Experience makes difference at Mayo Pool Championships 

Experience trumps youth in a nail biting Mayo Pool Championships final with Dave Sweeney coming back from 7-1 down to win 9-7 against Padraic Coyle. There was some superb pool played by both players, with Dave overcoming a shaky start to turn the tables and triumph.

The calculators were out in the lead up to this competition as people were figuring out what points they needed to make Mayo teams or playoffs for the upcoming inter county event in May. Queries coming in proved that the ranking system is working and there is a hunger there for ranking points from players all around the county.

Play started early on Saturday morning for half of the players with preliminary rounds and it wasn’t long before there was some upsets in what is an increasingly stronger field with each event. Finbar O’Mara (Westport) beat Eoghan McGrath (Erris) 6-5 in what was probably the tie of the first round. Stuart Latimer (Achill) beat Mick Cuffe (Balla) 6-5 in second round as did Jarlath Mellett (Claremorris) who got past Ed Holmes (Erris) in a final frame decider.

Noel Patton (Kilmaine) made a miraculous comeback to beat Michael O’Boyle (Erris) but Mick, like every other player, got a second life on Saturday so there were some great matches in the backdoor also. Adam McAndrew (Erris) made full use of his second life overcoming a heavy defeat to Ryan Feehan (Westport) to get past Mayo King of the Hill B champion Ian Sheehy (Achill) and David Neary (Erris) both 4-3 before taking out Jarlath Mellett in the final Losers qualification round to get through to Sunday.

Ryan Feehan also overcame a heavy defeat to Eugene Carlin (Ballina) in the winners qualification round to bounce back with a win against Walter Prendergast to get through to last 16. Ed Holmes recovered from his defeat to Ja Mellett to beat Michael O’Boyle and Finbar O’Mara to get through. Runner up Padraic Coyle (Erris) was another player that overcame a heavy defeat to Eugene Carlin to get through to Sunday beating Kieran McGinty (Achill) narrowly and Stuart Latimer as he proved to be a thorn in Achill players side.

The four players from the morning session that got through without a defeat were Declan Hough (Ballaghaderreen), David Doocey (Erris), Eugene Carlin and Noel Patton.

In the evening session there was an early statement of intent by the heavily backed snooker guru Darren Flaherty (Ballina) who beat the defending Mayo champion Liam Cannon 6-2. Dave Sweeney did not have it all his own way against Zack Ruddy (Erris) who he beat 6-4.

The second round was full of tasty derby encounters: Paul Gallagher made a big comeback to beat his compatriot from Achill Cathal McLoughlin 6-5, similarly Brendan Carroll and John Magee, both from Westport had a ding dong battle with Brendan coming out on top 6-5. Stephen Jennings beat his regular sparring partner Michael Golden 6-4 in an all-Castlebar clash.

John Magee showed his stamina hasn’t gone away by coming back from defeat with a nail biting deciding frame win against Cathal Larkin (Castlebar) before beating Colin Holmes to get through to the last 16. Dave Sweeney also took his defeat to Seanan Prendergast (Castlebar) well by getting past the holder Liam Cannon (Ballintubber) in a decider, then Dave McDonnell (Westport) and Paul Gallagher in another decider 4-3 to get through to last 16.

The players that made it through without a defeat were Sean Noone (Erris), Brendan Carroll, Seanan Prendergast and Stephen Jennings who beat Darren Flaherty, Paul Gallagher, Colin Holmes and Jim Moran (Aghamore) respectively. Jim and Darren both bounced back to beat Ian Gibbons (Westport) and Michael Golden to both get through.

Sunday morning saw the business end of the competition get going and this was a day of surprises that started from the off. Dave Sweeney beat Dec Hough in a battle of two Mayo Pool legends to set the tone, but Dec can take some consolation in that he finished the day as the number one ranked Mayo player for the season. Seanan Prendergast and Adam McAndrew beat Ed Holmes and Brendan Carroll respectively in deciding frame thrillers. Dave Doocey beat Darren Flaherty, Jim Moran beat Eugen Carlin, Noel Patton took out John Magee. Padraic Coyle beat Stephen Jennings and Sean Noone beat Ryan Feehan in the other last 16 clashes.

In the quarter finals, Dave Sweeney beat Dave Doocey in a deciding frame in what proved to be a clash to decide the last of the top six in the rankings and automatic spot on the Mayo team. Dave Sweeney had bigger things on his mind though. Jim Moran beat Noel Patton 7-5 in another great clash. Padraic Coyle and Sean Noone ended the title hopes for Seanan Prendergast and Adam McAndrew respectively.

The semi-finals were both derby matches again with Jim Moran taking on his good mate and practice partner Dave Sweeney and two Erris players in the other semi-final as Padraic Coyle took on Sean Noone. These were tighter matches than scorelines would suggest as a few frames could have went the other way quite easily with Dave and Padraic running out 8-4 winners.

So to the final and it was a race to nine frames between 51 year old veteran Dave against 16-year-old Padraic who had just been runner-up in the Champion of Erris the week before. Padraic was out of the traps the fastest and raced into a barely believable 7-1 lead with some help from Dave making very uncharacteristic errors.

At this stage it looked like the game was over as a contest though it was Padraic who made a couple of unforced errors allowing Dave back in the game and he was gaining belief as he clawed back frame after frame. Dave didn’t put a foot wrong in the closing stages and won all the remaining frames to take the title. There was a roar from Dave after potting the final black showing how much it meant to him. He has lost Mayo Championship finals in the past and that made this all the sweeter to the new King of Mayo Pool. Well done Dave and hard luck to Padraic who is sure to be in the winners circle soon!

In the Ladies Mayo Championships, we had 12 ladies battling it out on Sunday for the title, there were some new names in the draw which is great to see. There were two groups of six with all players playing a first to three match against all the others in the group.

The champion of Erris from last week Andrea Barrett won group A with five wins from five to qualify for the semi-final along with Edina Mulrennan from Balla and Kathrina Barrett also from Erris. Annie Lynskey (Erris) also won five from five in group B to top the group and was joined in the knockout stages by Rita Walsh (Erris) and Martina Coughlan (Westport). All the games were played in great spirits and they all looked to be enjoying themselves. It was a great learning experience for everyone.

Andrea Barrett and Annie Lynskey went straight into the semi-finals as Edina Mulrennan and Rita Walsh beat Martina Couglan and Kathrina Barrett respectively to join them in the last four. In the semi-finals Andrea continued her fine form from the group stage running out a convincing winner against Rita Walsh. Edina Mulrennan was too strong for Annie in the other semi-final and so it was a repeat match between Edina who was defending her title and Andrea who is the current Champion of Erris.

Edina started stronger and was looking like running out a convincing winner but Andrea fought back like the champion she is to take the game back to 4-3. Edina had to use all her experience and class as she potted four reds from her break before pulling off an outrageous finish to win 5-3. Well done to all competitors and great to see the ladies game growing.

The Mayo ranking events season is now over and the next step is to prepare for the All-Ireland event in May which has been started. Good luck to all who are trying to make teams. It is a cracking experience so if you get the chance, we would highly recommend it!