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HISTORY WAS made recently when the
first ever Irish 9-ball team took on a Scotland selection in an
international challenge. The match was played in Letterkenny, Co Donegal
and witnessed the Irish selection making their debut at this level and
winning too.
For all bar one of the Irish players
this was their first taste of international 9-ball, though a number had
previously played international 8-ball. The team was anchored by one of
the top players on the UK tour Kevin Smith, who led by example, inspiring
team mates to a landmark victory.
In fact all of the Irish team belied
their lack of experience, turning in solid performances - congratulations
to Paul Bonner, William Dines, Sean Hoey, Michael McLaughlin, Charles
Murphy, John Magee and Ronnie Boyle.
The format of the match saw the teams
play a series of doubles (Scotland won 3-1), followed by eight singles
(race to 11), in which their were a number of very tight confrontations,
Ireland winning 6-2.
The final session consisted of 24
frames played in three sessions of eight, going to Ireland by 13-11,
giving a close match score of 20-16. Davy Jack won a Friday Flyer event in
impressive style. The weekend open was won by Kevin Smith, who came
through the losers side of the draw to beat Davy twice.
CueSport, Jul-Aug 2003
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