie however produced a fantastic 45 clearance to level the frame and force yet another respotted black. As in frame one it was Rodney who rolled in the vital black to take the match to a deciding frame.

Not surprisingly the final frame turned out to be the scrappiest of the night but Rodney kept potting reds with colours here and there and he opened up a crucial 20 point lead at the penultimate red. Having potted the red with a blue Rodney led by 26 with only the six colours remaining.

Although Willie potted the yellow a miss on the green allowed Rodney to pot green and brown to take victory and gain some revenge for his defeat in the previous final between the two players. As with their previous meeting the match was played in great humour and spirit.

Rodney McFall 3, Willie Boreland 2 (67-60, 18-73, 14-72, 61-54, 56-25).

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The league would like to thank the Minnesota club for the use of their premises for the various individual competitions this season.

In the final team competition of the season Triangle Aces collected their third trophy of their debut season with a hard fought 6-2 win over Division 2 side Minnesota Strikers in the final of the Knockout Cup.

Although the scoreline looked comfortable for the Division 1 champions three of their winning frame came in black ball fights so the result on another night could have turned out differently.

Willie Boreland nicked the opening frame of his match with Hugh Larkin on the black before taking the second with a bit to spare.

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Trevor Alexander won the opening frame of his match with Daniel McAuley but a great black down the side cushion to take the second frame from the Coleraine man turned out to be crucial in the overall match.

Bill McKane from the Strikers took the opening frame of his match with Adrian Toner only for Marc Hutchinson to reply for the Coleraine team with an opening frame win against Ruairi Meban.

With the overall match score being 4-2 at this point Marc’s long pot on the black in his second frame against Ruairi sealed the Cup for a very good Triangle side who certainly enjoyed their first season in the BDSL.

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