Snooker's silverware is all decided
The Pembrokeshire Snooker League rounded off another busy season with its end-of-season finals at a variety of venues before all the silverware was presented to successful players and clubs, whilst the Manchester Club A made history this year by winning the Division One championship for the fifth time in a row.
Frank Richards Trophy:
Gareth Aries from the Power Station Club became county singles snooker champion with a brilliant display of potting in an exciting final at the Manchester Club recently but he did not have it all his own way against last year’s champion Terry McBride from the Balfour Club.
Gareth was always in the lead in the first frame, but Terry potted the brown, blue, pink and black to steal the frame but the cueist from the Power Station Club had a break of 23 in the next frame, and he potted most of the high scoring colours to draw the scores level.
Both players scored well in the third frame, but Gareth got in with a break of 32 to seal the frame before Terry took the lead in the next frame, but steady scoring saw Gareth gain a 20-point lead going into the colours. Then Terry potted all the colours except the black to set up a nail-biting finish. There followed a period where both players played good safety and both had chances to win the frame, but Terry then potted the black and the white travelled around the table and unbelievably went in-off to lose the frame and the title!.
Phil Whisby was the referee for the final.
Powell Cup:
The Balfour A pair of Terry McBride and Simon Pearce won the Division One pairs’ competition with a solid display of snooker at the British Legion Club.
Playing a best of five frames’ final against Viv Price and Jamie Greenish from the Manchester Club, the Balfour pair got off to a great start, comfortably winning the first frame.
The second frame saw a lot of good safety from both sides, but breaks of 12 from Simon and a 26 from Terry saw the duo go two up.
The Balfour pair got their noses in front in the next and kept the pressure on to take the third frame and the match.
The referees were Gareth Barrett and Ian Ashworth.
KO Cup Final:
THE Balfour A won the KO Cup with a good solid display of snooker in a five-singles frame aggregate score final.
Club Martello had a 50 point advantage for being a division two outfit, where they came second, but Raymond Hoare nearly wiped that out with a 44-point win in the first frame against John Davies.
The Balfour piled on the pressure in the second frame, with former county champion Terry McBride gaining a big 63-point win in against Les Alderman.
Another former county champion John Lloyd showed his class in the third frame for Club Martello, gaining a 63-point victory, but the Balfour came back and Alan Griffiths easily overcame Dean Lowe in the fourth frame to keep the advantage.
The Balfour had a 20-point lead going into the last frame, and Simon Pearce kept his head against Gwyn Griffiths to see the Haverfordwest club to victory.
The referees for the evening were Colin and Darryl McCarthy.
Carlsberg Cup:
Matthew Holder of Hook B won the division two singles crown for the third time in a row at the Conservative Club recently in a tense best of five-frame final.
But he did not have it all his own way, with Lee Boswell of the Manchester Club taking him to a last frame decider.
Matthew took the first frame, but Lee levelled the scores by potting the blue, pink and black to take the second.
Lee won the third frame with small breaks of 14 and 21, but Matthew managed a break of 33 to secure victory in the fourth.
Matthew took an early lead in the deciding frame, and held his nerve to go on and win the frame.
D T Pearce Cup Final:
The Manchester Club B retained the second division cup with a strong display at the Balfour Club, playing the Club Martello in a two doubles, two singles, aggregate score final, where David Gray got them on the way with a good 37 point victory over Jonathon Davies.
The defining frame was in the first doubles when Andrew King and Lee Boswell powered their way to a 61-kpoint win over Gwyn Griffiths and Dean Lowe, with both ‘Manch’ boys getting 22-point breaks.
The Club Martello did pull some points back in the second singles frame with Simon Briscombe beating Phil Whisby by 20 points, but the Manch would not be denied and Paul Whisby and Malcolm King easily overpowered John Lloyd and Les Alderman in the final frame to put the result beyond doubt.