Colin conquers and Rita rules in Erris double

All roads led to Achill this month as the Mayo Pool Championships took place in Óstán Oileán Acla where Colin Holmes became the Mayo Pool Champion for the first time after sealing the title by winning the deciding frame on the black ball to beat Stephen Jennings 9-8. And on what was a very good day for Erris all round, Rita Walsh was crowned a first time winner of the ladies championship as she overcame Tanya Reddington in the final.

The Saturday morning session got underway just after 9 o’clock with the preliminary round where there were no real shocks but we didn’t have to wait long to witness a surprising result as Castlebar Major winner Padraic Coyle was beaten 6-2 by Coleman Keane in Round 1. Like everyone else, Padraic would get another chance in the losers section but he was unable to make it through to the Last 16 as he was beaten by Eoghan McGrath in the final losers round.

The four players to come through the winner’s side of the draw were Sean Conway, Aaron Moyles, John Magee and Dermot Barrett. Sean had wins over Jason Cattigan, Michael Golden and Coleman Keane, with Michael proving to be his biggest test as he came through by six frames to four. Aaron Moyles had wins over Ian Dennany and Danny Feehan (snr) before setting up a clash with local man Stuart Latimer where he was almost pushed all the way before coming through by seven frames to five.

John Magee had 6-4 wins over Ger McGreal and Eoghan McGrath before facing Belmullet major winner Ryan Feehan who he beat 7-3 to seal his place in Sunday morning’s draw. Dermot Barrett was the final player to come through the winner’s side as he got the better of John Fenwick and Dave McDonnell before defeating fellow Erris man Terence Lavelle in a final frame decider on one of the stream tables. Terence, like Ryan Feehan, had to win one match in the losers side to reach the last 16 and they did so with wins over Zack Ruddy and Adam Moyles respectively. The other two players to come through the same way were David Doocey and Eoghan McGrath with Eoghan beating Stuart Latimer in the final round after knocking out Padraic Coyle in the previous round. David recovered from his 6-5 defeat to Terence Lavelle with wins over Ian Dennany, Dave McDonnell and Coleman Keane, dropping only two frames on his route to the last 16.

In the evening session, Colin Holmes began his route to the title with a 6-1 win over Gerard Coyle and he followed it up with a comprehensive win over Michael Cuffe and then a 7-2 victory over Declan Hough. His brother Ed also came through the winner’s side with wins over Adam McAndrew, Tanya Reddington and a final frame decider over the eventual finalist Stephen Jennings. Local player Paul Gallagher and Westport’s Brendan Carroll were the other two players to come through the winner’s side as Paul had fine wins over Noel Patton and Aiden Sheridan while Brendan had wins over Christian Holmes, Ian Sheehy and last year’s Mayo champion Dave Sweeney. On the losers side it was Declan Hough, Aiden Sheridan, Danny Feehan and Stephen Jennings who were last to make it through to the last 16.

The action resumed at 10am on Sunday with Sean Conway putting in a dominant display to beat Terence Lavelle which set up a quarter-final clash with Colin Holmes who had a tough 7-5 win over Declan Hough. On the same side of the draw Danny Feehan and his uncle Ryan Feehan progressed with wins over Paul Gallagher and Dermot Barrett.

In the other half of the draw Stephen Jennings continued his impressive form with a 7-5 win over John Magee, David Doocey had a 7-4 win over Brendan Carroll while Ed Holmes defeated Aiden Sheridan to book his place in the quarter-finals where he was to meet Aaron Moyles who defeated Eoghan McGrath.

The first quarter-final to get underway saw Stephen Jennings beat David Doocey 8-2 in under an hour while the others took a while longer as Colin Holmes had to come from 5-1 behind to reach the last four, coming through a final frame decider against Sean Conway. Danny Feehan got past Ryan Feehan with an 8-3 win while Aaron Moyles was the last man into the semi-finals as he ground out a 8-6 win over Ed Holmes.

At this stage we knew that we would have a new Mayo champion as none of the four remaining players had won the title before. Colin and Stephen went on to reach the final as Colin defeated Danny Feehan 8-2 and Stephen got through with an 8-5 win over Aaron Moyles.

This set up a mouthwatering final between two very attacking players and it was Stephen who started the better as he raced into a 4-0 lead. Colin responded to take the next three frames but Stephen always kept ahead and went 8-6 up at one stage. Colin hit back to make it 8-8 and we were all set for a final frame decider. It turned out to be a nervous frame as both players had chances before Colin potted a long yellow with the cue ball in the jaws of the pocket to leave a simple black to become the Mayo pool champion for the first time.

In the ladies event it was Rita Walsh who came out on top with a 5-2 win over Tanya Reddington in the final. The ladies played out a round-robin group stage with the top four players qualifying for the semi-finals. Rita met Anna Scott in the first semi-final and was pushed all the by the Westport woman as she came through after winning 4-3. In the other semi-final the current Mayo champion Edina Mulrennan relinquished her title as Tanya Reddington reached another ranking final after a four frames to two win. Tanya though couldn’t repeat the same performance in the final as she came up short with Rita showing her experience to win her first Mayo Championship.

The Over 50’s was also run on Sunday with nine players taking part and they also played out round-robin group stages before the semi-finals and final. In Group A, Dave Sweeney and Tony McGrath progressed with Dave coming through without dropping a frame. In Group B, Tom Larkin beat Kieran McGinty to top the group and in Group C, Camillus Fitzpatrick made the semis as he beat Walter Prendergast and Ger Ryan. In the semi-finals it was the two players from Group A who came through, as Dave Sweeney had a 4-1 win over Tom Larkin and Tony McGrath got past Cammilus Fitzpatrick on a 4-2 scoreline. Dave then went on to win the title with a 4-1 win over Tony as last year’s Mayo champion proved too strong for the Erris man.