Snooker season draws to a close with finals

Gregory Cooke, Davy Baker and Dale Harley have produced some fine performances and fully deserve their victory.

Second place is now a straight fight between Raymond Baxter’s Eagle Potters and Ivan Boreland’s Seagull Potters. Boreland’s men are in second but Baxter’s team have one game left to play. If they can get two points away to league champions, the Drones, they will take the runners up spot.

The Baker Doubles have now reached the semi final stage. Martin Crawley and Randal McDonnell, from Dunloy, will travel to face Ivor Jamieson and Gregory Cooke. The Dunloy pair produced the performance of the tournament so far in their quarter final match against Potters’ Lee Hull and Ady Boreland.

McDonnell hit a 68 break, which could have been so much more had it not been for a missed black. The other semi sees a Potters Snooker Club derby as Willie Eakin & Corey Sweeney take on Adam Freeburn and Dean Vauls.

Although Sweeney’s performance in the previous match, against Darren Morrow and Sean McDermott, where he knocked in 3 x 50+ breaks should give them hope.

The final of the league individuals will take place in Potters Snooker Club this Thursday night. It will see Alan Loughrey, from Limavady, face off against Raymond Baxter. This is an intriguing battle but with Baxter giving his opponent a 35 point start in each frame, he will need to produce his best snooker.

Both players had tough semi finals to overcome, with Baxter being a black ball away from defeat. Being 18 behind, with only 22 left, Baxter potted brown, blue and pink to leave a straight black but missed. Boreland was then left a relatively easy black but amazingly he missed too, giving Baxter one more chance which he took.

Loughrey also had a tough battle against the talented Corey Sweeney. With the match locked at 2-2, Sweeney had a chance to go ahead but a bad miss on the colours allowed the Limavady man to snatch it.

The league will be running it’s inaugural under 23 singles on Sunday 24th April in Potters Snooker Club at 1pm. This competition is opened to all, is only £2 to enter and there will be trophies and prize money for the winners. The competition is played to league handicaps, with any new player being handicapped by the tournament director accordingly.

The league will be holding it’s end of season presentation night on Friday 29th April in the Scenic Inn, Armoy. This venue is a strong supporter of the league and it is hoped that players and guest will return that support. A three course meal will be served with prices set at £13 (for players who entered the individuals) and £15.50 (if not in individuals). Teams and players are reminded they MUST attend the presentation to receive their trophies and prize money.