Week 4 results at Carrick & District Pool League

Q Club 11-3 Bay City Bowlers

Q Club welcomed the Bay City Bowlers to Larne for week 4 of the Carrick & District Pool league sponsored by SKC GAMING NI Ltd

After last week’s cup heroics in Whiteabbey, Q Club were able to utilise their squad depth to replace Brian Crilly with Andrew Ferguson in one change for the hosts. The Bowlers themselves had a seven-man strong panel.

It was a blistering first session for Q Club as they seized control of the match limiting the chances and table time to the visitors. Highlights included a Ryan McKillop break and dish.

After a 10-minute half time break the Bowlers kept the match alive by taking the first two frames of the second session to trigger hopes of a comeback. This was dashed by Alan Johnston who steadied the ship and put the Larne boys on the hill. Ultimate pool’s Ryan Scott sealed the three points in an entertaining eleventh frame.

Overall, a relatively straightforward win for the Larne lads with headlines being the impressive form of Tyler McKee and Ryan McKillop continuing in the league with a hat trick and a double respectively. Star man for the Bowlers was Rab Carson who had his own impressive double with two well taken finishes.

Next week sees the Bowlers host league favourites, the Galacticos, and Q Club travel to the QE2 Cubs.

Railway Blues 3-11 Scorpions

The Railway Blues started well with a win from Ryan Stewart. The class and experience then shone through from the scorpions with six frames on the trot, wins from Darren Whiteside ×2, Paul Kerr, Michael Wilson ×2 and Chris Carson.

The second session started well for the blues, Craig Laughlin winning his first frame. However, the comeback was short lived as Colin Montgomery and Michael Wilson put scorpions over the line. A break and dish from Chris Carson took the scorpions further ahead. Keith McKee got a conciliation frame for the blues. Paul and Chris won the last two frames to give the scorpions an 11-3 victory.

Galacticos 10-4 Trojans

The Galacticos entertained the Trojans, fresh from their emphatic cup victory over the Scorpions, and the visitors had another victory in mind.

Arron Farr started off well for the visitors with a precise reverse dish before Gee Crawley patiently toyed with his opponent to draw level. Rolston and Harris put the home side ahead and they looked set for another rampant victory. The away side had different ideas though as Alan Corrigan, Stevie Hamilton and Ricky Moulds took out some quality finishes to have the visitors ahead at half time.

The Galacticos, however, rattled out a 7-0 second half rout to take the match 10-4. A match that the Galacticos would probably have lost last season ended up with a flattering scoreline for the home side. Adding Crawley, Wilson and Smyth to their ranks to compliment last season's stalwarts seems to have given the Greenisland man an extra depth this season.

Spartans 6-8 QE2 Cubs

Whitehead Spartans took on the Cubs at the QE2 Club in Carrick. The match was a close affair, and the Spartans led for most of it. The Cubs showed great character by taking the last three frames to win 8 - 6. Players of the night were Rhys McLaughlin and Jake Quinn who won both of their frames against experienced opponents.

Special mention goes to Jake Quinn who produced a classy break and finish just before the interval to keep his team in touching distance when they were behind.

Tigers 7-7 Rockets To Be

The Tigers welcomed league new boys Rockets to be to the Times bar, hoping for revenge after a play-off defeat in last week’s knock out cup. Rockets to Be got off to the best possible start though with Stevie Campbell edging a close frame over Steven Simpson. John Fulton levelled with a good finish over Mark Porter. Chris McCurry won his first of three frames v Tom McGurk with an exquisite bank shot and then John Lainey thought he had put the Rockets to Be even further ahead only to go in-off the black v Johnny Eccles. 2-2

Wins for Ian McMillan and Darren McFarlane put the Rockets 4-2 up and then skipper Davey Montgomery reduced the deficit at half time to 4-3 with a win over Ricky Hill.

The second half started with John Fulton going head-to-head with Ricky Hill, a frame which Ricky won. However, unknown to both teams, no player can play two frames consecutively, even either side of the half-time break, so Ricky had to later forfeit the frame. The great start to the second half continued for Rockets to Be with a fine clearance by Mark Irvine over Davey Montgomery and another great bank shot for Chris McCurry over Tom McGurk, and then a second win for Stevie Campbell over Steven Simpson. Score at this stage was 8-3 to the Rockets to Be – or so it was thought.

Last three frames of the night saw wins for Davey Montgomery, John Fulton and Tom McGurk, to leave the score at 8-6, and a losing bonus point for the Tigers. However, the no two frames consecutively rule applied, which changed the result to 7-7. Unlucky on the Rockets to be who had played really well on the night and had done enough to secure their first win. No doubt both teams, young in experience as they are, will learn the rules as they go and learn from the experience.

Rab & Big T’s Rockets 9-5 Colts

Legion Rockets vs Colts. The Greenisland men travelled to Whiteabbey with a sense of purpose and determination.

The Colts came out swinging, with their eyes on the prize. Andy Galloway had a battle with JJ in the first frame. JJ kept trying to hide the white and Andy repeatedly escaped while promoting his balls, which were diminishing as the frame went on. A tense frame of to and fro and lots of snooker attempts from JJ, once known as “best safety player in Carrick”. But JJ gave away two shots to give Andy the opportunity for the finish. 1-0 Colts.

The match continued with Buff facing Joe Patton. This was a similar frame with no signs of a finish in sight, so after some more cautious pool, Joe managed to take the frame. 2-0 Colts.

Up stepped the two captains, Big T and Harry Warwick faced each other. In a frame that wasn’t overly pretty, the nervy T managed to pull a frame back. 2-1 Colts. Then Aaron Watters stepped up and took the next frame against Stuart McClean. 3-1 Colts.

Fortunately Rab, the Rockets’ manager, stepped up next with a good win, followed by Kevin Mullan, against Colin Beckinsale and Andy Galloway respectively. 3-3. Aaron Watters took the last frame beating wee Buff, culminating in the first half score being 4-3 to the Colts!

The second half was a different story, starting with a great finish from Big T against Harry, levelling the score, 4-4. It was then Rab, JJ and Stu beating Colin, Joe and Andy, putting the home side on the hill, 7-4 Rockets.

Big T up against Aaron next. T saw an opportunity early in the frame. Taking out another super finish to get the team over the line, he secured another hat trick. 8-4 Rockets.

The last two frames went one apiece, Harry beating Rab to give the visitors a chance at the bonus point, but Kev beat Joe in what can only be called a very strange frame. End result, 9-5 Rockets. Man of the match was Big T with his hat trick, second week in a row.