ROOMS A FINALLY WIN
PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE
After 10 years of trying Rooms A have finally won the Snooker Premier League Championship. In the final round of matches last week Rooms A were level on points with Civil Defence D with Meadowbank A and Crucible A two points behind but very much still in with a chance of glory. With an emphatic 4-0 home win Rooms A stormed through to take the title, C. D. D drew to finish second and Meadowbank A capped a terrific season by pipping Crucible A to third spot on frame difference.
PREMIER
Top Spot A hoped to be the party poopers as they arrived at Rooms A last week. Michael Gow and Gary Montgomery gave the Rooms boys the perfect start by winning both opening points but a draw wasn't quite good enough to ensure the title. Up stepped Neil Greer and Neil McQuillan for Rooms and after Neil beat Michael Agnew 2-0 it was left to Neil McQuillan to cap a perfect season for the Rooms when he held off Lee Thompson to win 2-1. Lee had made an excellent 73 break in frame one but Neil managed a 40 to seal the victory in the deciding frame. Civil Defence D travelled to Crucible A and with a 2-2 draw on the night were very worthy runners up in their first year in the top division. Unfortunately no card was sent in by Crucible so I can't give the match report. With Crucible only managing a draw it was Meadowbank A who took third place on frame difference with a home draw against Millbridge A. Tommy Chapman (24, 68) and M O'Neill were the stars for Meadowbank as they achieved their highest ever finish in the Premier League. Civil Defence A said goodbye to the Premier for this season with a 2-2 home draw against Clifton B who themselves said goodbye to the Premier for another season. The last fixture of the year saw St Pats B travel to Top Spot B and comprehensively defeat Top Spot 4-0 to end their season on a high. Thomas Cupples, Daniel Kelly (28), Stuart McKenzie and Thomas McDonald proved just too strong for the home side.
DIVISION 1
With Queens Hall B already crowned champions the race was on to see who would join them in the Premier League next year. Civil Defence C held second place from last week and duly earned a runners up spot with a 3-1 away win against Bets A who will join them in the top division next year as third place finishers. For the record Paul McManus (23), Don Deaney and Brian Wallace (22) sealed the victory for C. D. and Adrian Magee (20) got the vital one point to sew up promotion. Big Break A finished fourth thanks to a 2-2 draw away to St Pats C who will play in Division 2 next year along with Millbridge B and Millbridge C. At St Pats J McCauley and T Smyth scored for St Pats and Stuart Cameron and J Hawthorne (27) replied for Big Break. Top Spot C won 3-1 away to Millbridge B to finish fifth and Rooms B's 2-2 draw away to Bangor Mens A allowed them to finish sixth. At the Mens Kevin Owens (23, 22 and 20) and Stephen Douds (32) scored for the Men with Brian Hughes (50) and Ron Wickens (26) relying for Rooms.
DIVISION 2
Many congratulations to St Pats A who managed to hold on to their fist place from week 19 to win the title on frame difference from Top Spot E with Meadowbank B in third spot also gaining promotion. St Pats A travelled to Top Spot D while second and third place sides played each other on the adjacent tables. Conor Smyth and A Arthurs got the vital two points against Top Spot D with D McDowell (33) and M Barron replying for Top Spot D. Meanwhile C Johnson (32, 39 and 29), M Cardy and G Collins scored for Top Spot E and Warren Kelly scored for Meadowbank. Bets B finished fourth after a 202 away draw at Big Break B who were relegated to Division 3 as a result. Scorers for Big Break were Noel Irvine (Snr) and M Lewis and the scorers for Bets were Davy Elliott and Paul Bartlett. Bets C also said farewell to Division 2 even after a 3-1 home win over Bangor Mens B where Russell Capes, J Bintley and Stuart Ross all scored for Bets with Harry Calwell the only point winner for the Men. In a true show of deviance Crawfordsburn registered their fourth and last win in the division this year with a 4-0 away trouncing of Queens Hall C. Matt Lynch, John McDonagh, Stuart McDonagh and Paul Flowers all scored for the 'Burn men and it's very possible they'll be back next year.
DIVISION 3
With two matches remaining Bets D still lead the table by three points from Bangor Mens C who have only one match left to play. The leaders travelled to third place Rooms E and went a long way to ensuring the title with an emphatic 4-0 away win. C Morrow, Andy Wright, D McConnell and P Kennedy stamped all over a luckless home side. Bangor Mens C hosted Rooms F and shared the points after a 12 frame marathon. Paul McGrattan and Andy Hughes (26, 22) scored for the Men and S Hossick and Joe Barr (30, 22 and 20) replied for the Rooms. Rooms D's 3-1 away win at Clifton A puts them in third place 7 points behind Bangor Mens C. At the Clifton John Stranex, J Heyburn and J Bradley were the Rooms' marksmen and B Nesbitt took the remaining point for Clifton. At the wrong end of the table Bangor Mens D travelled to Top Spot F and shared the spoils with N Spence and Cliff McIlwrath scoring for the Men and Andy Giltrap (20, 48) and Robert Corbett (21) scoring for Top Spot. The remaining fixture saw Queens Hall A travelling to Civil Defence B and coming home with three of the four points on offer. Tony Lipton, Chris Derrick and Ryan Lipton scored for Queens Hall and E Moore scored for C. D.
BILLIARDS
The last round of matches in the extended Billiards League took place last week with Bangor Mens B winning the home derby 3-1 against their A side. Gary Wallace beat Ginty McKee 200-187, M Cochrane beat Danny Ross 200-148 and M Savage saw off Norman Henry 200-132 to give the B boys the win. In the final game Jim Bittles beat N Spence 200-185. At St Pats the B's and A's drew 2-2. Conor Smyth beat Jimmy Victor 200-62 and Oliver McGuigan beat Stu McKenzie 200-98 to give the A team two points. A Arthurs 200-169 win over T Smyth and Eddie Mullan's 200-169 win against Daniel Kelly gave the B team the draw.