Connolly's thrash champions to blow pool league title race wide open

Connolly's who played Inbetweeners at Minnesota. L-R, John McAllister, Ryan Foster, Kieran Butler, John McKeown, Gary Clarke, Ian Boal, Pat McAnally. INBT 46-170CS

The Dunvale side thrashed defending champions Minnesota Inbetweeners 6-0 to take their place at the top of the table.

Results from last week were:

Connolly’s 6, Minnesota Inbetweeners 0: The top of the table clash saw former champions Connolly’s run out convincing winners.

It was started by John McAllister who defeated Michael Wilson by a 2-o scoreline. In the second game Gary Clarke had a win in straight frames over Gary Ormandy and in the third game Don McKeown put Connolly’s 3-0 up in the match with a 2-0 win over Dessie Cooper and this included an 8ball clearance in the second frame.

Pat McAnally then had a 2-1 win over Clem Howard and Ryan Foster also had a 2-1 win over Wayne Lewis with Wayne having an 8ball clearance in the first frame. In the final game Alan Davidson sealed a 6-0 win for Connolly’s with a 2-1 win over Phil Houston. POM - Don McKeown.

Towers Tavern 3, Michelin Masters 3: Jimmy Knowles got the Masters off to a great start with a 2-1 win over Dean Greer and David Armstrong increased the lead for the Masters with a hard fought 2-1 win over James Millar in which David had lost the first frame in this game. Then the Towers hit back with a brace of wins through Shane Moody and Drew Sloan who defeated Alan Armstrong and Rick McMaster by 2-0 scorelines and this left the match score at 2-2. In the fifth game Brian Hanna restored the lead for the Masters with a 2-1 win over K.D.Crabbe and in the final game David Millar salvaged the draw for the Towers with a win in straight frames over Chris Penny. POM - Shane Moody.

Moat B 1, Moat A 5: The A team started this match off in a hurry reeling off the first four games without dropping a frame, the winners for the Moat A were Barry Weir, Jason McKay, Darren Campbell and Alan Rainey who defeated Neil Weir, Adele Rutherford, Dean Robinson and William Wilson to give the A team a 4-0 lead in the match. In the fifth game the B team finally got a game on the board with Aaron Browne having a win in straight frames over Michael Thompson and in the final game David Nicholl had a 2-0 win over Eddie Maxwell. POM - Aaron Browne.

Fairhill Hustlers 4, Fairhill Rockets 2: This was another local derby and George McCullough got the Hustlers off to a perfect start with a 2-0 win over Gary Allen but the Rockets hit back and Ian Dewar levelled the match with a 2-0 win over Paul Hayes. Sean Brannigan restored Hustlers’ lead with a win in straight frames over Barry Kernohan only for Justin Kilpatrick to exact revenge on his former team with a 2-0 win over Richard Campbell and leave the match score at 2-2. Then Hustlers reeled off two quick victories through Rab Graham and Ritchie Irwin who defeated Nigel McMaster and Linzi McClelland by 2-0 scorelines. POM - Rab Graham.

Coach 6, Social Club 0: This was a closer match than what the score line suggests with 5 of the games going the distance, in the first game Malcolm Graffin had a 2-1 win over Keith Allen and this was after Malcolm had lost the first frame. Darren Gilmore defeated Ross Hill and Alan Balmer defeated Albert McBride both by 2-1 score lines to leave the Coach 3-0 up in the match. Aidy Rouke lost the first frame against Eddie Fleck only to hit back and win 2-1 and David Carlisle increased the lead further with a 2-1 win over Brian Boyd. In the final game Chris Gordon had a 2-0 win over May Barr. POM - Chris Gordon.