POOL | Dugdale and Brady crowned Dundalk Pool League doubles winners
Louth team just falls short at inter county event
The only action in the Tuborg Dundalk Pool League this week was the final of the doubles between Aidan Kinsella and Des Reenan and the team of Pat Brady and John Dugdale.
The final was played over the best of 11 frames using the scotch doubles method whereby players play alternate shots.
In the first frame, Aidan broke and no balls were potted, allowing Pat and John the chance to go on and clear the table to take a 1–0 lead.
It was soon 2–0 when the white ball went into the pocket on Des and, again, Pat and John cleared the table.
In a tactical third frame, it was Aidan and Des who recorded a spectacular six-ball clearance to leave them trailing 2–1.
In the fourth, Des missed an easy pot, giving Pat and John another opportunity to clear the table to and take a 3–1 lead.
In the next frame, Pat potted one of his opponent’s colours, allowing Aidan and Des to quickly put away their remaining six colours and the black to make it 3–2. Dugdale and Brady recovered, however, winning the sixth frame after an error by Aidan.
The next frame was another tactical affair and after several good safety shots it was Aidan who potted a superb long black to make it 4–3.
In frame eight, just when it looked like Aidan and John were going to reduce the deficit, Des missed a simple cross on the black. Pat and John calmly potted their remaining six colours and the black to take a 5–3 lead.
Pat and John failed with their clearance in frame nine and this gave Aidan and Des their chance to reduce the lead again, 5–4.
Both pairs had chances in the 10th frame and a decider looked to be on the cards until Des missed an easy pot on the black.
This gave Pat and John a chance and after a couple of pots they put their opponents in a snooker. Although Aidan got out of the snooker, Pat and John were now in a position to clear the table and they duly obliged to claim the doubles title for 2017.
Individual final
The final of the Tuborg Dundalk Pool League individual final will take place on Monday, May 29th at 7.30pm in the Avenue Inn between Paul Kelly and Pat Brady.
The final will be followed by the presentation of all the trophies for the season.
All Ireland Championships
The All Ireland Inter County Pool Championships were held in Killarney recently with Louth entering teams with players from the Tuborg Dundalk Pool League in both the A and B sections.
The Louth A team, in a group with Limerick A, Mayo A and Armagh, lost their first match against Limerick but went on to to record wins against Mayo and Armagh to eventually top the group on frame difference.
The match against Mayo will be best remembered for local player Conor McDonnell’s brilliant win in the final frame decider.
In the quarter finals, Louth A recorded an excellent win against Leitrim A and followed this up with a superb victory over a talented Tyrone A in the semi final.
In the final, Louth A found themselves up against defending champions, Antrim A. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be Louth’s day and Antrim went on to record back to back victories in the final.
The Louth B team had to play in a six-team group and they recorded some great victories to qualify for the knockout stages.
After winning their quarter final match, they faced Tyrone B in the semi final but, with the scores level at 13–13, a Tyrone player broke and went onto clear the table to complete a 14–13 victory for the Red Hand.
