What a fantastic and memorable weekend in the Clayton Hotel,
Belfast as the IPA Blackball Pool Tour came to Northern Ireland for the first
time. Near on 40 local cueists took to the blue baize alongside many from
further afield. It started off on Thursday night live on Freesports TV with the
Champions Cup and after the action had concluded Ronan McCarthy has reached the
Last 16 with Gary Clarke and Emma Cunningham at the Last 32 stage of the
ongoing event.
To the Tour now and with the BBC broadcasting live from the
Clayton Hotel the array of top players was mind blowing, Tom Cousins, Marc
Farnsworth, Mark Boyle, Simon Ward and Scott Gillespie to name but a few. Four
titles were up for grabs, The Professional, The Open, The Amateur and The
Ladies Events. There were many fantastic matches and performances but when the
final black was potted on Sunday night Jack Whelan (England) had won the Pro
Event with an 8-2 success in the Final over Simon Ward (Wales). In the Open Final
Scott Gillespie (Scotland) overcame an impressive Lee Wray (England) 7-6 in a
last frame decider and in the Ladies Emma Cunningham (Northern Ireland) took
the title with a superb Final display against Vicki Lomax (England). New to the
IPA Tour Tom Cousins (Wales) was in great form as he stormed to the Amateur Final
where he defeated Jordan Church (England) 6-2.
Best local
cueists in each event were -
Pro - Ronan
McCarthy and Gary Clarke, both Last 16
Open - Ronan
McCarthy, Gary Clarke and Ronan Fay, all Last 32
Amateur -
Ronan Fay, Semi Finalist
Ladies - Emma Cunningham, Winner
In between all the action IPA Chairman Kevin Barton had time to host a live interview with our own World Ranked No. 6 snooker star Mark Allen.
Hopefully all at the IPA enjoyed their visit to Belfast and it's not too long before we see them
back over in here again.