Ronan McCarthy has retained his Northern Ireland Individual Blackball title after a fantastic display of skill and stamina at The Lodge Hotel, Coleraine on Sunday 11th November. From a field of over 120 players he once again showed why he is the best 8 Ball Pool player the country has ever known. The Kircubbin man made his way to the final with wins of 5-0, 5-1, 5-2, 5-1, 5-3 and 6-1. Awaiting him was Antrim's Rab Fee, who had just overcome a fantastic Semi Final challenge from Ballymena's Drew Sloan, by the narrowest of margins 6-5. But it wasn't to be for Fee as a masterful trademark display from McCarthy took him coasting to the title in style. In the 2 frames he lost in the Final he didn't get to the table as Fee broke and dished both times. Not many would bet against the magician making it a hat trick of 3 in a row this time next year back in the Lodge Hotel
Where the money went
£600 Winner - Ronan McCarthy£300 Runner Up - Rab Fee
£150 Semi Finalists - Drew Sloan, Neil McKelvey
£100 Last 8 - Herbie O'Neil, Marc Hutchinson, Lee Hull, Rab McCullough
In the photos
Above - Ronan receives his trophies from Pauline Lynch of the NIPA
Below - McCarthy (left) and Fee shake hands before the Final
Many thanks go to Trevor Harte and Pauline Lynch on the top table, referee Kathy Leddy, Northern Ireland Special Pool for the use of the 14 tables prior to their Festival of Pool week and to the staff and management of the Lodge Hotel, Coleraine
Our live match scoring was a massive success with Pool enthusiasts, over 1000 different visitors tuned in for up to date scores on the day.
