Mulhollands open up a two point lead in Premier Division

HIGGINS’ 4-4 Bridge Bar A: Frame one brought two players in great form to the table and Gareth Moody could only look on in frustration as a slight miss hit on his second to last colour snookered himself and let Stephen Burns in to give the visitors an early lead.

This luck continued in frame two as Ally Rooney stood back and watched Noel Meara clinicly take out all his colours only to scratch on the black and hand The Bridge a 2-0 lead., Michael McClean and Colly Wilton both showed their tactical sides and brought the match back level with victories in the next two frames. Mark Kinneen restored the lead for the visitors but was the first player to acknowledge that Kevin Smyth was just one positional shot away from the frame himself.

The performance of the night came in the next frame as Cathal Mathews showed us all how to play this game and brilliantly potted all his reds and the black in one visit to leave the room with a standing ovation from both teams and guarantee The Bridge a point,

Then came the turning point of the night as the first doubles match between Gareth Moody/Colly Wilton and Sean Gribben/Mark Kineen broke off and straight away were a tactical match. With six balls tied up in the corner the room and the referee were all calling for a re-rack but the home side players were determined to bide their time and see what happened. The Bridge were the first side to make a mistake and Colly Wilton showed that they were 100% right not to call a re-rack as after one hour and six minutes of tactical play he finished off the game to great cheers. The fight was gone out of the visitors and the jubilant pairing of Noel Meara/Brendan Davis made no mistakes and secured the point.

Mulhollands A 5-3 Cullens: With results elsewhere Mulhollands have now opened up a two point lead at the top of The McLean Bookmakers Premier Division with a hard fought win against a stubburn Cullens side.

Wayne Jess once again gave the home side the perfect start with victory in the first frame. Jonny McStay played the frame of his season in seeing off Neil Beggs to bring Cullens level. Mulholland’s then went on a three frame run as Raymie Jess, Gary Crawford and Simon Roy all won their games to secure at least a point for the home side.

John Turley made sure that the doubles would be needed to find a winner with a great win in the final singles match up. Wayne Jess/Wes McDowell played some great tactical shots and ground out a win for the league leaders and stretch the gap at the top. Shea Turley/Tam Bell cleaned up the fixture in the final frame.

Castle Bar A 2-6 Market Bar A: Trevor Ashe got the ball rolling and he was quickly followed by G Armstrong. N Armstrong and Keiran Mallon to open up a 4-0 lead. Gordy Magennis stopped the rut in frame five but that was short lived as L Armstrong secured both points for the visitors in frame six, The Castle took the first doubles match through S Fitzpatrick/C Corbett but The Market finished off the scoring from Trevor Ashe /Owen Cull.

Banbridge Golf Club 1 - 7 Coach Inn: The only positive for the home side in this game came in the shape of Sean Greenan with victory in frame five but unfortunately this was the only crumb to grace this table with the visitors on fire in the other seven frames. This win keeps The Coach within touching distance of the top of the league and next weeks visit to The Bridge Bar is now a vital match ,

Banbridge Legion 5-3 Banbridge R.B.L: This derby match went all the way to the doubles as The R.B.L held their flat mates to a level match after the singles with wins from D Noble , L Mc Cullough and L Murray. The Legion replyed with wins from B Dobbin , K Cardwell and G Steenson. The Legion just proved too strong in the doubles with D Horner/G Steenson winning the first and A Thompson/Sid Kerr making sure of the points in the last game.

The Individuals are almost upon us and all entry forms have now been delivered. All players are reminded that all entries and fees must into the pool box in Higgins no later than Saturday at 4.30pm. The quarter finals of The Brendan McAdam Cup are taking place next Monday. the teams involved have their fixtures. Good luck to all concerned.