Snooker: Rockets snatch title in action-packed final round

Tangeman secures individual league crown

Report by Mike Crook:

Congratulations to Finch Hill Rockets, they leapt from 4th to steal the Macs Builders Merchants Snooker League by a single point in a tense, action packed final round of matches. An incredible 22 high breaks were made on a night where five teams could have ended up as champions.

Finch Hill Musicians 2-3 Finch Hill Reprobates

Report by Dollin Mercer:

Both teams went into this match knowing a convincing win would give them a very good chance of winning the league. Dave McVeigh started well against Dollin Mercer, who never really looked like recouping the 42-point start, but some tight safety and several bits of good fortune saw them go into the colours almost level. McVeigh needed blue, pink and black to win and was very unfortunate when potting a good mid-range blue to snooker himself. Mercer then potted a tricky thin cut pink into a blind middle pocket to win 76-88. Rob Callister had numerous chances early on against Mike Doherty, missing several high value colours, but still managed to battle to a 43-62 win putting Reprobates 2-0 up. Dave Hanlon stopped the rot for the Musicians, beating top league individual Paul Tangeman 43-34 after a tense bout of safety on the black in a frame which could have gone either way. Vinny Dale looked like drawing the scores level for the Musicians but Danny Russett produced a late flurry of single ball potting to win 55-70 and make it 3-1 to the Reprobates. At this stage, the match on the adjacent table had finished - Mob 2-3 St Olaves - and the Rockets players had returned from their 5-0 win away at the Blinders, so Reprobates captain Rhys Moore knew he had to beat John Kennish to force a play-off for the league title. Receiving 77 start, Moore started brightly, but rattled a black in the jaws on a break of 7. Kennish then showed exactly why he’s considered by many to be the Island’s top player, producing some free-flowing break building as he scored 32 and 30 in quick succession. Moore tried hard to stave him off, potting the yellow and an outrageous long green to keep his nose in front, but Kennish caught him with a long range blue and routine pink into the middle bag to win 101-90 and hand the Rockets the league title.

Commiserations to both Musicians and Reprobates, and particularly Rhys Moore in his first season of playing ‘proper’ competitive cue sports. To be up against a player of the calibre of John Kennish, with both the league and individual titles at stake, not forgetting the twenty odd people watching every shot he battled really, really well. 

Finch Hill Mob 2-3 St Olaves

Report by Paul Smyth:

Both teams had title ambitions going into their final league match, with defending champions St Olaves probably needing all five frames. It was a quality affair with 10 breaks of 20 or more. Steve Finnegan 31-74 Dan Crawley, Finn started well but Crawley with a 21 break won comfortably. Dave Addinall 98-103 Dave Kelly, Addinall also started well and with breaks of 22, 24 and 20 had overturned the 70 start to lead 98-90 on the pink. He turned down the pink four times and Kelly ended up potting both pink and black to put St Olaves 2 up. Tom Miller 78-19 Darrell Thacker, a few untimely misses from Thacker with Miller effectively winning it in one visit with a 52 break. Peter Crellin 63-50 James Kerr, with the league now probably out of sight, Kerr had a good go with a couple of breaks of 21 and 25, but a couple of miscues from him proved costly and Crellin cleared brown to black to level the match. The final frame decider between Peter Kirkham and Paul Smyth was a must win for the Mob and St Olaves brave title defence was over. Smyth was able to be more aggressive and with breaks of 29 and 20 found himself with a massive lead that Kirkham couldn't match, Kirkham 41-83 Smyth. A win on the night for St Olaves, but a disappointing end to a tight season’s final night. Congratulations to the Rockets for nicking it at the death.

Cue Zone Blinders 0-5 Finch Hill Rockets

Report by Graham Ashton:

The Rockets knew they needed maximum points to be in with a shout and remarkably that’s exactly what occurred. Calum Gardner 24-71 Marek Kenny, this should have been an entertaining match but it didn't turn out that way. Neither played at their best, missing plenty of chances. Kenny added to his 35 start and restricted his opponent to just 24 points. Martin Rigg 36-66 Jonny Hogg, Hogg started off like a train, consistent potting including a well constructed 19 break to open up a big lead. Rigg tried his best to come back at him but Hogg ran out a deserved winner. Ivan McMaw 49-58 Graham Ashton, this was a game of two halves. McMaw was potting well from the start and cashed in on a bad safety shot with a 23 break. Ashton, from 35 behind came back well with a few small breaks and a decent snooker, but it was a fluked pink that put him over the line. Darryl Hill 52-92 Sean Murphy, Hill had a mountain to climb chasing 70 from the start. He was potting well but struggling a bit with position, a break of 23 looked like being much more but the reds were awkward. Murphy potted some good balls of his own and when Hill, 40 behind with just colours left found himself in a very tight snooker, he conceded. Scott Campion 25-41 Doug Kinrade was a very low scoring final frame, no more than 10 points between them for most of it with colours at a premium. Kinrade, snookered on the blue at the end of the game, not only escaped, but fluked it into the middle, followed by a good straight pink to take what turned out to be the frame that won the title!

Somehow it seems a fitting result for the Rockets, after losing last season’s title play-off match, leading the league for much of this campaign and of course the passing of their player and league stalwart, Ron ‘The Rocket’ Grogan earlier this year.

