TRIANGULAR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT
The Newmarket Snooker Club (24th-25th October 1998)
Teams representing England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of
Ireland gathered at the Newmarket Snooker Club on 24th October
to take part in the inaugural tri-nation competition. The event followed
the same format as the previous England/Northern Ireland competitions
with each team playing a mixture of 2 hour matches and 150 up games.
England demonstrated their strength in depth, to overcome some
excellent individual performances from their opponents, and provide
some of their own, to emerge overall winners.
Paul Bennett 102, 101, 86, 76, 70, 68, 59, 55 | 1001 | Tony Buttimer | 271 | ||
Stephen Crosland 70, 68, 60 | 389 | Sammy Clarke 93, 74, 72, 68 | 494 | ||
Darren Kell 81, 74, 67, 62 | 526 | Davy Pogue | 330 | ||
Lee Lagan 72 | 378 | David Elliott 156, 117, 89, 82 | 832 | ||
Neal Rewhorn 126, 124, 102 | 621 | Paddy Donnelly 109, 87 | 467 | ||
Peter Shelley 108, 56, 51, 50 | 772 | Freddie Cahoon | 329 |
England No.1 Paul Bennett set the home team off to a flying start with
an impressive performance against Tony Buttimer. Making two
centuries and six further breaks over 50, he dominated the game to
make the highest 2 hour aggregate of the competition with 1,001 points.
The match against Northern Ireland was anticipated to be England´s
hardest test, and when Sammy Clarke levelled the scores with a victory
against Stephen Crosland, the home team where left in no doubt of the
task that lay ahead.
Darren Kell produced a typically solid performance to regain the
advantage for the English team, but this was again cancelled out by
David Elliott´s impressive victory over England No.4, Lee Lagan, which
included breaks of 155 and 117 by the Irishman.
This was to prove the last success for the Northern Ireland team as first
Neal Rewhorn, then Peter Shelley completed the English victory.
Rewhorn staged a fine comeback in his match after Donnelly had started
with breaks of 87 and 109 in his first three visits. Rewhorn replied by
making three centuries himself to win by 154 points.
Tony Buttimer 73 | 2 | Larry Drennan | 0 | ||
Sammy Clarke | 2 | Aiden Murray | 0 | ||
Davy Pogue | 2 | Dick Brennan | 0 | ||
David Elliott | 2 | Phil Martin | 0 | ||
Paddy Donnelly 77 | 1 | Victor O´Gorman 55 | 1 | ||
John McIntyre | 2 | Tommy Martin | 0 |
The Northern Ireland party was only slightly diminished by Victor
O´Gorman who registered a 55 break in taking the Republic´s solitary
game. The comprehensive victory edged Northern Ireland back in front
of England on the overall match scores.
Paul Bennett 136, 58, 58, 50 | 719 | Victor O´Gorman 129, 83, 69, 57 | 619 | ||
Darren Kell 91, 61 | 474 | Phil Martin 53 | 427 | ||
David Nichols 129, 81, 59, 53 | 622 | Aiden Murray 82 | 324 | ||
Neal Rewhorn 114, 102, 79 | 716 | Dick Brennan 72 | 344 | ||
Peter Shelley 154, 110, 103, 85, 69, 58, 55, 54 | 938 | Larry Drennan | 282 | ||
Phil Welham | 523 | Tommy Martin | 452 |
The English campaign against the Republic started a little shakily as
Victor O´Gorman made a string of good breaks to push the English
Champion all the way. This was followed by an even closer match,
where Darren Kell just held off the challenge of Phil Martin by 43
points. After this, England proceeded with somewhat less drama as
David Nichols, Neal Rewhorn, and Peter Shelley, all registered
comfortable victories. 23 year-old Nichols was particularly impressive
in his first international match, making a top break of 129 in his win
against Murray, and Peter Shelley could do no wrong as he put together
three centuries in a two hour aggregate of 938 points. Phil Welham
completed the whitewash to leave the English team in a commanding
position at the end of the first day.
Tony Buttimer 85, 58 | 655 | Tommy Martin | 486 | ||
Sammy Clarke 76, 66, 63 | 646 | Victor O´Gorman | 340 | ||
Davy Pogue | 378 | Phil Martin | 361 | ||
David Elliott 98, 61 | 448 | Dick Brennan 109, 103, 83, 58, 54 | 578 | ||
Paddy Donnelly 85, 74, 68, 68, 60 | 627 | Aiden Murray | 232 | ||
John McIntyre | 379 | Larry Brennan | 499 |
Northern Ireland started the second day knowing that they needed
another comprehensive result against the Republic to keep in touch
with England. In this respect they got off to a good start with Tony
Buttimer and Sammy Clarke recording comfortable wins. Davy Pogue
kept up the momentum, albeit with considerably more difficulty, edging
out Phil Martin by just 17 points.
It was left to the experienced international Dick Brennan to break the
Republic´s duck making two centuries in a good win over Northern
Ireland´s No.2 David Elliott. Aiden Murray could do nothing against
the power of Paddy Donnelly, but Larry Drennan gave the Republic
their second victory to round off proceedings.
Stephen Crosland | 2 | Tommy Martin | 0 | ||
Lee Lagan | 2 | Larry Drennan | 0 | ||
David Nichols | 2 | Dick Brennan | 0 | ||
Neal Rewhorn | 2 | Aiden Murray | 0 | ||
Peter Shelley 141 | 2 | Phil Martin | 0 | ||
Phil Welham | 2 | Victor O´Gorman | 0 |
England, who took eight players to Newmarket had adopted a policy
of rotating the squad, but the omission of their No.1 player Paul Bennett
made no difference to the final result as England completed a second
whitewash over the Republic. Peter Shelley was again in sparking
form as he ran in a break of 141 in one of his 150 up games.
Paul Bennett 51 | 1 | Freddie Cahoon 51, 50 | 1 | ||
Stephen Crosland 75 | 2 | Paddy Donnelly | 0 | ||
Darren Kell 148unf | 1 | David Elliott 58, 56 | 1 | ||
Lee Lagan | 2 | Davy Pogue | 0 | ||
David Nichols | 2 | Sammy Clarke | 0 | ||
Phil Welham | 1 | Tony Buttimer | 1 |
England entered the final match 13 points in front of Northern Ireland
and therefore certain of overall victory. Even so, there were some good
performances to come as Freddie Cahoon made two 50 breaks in taking
the first game against Paul Bennett. Paul managed to level the scores
with a break of 51 himself, but it was fellow Teessider Darren Kell
who put in the performance of the round when he ran to game with
148 unfinished. David Elliott also managed a couple of fifty breaks to
ensure a share of the points with Darren.
The final match score saw the England squad clear winners on 51
points from Northern Ireland, who finished with 32 points, and the
Republic trailing with just 7 points. Northern Ireland´s David Elliott
made the best break of the event with 155 closely followed by England´s
Peter Shelley who made 154. Shelley had a total of five centuries in
the competition, as did team-mate Neal Rewhorn, with three other
members of the England team also getting past the 100 mark.
The event was hailed as a great success by England team manager,
Derick Townend, and looks certain to become a regular fixture on the
billiard calendar.