Snooker: Gervins A show nerves of steel to win senior title
In a typical nailbiting climax to the Division One League title tussle, the Coalisland pairing of Darren Gribben and Ciaran Kelly eliminated all the horrible thoughts of the disappointment a week earlier to impressively bounce back and defeat Mitchells A 4-1 at Plater’s Hill, while defending champions Max A could only scramble a 3-2 winning verdict over McKees B in Keady.
The end product of all that is that the top ‘old codgers’ trophy will make its way back to the Gervins club for 2016.
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Hide AdSeven days earlier, Gervins knew they could put themselves in a hugely commanding position to take the title, going into action against the basement club and needing a win of any description to leapfrog the Keady men to the top of the table, while a big win would have left them that they would even take the title if they lost narrowly in the final round of fixtures.
But a shock setback meant the pressure was really all on them to perform last Wednesday night - and, to their great credit, they manfully faced the task and did precisely enough to be crowned champions.
A good start was surely to be of paramount importance and, when Ciaran Kelly beat Paul McGuckin and Darren Gribben outpointed Seamus Mitchell, the momentum was with them. The reserve singles were both equally close and there was a wee hiccup as Gribben lost to McGuckin on the blue. But they won the doubles frame and 4-1 was good enough for them to take the title, Max A dropping two points at home to McKees B - after winning the first two frames. James Conway beat Eddie McKenna and the Gortgonis men crucially defeated the champions in the doubles!
Meantime, Max C won the League Cup Final with John O’Reilly and Francie Mallon a mite too good for Mitchells INF’s Ryan Starkey and Gary McNeill in Cookstown.
Seniors League
Division One
Gervins A 4-1 Mitchells A
C.Kelly 54-32 P.McGuckin
D.Gribben 62-41 S.Mitchell
C.Kelly 61-38 S.Mitchell
D.Gribben 42-60 P.McGuckin
Doubles 61-35
Max Keady A 3-2 McKees B
E.McKenna 76-69 O.O’Neill
P.Gribben 75-33 J.Conway
E.McKenna 23-83 J.Conway
P.Gribben 83(42)-65 O.O’Neill
Doubles 56-72
Max Keady B 5-0 Mitchells B
J.Maguire 61-49 R.Conway
J.Shortt 65-55 C.Quinn
J.Maguire 70-52 C.Quinn
J.Shortt 56-46 R.Conway
Doubles 72-52
League Cup Final
Mitchells INF 2-3 Max Keady C
R.Starkey 54-65 J.O’Reilly
G.McNeill 58-35 F.Mallon
Doubles 20-58
R.Starkey 50-40 F.Mallon
G.McNeill 33-82 J.O’Reilly
Seniors Knockout Cup
Max Keady C 4-1 McVeighs A
Doubles 15-52
J.O’Reilly 80-11 D.McVeigh
F.Mallon 65-27 J.McArdle
Doubles 45-21
J.O’Reilly 72(31)-9 J.McArdle
F.Mallon 54-4 D.McVeigh
Frank Hughes Bookmakers
League Division Three
Knockout Cup semi-finals
Gervins C 3-1 Mitchells C
J.O’Neill 2-0 C.Argue
37-33, 69-20
R.Wilson 2-0 D.McGuckin
57-14, 52-23
P.Maguire 2-0 R.Barrow
64-2, 58-15
S.Day 1-2 A.Mulgrew
48-43, 56-41, 39-52
McVeighs B 3-0 McKees C
L.Hughes 2-0 R.McKee
53-43, 43-35
D.Stinson 2-0 F.Hughes
45-33, 59-51
D.Stevenson 2-0 S.Devlin
53-19, 39-30
S.McKeown 1-1 P.Doris
33-66, 49-47