Eight sides contest final trophies of the season

THE snooker season ended for half the teams in the Ballymena and District Snooker league following matches played in the Robert McFall and Gerard Robb Memorial competitions on Monday evening.

Fountain Jokers, Rafters Runners, Fountain Aces and Minnesota A were the teams who advanced to the semi finals of the Robert McFall Memorial trophy with Dunloy Galaxy , Dunloy United and Rafters Aces joining 147 Rockets, who received a bye, in the semi final line up of the Gerard Robb competition.

In Antrim, Division Two champions Fountain Jokers defeated newly crowned Knockout Cup winners Minnesota B.

Jokers captain Joe Bingham recorded a good 2-0 win over Jordan Millar and it proved to be the difference between the sides following drawn matches between Calvin Brammeld and Willie Dobbin, Darrell Brammeld and David Swann and Nathan Curtis and Minnesota captain Keith Williams, making a rare appearance on the green baize.

Division One champions Fountain Aces advanced to the semi finals without lifting a cue as Dunloy Cowboys were unable to assemble a team for their match.

Aces’ opponents in the semi final will be Minnesota A after the Ballymena side recorded a 5-0 victory at Rafters Potters. Rodney McFall and Brian Hannaway got the A team off to a good start with straight frame wins over Ryan O’Doherty and Lee Gibson. Minnesota captain David McClintock sealed his team’s place in the semi final with a comfortable win in the opening frame of his match with Potters captain Paddy McCook.

Rafters Runners completed the line up for the last four with a 5-1 victory over Parochial Hawks.

Richard Clyde and Hawks’ Danny McGarry drew 1-1 and Runners’ Hugh Ward defeated Niall McElroy 2-0 to leave the Ballymoney side well place at the midway point of the contest.

Runners’ Dean McCahon further strengthened his teams grip on the game with an opening frame win over Pat McNally. Dylan Murray then ensured the match came to a swift conclusion as he fired a great 73 break in the opening frame against Paul Casey to send Runners to Fountain Jokers in the semi final.

In the Gerard Robb Memorial trophy, Rafters Aces produced a good result to bring the curtain down on Minnesota Strikers’ season.

Jimmy Davidson’s 2-0 win over Strikers Dean Greer proved to be the pivotal result following draws in the matches between Hugh Larkin and Uel Wylie, Rodney Dunlop and Billy Moore and Trevor Alexander and Kevin Clark

Dunloy Galaxy booked their place in the semi finals with a 5-1 win over Parochial Lions. Paul McQuillan’s 2-0 win over Richard Russell got the young Dunloy side off to the perfect start. Michael McPoland made it 3-0 to Dunloy with an opening frame win against Dennis Curran but the Lions man hit back to take the second frame to reduce the arrears. Conor Patrick Brogan, however, defeated league chairman Ronnie McCart 2-0 to give the Galaxy a home semi final against Rafters Aces.

Dunloy United joined their Galaxy clubmates in the last four with a 5-2 win at Rafters Hotshots.

United’s Martin Crawley fired a 46 break on his way to to taking the opening frame against Andrew McAlonan but the Rafters man hit back to second frame comfortably.

Hotshots’ Sammy Shirley and United’s Brendan McTaggart battled out a draw to leave the match balanced at two frames each.

Cathoir Cunning’s 2-0 success over Hotshots’ Ryan Maxwell meant that Dunloy captain Michael Crilly’s victory over Cedric Hargin was enough to send Dunloy United through to the semi final. 147 Rockets received a bye to the semi finals where they will host Dunloy United.