Mixed results for NI at European Pool Championships

This year 506 players from ten countries took part in the male and female categories.

As always, the international event began with the opening ceremony with the Northern Ireland team proudly entering the impressive arena to the strains of 'Danny Boy'.

Expectations were high for most of the NI cueists with some arriving fresh from World Championships glory while others were starting their own individual pool journey in the under-18 category.

The championships also saw the return of the Northern Ireland Ladies team after a two-year hiatus with team captain Ashleigh Dinsmore quietly confident of a respectable showing against the formidable French and English squads.

The early days of the sprawling championships were spent accumulating group points to achieve qualification to the semi finals later in the week. Despite a few late withdrawals the NI men’s A team had a relatively smooth passage to the last four and were keen to add Euro glory to their double World Championship success from Agadir in Morocco.

The men’s B team lost a few games to leave them effectively playing knockout pool with three games remaining in the group. With backs to the wall, the boys led by Gee Crawley started to fire like we expected, and they scraped into the final four courtesy of a dramatic last ball last frame decider against favourites, England B.

Due to the high number of entries, both the NI C and D teams were paired together in the largest entry group with thirteen teams battling for the much sought after four spots.

Daryl Beattie’s D team performed respectably and will benefit from the experience of participating in high level pressure pool, but it was the C team, led by the much respected and popular Wayne Lewis, who were to prove to be the find of the tournament.

After a gruelling qualification they finished on twenty points securing a semi final against Belgium, with a mouth-watering England v Ireland clash in the other semi-final.

The over 50s section is particularly strong for NIPPO and both A and B teams dominated qualification without losing a match to secure semi final spots. Paddy Clarke and Ronnie Boyle were to finish top of the individual performance stats.

The newly formed over 60s A team of Phil Connolly Neil Hamer and Davy McGurn also went unbeaten in the qualification tournament with all three finishing in the top five of the individual stats.

However the NI over 60s B team must have been the most unfortunate team of the entire week. With one player having to return home due to transport issues and another leaving after a few games due to health concerns both Frank Wright and Seamus Breen performed heroically with only two players. Frank turned back the clock and finished joint top of the individual performance stats with Davy and Martin Rothwell from Ireland.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, both junior teams were unfortunate to finish just outside qualification by the slenderest of margins. Harry McMenamin, Lewis Dougherty, and Marcel Kusa just failed to progress via the dreaded countback system.

The B team of Jack Carson, Devin Rankin, and the very young Daniel Stockton also all performed to a high standard and hopefully the experience will assist with their development. It's great to see the future of NI pool is so bright.

Finally, it was the turn of the ladies, and despite being in a group of twelve, they delivered on the big stage, finishing a creditable third and securing a semi final berth against the current world champions, France. Ashleigh, Lisa, Emma, Chucky, Mary-Jo and Roisin used all their experience and talent to win eight games in the qualification process.

After four gruelling days of mixed emotions, numerous memorable moments and quite a few to quickly forget, Northern Ireland pool was rewarded with a best achievement of seven team semi-finalists.

As only to be expected, with so many teams involved, there were mixed results with both the men’s A and ladies A teams falling at this stage. Both have demonstrated that they will be a force at the upcoming World Championships in Blackpool. Congratulations to Coleraine's James Nesbitt who topped the individual stats for the men's A team.

It was hosts Ireland, who brought the roof off in the men’s A section pipping Malta to the crown while the ladies lost with credibility to France who also added the Euro crown to their list of achievements.

In the over 50s and 60s NIPPO teams had dominated all week going undefeated through the groups, winning a total of 15 games between them. They brought both confidence and form into the semi finals and both marched on to the finals. Northern Ireland A defeated a stubborn Welsh outfit 8-5 while the B team comfortably got the better of Ireland 8-3.

Davy McGurn was proving to be an inspired addition who along with Phil Connolly and Neil Hamer maintained their unbeaten run throughout the competition, defeating Ireland 8-5 in the over 60s semi-final.

The saying 'turning up to a party late' was very apt for the NI B team who seemed a little disjointed and perplexed in the early matches, losing three games in a row at one point to leave a few of the players looking at travel arrangements heading in a northerly homeward direction. Somehow, they managed to salvage a desperate situation by winning their four remaining games, including victory against red hot favourites England.

And in the semi-finals they dismantled a strong French outfit by eight frames to two to set up an eagerly awaited final against England.

The NI C team faced a raucous Belgium team in the semi-finals with Nathan, Conrad and Wayne winning the last three games to secure an 8-5 victory.

All the European finals broke off at midday with both over 50s starting well and the over 60s sharing the first four frames. The C team were locked at 3-3 with Nathan getting two frames on the board. Reports that the B team were dominating the crack England outfit 4-0 and then 5-1 gave everyone confidence with Coleraine's Lee Hull securing two vital early frames.

However early optimism soon faded. A 6-3 lead for the over 50s B team had eroded into a deciding frame at 7-7. Meanwhile the A team trailed for the first time all week at 7-5 and would require the last three frames for victory.

The men’s B team had been pegged back and were now locked at 5-5 against their English counterparts who seemed to be revelling in the high-stakes pressure.

The men's C team were also involved in a ding-dong classic with Ireland. 5-3 up, then 6-5 down, then 7-6 up.

Meanwhile, at a much more sedate pace, the over 60s squad were tied at 3-3 with England.

Sadly both over 50s teams lost nailbiters, with Scotland claiming an 8-7 victory in a very high standard match. The Irish squad also triumphed, reversing an earlier defeat in the group stage to beat NI over 50s A 8-5.

England B also recovered from a 5-1 deficit to reel off seven straight frames to end NI B’s hopes.

It was left to big Oisin Walace, who had recovered from a bad traffic accident, to pocket glory for the NI C team with a pulsating last frame victory over Ireland.

Finally, in the over 60s race, there was more heartbreak for NI as Ian Grant defeated Davy McGurn in the deciding frame to seal victory for England.

Not the day we wanted but to have five teams in finals was an outstanding achievement, even if we only claimed one title. Congratulations to Wayne Lewis and his magnificent team, Conrad, Michael, Nathan and the big man himself, Oisin.

Meanwhile in the singles events Paddy Clarke, the current world champion, lost out to Malta's Ray Caruana 8-4 in the over 50s final.

Paddy's brother Gary lost 7-6 in the last eight of the men’s singles and will no doubt claim a big title soon. The evergreen former world champion Ronan McCarthy also suffered last frame agony to the eventual champion, Karl Sutton from England, at the quarter-final stage.

In the ladies singles Emma Cunningham reached the last eight, losing narrowly to Ireland's Kim O'Brien.

The last ball potted of the whole tournament belonged to our very own Phil Connolly who claimed glory and a measure of revenge defeating Paul Waterfield of the victorious England team. Phil had agonisingly come up a ball short in the 2023 over 60s final but made no mistake this time sinking the black to win 8-7 and exorcise the ghosts of the previous twelve months.