Peel Legion 4-1 DSB Wannabes

Barton Beaumont 59-37 David Callister, a deserved win for Beaumont, he lit up a frame with an ‘end of season’ feel with some occasional great pots. Don Humphries 91-57 Steve Cowin, Cowin obtained his first objective in protecting his 56 start by getting all the colours off their spots before a red was potted. However, Humphries was very patient and chipped away and then got a 23 break to go ahead. Cowin had only a single red to his name on reaching the final brown but could still tie having rattled numerous attempts, but Humphries was soon over the line. Mike Crook 69-99 Fred Corris, Corris extended his 35 start nicely to nearly 60 in this Jekyll and Hyde performance from Crook. Needing three snookers with two reds remaining, Crook eventually, (after conceding many fouls himself) could win with the last four balls. He then conspired to miss and go in-off the simplest of browns. Corris rolled it in and although it went on a while longer he deservedly won. Geoff Hall 65-18 Dave Corris, nothing went Corris’ way here and Hall fed off the chances given, growing in confidence the further it went, finishing with a nice flurry of pots on the colours. John Kelly 73-51 Paul McKinstry, all square on the final brown before Kelly cleared for a 22 break, including a controlled doubled pink to land perfect on the black. Peel end with a nice win and Wannabes take the proverbial wooden spoon for the fourth year in a row.

Malew 3-2 Port St Mary Legion

Report by Terry Boyle:

Tony Cubbon 43-35 Dave Pickersgill, close frame with Pickersgill holding a slender lead until the last two reds which Cubbon potted with colours to go ahead, from there he crawled to the line. Good to see Cubbon back playing again. James Goodwin 59-106 Phil Joynes, with breaks of 20 and 21 and some ridiculous pots Joynes was almost unplayable, Jimmy tried hard but to no avail. David Quayle 49-59 Matty Astill, Rads always seemed in control until he went for the brown in the middle and unfortunately potted the pink. From then on Matty potted well to claim a tight frame. Alec Oates 79-22 Marc Morley, Oates was potting well and good safety too. Morley tried hard but got no run. Tony Pring 57-41 Terry Boyle, an enjoyable frame this, both playing well. Pring played one fantastic shot potting a red off the brown and taking a pink with it, proper exhibition stuff together with a 21 break. 15 behind with three colours left Boyle got the blue but Pring settled frame and match with the pink. Congratulations to the Rockets on their league success.

The Hurricanes 4-1 Jacksons

Hurricanes capped a quiet season with an impressive win. They restricted Jacksons to just 51 points over the five frames if you ignore handicaps. They all played well apart from Stuart Littlewood in the first who went down 22-66 to Paul Kell. Paul Smith prevented Mike Reddington from potting a ball and with breaks of 22 and 21 levelled, 78-49. Gary Conwell 56-15 Alex Sinclair and Steve Munk 52-22 Kam Virk sealed the win, then Jamie Wilson had a 45 break in his 87-64 win over Richard Hillier. I may be going early, but Hurricanes could be a team to watch next season?

Final league positions

Finch Hill Rockets - 69 points,

Finch Hill Musicians - 68 points

Finch Hill Reprobates - 68 points

Finch Hill Mob - 67 points 

St Olaves - 66 points

Peel Legion - 65 points

Cue Zone Blinders - 60 points

PSM Legion - 57 points

The Hurricanes - 56 points,

Jacksons - 54 points

Newbys - 53 points

Malew - 50 points 

DSB Wannabes - 47 points 

Individual League top three

Paul Tangeman - 16 wins

Rhys Moore - 16 wins

Tom Miller - 15 wins 

Tangeman, with one less loss than Moore takes the title. High Break League, top three: Tom Miller 40 points, Darryl Hill 26.5 and Peter Kirkham 23.5. Hill's break of 70 in week 3 was the highest of the lot.

Newfield Premier League week 7

Peter Kirkham is the third player through to the play-offs of the Newfield Premier Snooker League after a surprisingly one-sided 6-0 win over Tom Miller. Only frames 3 and 4 were close, both going to the pink. Kirkham’s best effort was a 48 break in frame 1 and he had five other efforts of 30 plus throughout the match.

Due to unfortunate circumstances Jamie Wilson has had to withdraw from the tournament and the rules mean all his results are scratched and therefore just one match was played this week.

This leaves three exciting final league matches for next Saturday, 23rd April. Pete Crellin vs John Kennish, Tom Miller vs John Kennish and Calum Gardner vs Tom Miller, with Crellin, Gardner and Miller all vying for the 4th play-off spot to join Kennish, Kirkham and Darryl Hill. With John Kennish favourite to win both of his games, a Gardner victory over Miller might put him through, whereas a draw should be enough for Miller.

League standings

Darryl Hill - 10 points

John Kennish - 9 points

Peter Kirkham - 8 points

Tom Miller - 3 points

Peter Crellin - 2 points 

Calum Gardner - 1 point

Ranking event 5

Thirteen players lined up for the fifth of six snooker ranking events this season. It was somewhat unlucky for the organisers when one of the round robin groups ended with all three players defeating each other 2-1 and forcing another round of single frame play-offs. The quarter finals were seeded according to group positions and frames won/lost. Two of these threw up rematches from the round robin stage and this time the results were reversed, Darryl Hill and Mike Crook defeating Dave Addinall and Johnny Myers 2-0 and 2-1 respectively. Paul Smyth beat John Spellman 2-0 and Chris Dagnall was also a 2-0 winner over Jamie Wilson to also make the semi finals. This was Smyth and Crook’s first ranking semi finals and predictably it was the end of the line for them. Smyth lost 2-0 to Hill and Crook by the same scoreline to Dagnall. Hill went on to win the final against Dagnall 2-0, his third event win. Addinall’s 63 break was the highest of the day. The final ranking event takes place on 24th April, once again at The Cue Zone IoM.