Handy for Randal in Division Two final

RANDAL McDonnell, from Dunloys Cowboys, won the Division Two Individual handicap competition beating Lee Gibson (Rafters Potters) 3–1 in the final in the Parochial club.

The first frame saw a fairly edgy start from Randal and this allowed Lee to stretch his initial 10 point start to lead by more than 20 points by the midpoint of the frame.

Gradually, however, the Dunloy player clawed his way back into contention and with a couple of reds left he had got the deficit down to the original 10 points.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The turning point in the frame arrived when Randal potted the penultimate red and although unable to gain good position on a colour, he left Lee snookered on the last red.

The Rafters man failed to escape from the snooker and hit the pink which then pushed the red into a pottable position.

Randal stepped in to take the red with a brown and the colours up to and including the blue. With only pink and black left Randal now led by 10 points and he secured the first frame shortly afterwards with a great long pot on the pink to the corner pocket.

At the start of the second frame Randal opened up a healthy lead with the aid of a 33 break including a good plant which helped bring several more reds into play.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lee switched his game to a more defensive game playing good safety which eventually forced a mistake from his opponent.

A 20 break from Lee allowed him to close the gap to 31-42 with a couple of reds left and at the yellow the gap between the players was six points in favour of the Dunloy man. As with the first frame, Lee failed to escape from a snooker and Randal cleared from yellow to pink to take a two frame lead.

In the third frame Lee started the better of the two players and an early 22 break gave him control of the frame.

Despite Randal's best effort to get back in the frame, Lee still held a 44 point lead with three reds remaining.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Rafters player, who had defeated Paul Brammeld, Kevin Clarke, Pat McNally and Ryan O'Doherty en route to the final, then produced a cracking long red to leave his opponent requiring snookers.

Randal, victorious in earlier matches against Joe Bingham, Jimmy Davidson and Danny McGarry, managed to gain some points back when Lee failed to hit the last red when snookered.

However, another great long pot on the last red and subsequent clearance to the black enabled the Ballymoney man to haul himself right back into the match.

The fourth frame developed into a scrappy affair until play came down to the last four reds.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Randal was leading by a mere point but he potted three reds, all with good colours, to move 20 points clear with only the last red left.

Lee, however, continued to battle strongly and had reduced the leeway to seven points at the blue.

Up until this point of the match both players had had moments when the run of the balls favoured them but the most crucial piece of luck came when Randal caught the blue too thick on a safety shot and left it near a middle pocket.

Fortunately for the Dunloy man, the cue ball rolled behind the black and when Lee was unable to hit the blue Randal then potted the ball which moved him 17 points clear with only pink and black left.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A few minutes later the match was over as Lee having left the pink hanging over the green pocket conceded the frame and congratulated Randal on becoming the Division Two Individual champion.

The contest, played incidentally between the two players with the lowest handicaps in the competition, was refereed by Pat McNally and scored by Kieran McGrath.

Frame scores R McDonnell 3, L Gibson 1 (55-39, 63-37, 27-94, 62-39).

Quarter Final results: R O’Doherty (Raft) bt R Hamilton (147); L Gibson (Raft) bt P McNally (Par); R McDonnell (Dun) bt J Davidson (Raft); D McGarry (Par) bt P McCook (Raft).

Semi Final results: Gibson bt O’Doherty; McDonnell bt McGarry.

Related topics: