Ideal Holmes exhibition as Ed takes Grand Prix title

Mayo Pool has welcomed 2024 with a bang with a new year bringing a new Holmes to the list of this season’s title holders, Edmund this time winning the third Mayo major, ‘The Grand Prix’, after his brother Colin had won the last one in Achill.

A record 96 entrants competed at The Castle Cue Club in Castlebar on January 6 and 7. It ended up an Erris treble as Rita Walsh was also crowned the ladies Grand Prix champion and ‘The Bullet from Belmullet’ Dermot Barrett took out the Plate competition.

This was the first Major to be held in the Castle Cue Club and pool players from all around the county made their way to Castlebar to see if they could get their hands on the trophy on Sunday evening. Yet again there were a lot of new players entering a Mayo Pool Association competition for the first time, which had a lot to do with the venue opening up in the county town last year. With ten tables, it made it easier to cope with such large numbers over the two days.

It was former Mayo champion Ed Holmes who played the best pool over the two days in a tough side of the draw. He had to get past Mayo ‘A’ players Sean Conway (Swinford/Foxford), Michael Golden (Castlebar/Balla) and Declan Hough (Ballaghaderreen) before taking the title by defeating Liam Cannon (Ballintubber) in the final 9-5.

Action got underway just after 9.30am on Saturday morning and play continued until late on Saturday night as all but two of the quarter-finalists were known going into day two. In the top half of the draw, Declan Hough, John Magee (Westport) and Ed Holmes booked their quarter-final spots while Mick Golden and Padraic Coyle would play early on Sunday to see who would join them in the last eight. It was Golden who made it through in a close match against the young Erris player.

In the bottom half of the draw, Danny Feehan junior (Westport), Dave Sweeney (Swinford) and Ryan Feehan (Westport) made it through to the quarters while Liam Cannon and Barry Hough (Ballaghaderreen) were first up on Sunday morning, with the current Mayo Pool champion Liam Cannon booking his spot in the last eight.

The quarter-finals got underway just before midday and it was tournament favourite Declan Hough who was first through with an 8-3 win over John Magee. That set up a mouthwatering semi-final as Ed Holmes needed to be at his best to see off Michael Golden who pushed him all the way, with Ed eventually going through on an 8-6 scoreline, which was his tightest win of the weekend. On the other side of the draw Danny Feehan had an 8-6 win over Dave Sweeney while Liam Cannon was just too strong for Ryan Feehan in the last quarter-final match.

Ed Holmes then was the first to reach the final as another excellent performance saw him ease past Declan Hough 8-3 while the second semi-final was much closer as Liam Cannon fought back to get past Danny Feehan in a final frame decider, 8-7, to guarantee he regained his number one ranking whatever the outcome of the final.

Ed Holmes continued to play some flawless pool in the final and he proved too strong for Liam who just couldn’t find the form he had shown in the earlier rounds. Liam pushed Ed all the way early on but even though he got level a few times, Ed always seemed to be able to take the next frame and he pulled away in the closing stages.

In the ladies event it was Rita Walsh (Erris) who won her first ranking event with a 4-1 win over Edina Mulrennan (Tooreen/Balla) in the final. Rita finished top in the group stages but that left her with a very difficult semi-final playing the Achill ranking event winner Martina Coughlan (Westport), and she needed to be at her best to reach the final by four frames to three. In the other semi-final, Edina Mulrennan, the current Mayo ladies champion, had a 4-2 win over Lauren O’Boyle (Erris). Rita continued on her excellent form from the group stages as she held her nerve to take the title in impressive style with some good finishes along the way.

In the Plate event it was another Erris player who came to the fore as Dermot Barrett put his defeat in the main competition behind him as he went on to beat Paddy Ward (Castlebar) in the final on Sunday evening. He met some strong competition along the way, beating Jim Moran (Aghamore), Nigel Sweeney (Swinford), Diarmuid O’Malley (Achill) and Sean Noone (Erris) before earning a 7-4 win over Paddy Ward in an entertaining final. Ward had knocked out some tough competition along the way including David McDonnell (Westport) and Mick Cuffe (Balla).

The time is now coming to start looking at how the Mayo teams for the All-Irelands in Killarney are shaping up. The Mayo Championships will be the last chance for players who are close to the automatic spots to guarantee them. A 5-man Mayo team championships take place next Saturday, January 27 in the Castle Cue Club where players have a great chance to put their hand up for a spot on the county team. Team pool is a slightly different test than singles pool; you can contact Dave at 085-2502232 to enter a team or get on a list of players from whom teams can be put together.