Scratch Billiards Event 1 - first round to Phil Martin

The first tournament of the Scratch Billiards Series was played at the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow on Sunday, 15th November 2009. Phil Martin (Celbridge), in keeping with his current No. 1 ranking position, dominated the day’s play to take the season’s first Scratch Tournament title.

In the top half of the draw, Tom Kearns (Borris-in-Ossory), having had a good win over billiards newcomer Ross Doyle (Dun Laoghaire), lost to Phil Martin for a place in the semi final. The other semi finalist was Larry Drennan (Kilkenny), earning his semi final place with solid wins over Joe Doheny (Borris-in-Ossory) and Brendan Devlin (Celbridge). Larry’s progress was halted in the semi final, however, when an in-form Phil won by almost double scores.

In contrast with the top half of the draw, most of the matches in the bottom half were much tighter games. Aonghus McAnally (Portmarnock) just got the better of another billiards newcomer Wayne Doyle (Dun Laoghaire) but in his quarter final match had to yield to the higher scoring Robert McCrum (Dublin). Tim Murphy (Cork) made the trip from his home town worthwhile by taking a tight match against Aidan Murray (Wicklow) and an even tighter quarter final tussle with Darren Ryan (Celbridge), taking the game by a mere 14 points when the full 90 minute time limit ran out. Tim piled on the pressure in his semi final however and was never really threatened by Robert, who was finding it difficult to hit any sort of form.

With both finalists showing such good form on the day, the Final had all the ingredients necessary to provide the prospect of an intriguing showdown. As the game progressed the scores ebbed and flowed, first in Phil’s favour, then in Tim’s, with never more than 30 points separating the two. It was only when the ten-minute warning sounded that Phil established a small but decisive lead, which he then extended to almost 100 points in three further visits before time ran out.

Congratulations to Phil for a fine win and for retaining his No. 1 spot in the Scratch Billiards Rankings. Congratulations are also due to two very welcome junior newcomers, brothers Ross and Wayne Doyle, who impressed everyone on the day with their billiards skills.

The next Scratch Billiards round of the season takes place at the Ivy Rooms, Carlow on Sunday, 24th January 2010. Entries will be accepted before 10.30am on the morning of the event.

We would like to thank Jim Leacy for the excellent facilities at the Ivy Rooms and Marian and staff for their help on the day.

Brendan Devlin