Billiards

A formidable international squad led by International Team Manager Oliver McGuigan is heading this weekend to Carlow to compete in the Four Nations Billiards International. The Northern Ireland team will be competing against England, The Republic of Ireland and Austria in a series of matches on Saturday and Sunday. The matches will take place in the Ivy Rooms, Carlow.

The Northern Ireland squad is made up of Northern Ireland No1 Tony Buttimer, Steven Brown, Christian Kirk, Darren Dornan, John McIntyre, Norman Whaley, Joseph Buttimer and Frank Trainor.

The Team Manager is confident that the squad is very capable of going all the way to lifting the trophy this weekend.

The successful Northern Ireland Billiards Team who had a good victory over the Rep of Ireland in the North v South Shield Challenge

Brendan Devlin Rep of Ireland team

manager presenting the Billiards

North v South shield to the

Northern Ireland winning team

manager Oliver McGuigan

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The first ever Jock McGregor Trophy supported by Belfast City Council, when Northern Ireland were Hosts to England was played (31st March & 1st April '07) in (2) venues at The Windsor Club - Belfast and The West Belfast Social Club.

DAY (1):- Games at the Windsor Club on that day were over 3 x 150 up, with each win earning your team 1pt. Opening victories by Eugene Rogan 2---1 winner over Bill Andress and Marcus Dicksons fine 2---1 win over Derick Townsend got the Irish of to a good start. John McIntyre went down 2---1 in the 3rd game, England hit back with Steve Crossland beating Paddy Donnelly 3---0 and Tony Clegg also beating Davy Pogue 2---1. Tommy Hunter then got the Irish back on track with a good 2---1 win over David Rees. The last games of the day swung play in favour of N Ireland, with Frank Trainor playing out of his skin to beat Peter Shelly 3---0. Sam Clarke played well to win his game 2---1, while Norman Whaley just got pipped 2---1, which gave N.I. a slender 14 to13 over-night lead.

DAY (2):- Play moved to the West Club and the format then changed to a (2) hour (Time-Frame Game) in which each win earned your team (2)points. Davy Elliott got the home side of to a flying start with a decisive 667 to 405 win over Tony Clegg. Eugene Rogan also followed with a close finish contest winning by (7) points 364 to 357. Bobby Kerr lost in a game where both players recorded high scores 522 to 480. The next (4) games secured victory for N Ireland, John McIntyre won 435 390 over Chris Mitchell, Norman Whaley won 319 to 234 over Brian Dix, Davy Pogue won 358 to314 over Peter Shelley and Sam Clarke won 401 to 356 over Steve Crossland. In the last (2) games England had victories as Jim McCann beat Paddy Donnelly 391 to 362 and Derick Townsend beat Oliver McGuigan 347 to 265, but by this time the trophy was already secured by the Irishmen. Frank Trainor (N Ireland) and Jim McCann (England) both received "Player of the Match" Awards. Northern Ireland team manager David Pogue thanked the Windsor Club and the West Club for all their hospitality during the weekend. He also paid special thanks to all the sponsors, especially the Belfast City Council and the Malone Lodge Hotel. The return match will be at Newmarket, England in 2008, it is intended to make this an Annual event.

Paddy Donnelly from the West Belfast Club lifted his 15th NI Billiards title when he defeated old rival, Armagh's Davy Elliott in the jointly sponsored championship. The sponsors must have been impressed with the large turn out for the final.

Donnelly, coming back to the three ball game after an absence of two years, made a slow start but after an hours play, aided by breaks of; 103 and 105 Paddy took control. Elliott himself also started slowly but gradually some of his former skills started to appear as he entertained the big crowd with runs of: 73, 71 and 51. In a late burst of 60 plus breaks, Paddy safely secured victory by 660 points to 442.

A high standard of billiards was exhibited throughout the championship, during which (12) century breaks were recorded, the top break of: 124 going to Tony Buttimer.

This momentous 15th conquest of the Northern Ireland Billiards Championship, sets Paddy again on the path to challenge for his (7th) ALL IRELAND BILLIARDS CHAMPION TITLE as he will compete at the All Ireland North v South Champions in September this year South of the border. Paddy has now played 57 matches in the NI Championship without losing, a record that will, for anyone, be hard to live up to, I doubt that it will ever be eclipsed. The Secretary of the Billiards Association thanked both sponsors for their generosity and support and looked forward to next years event