Castlebar pub make history at Mayo pool finals

CASTLEBAR pub The Castle Inn made history as they became the first pool team from the county town to win the Mayo Premier Cup at the recent Mayo Pool Finals in Patten's Bar, Achill.

In the cup, the Castle Inn topped their group and waited on the winners of Danny's Bar (Westport), and Ted's Bar (Achill) who were both level on points from the round robin. A five-ball shoot out, the eqivalent of taking penalties in soccer, was required to decide it and Danny's Bar came out on top.

The Premier Cup final was 50-50 to call but the Castle Inn had a stern test in their win over a fancied Rendezvous (Balla) team in the Castlebar & District cup final which contained six county players.

The doubles were tied at 1-1 when Padraic Golden and Jimmy Canning beat the fancied pairing of county players Ian Gibbons and Noel Patten to gave Castle Inn a 2-1 lead after the doubles.

There were wins in the singles for Eugene Carolan and Padraic Golden before Stephen 'Jinxy' Jennings potted the winning black to put the Castle Inn on the map as the first ever team from Castlebar to win the Mayo Premier Cup and the celebrations went long into the early hours.

In the Championship Cup final, Castlebar & District shield winners The Village Inn (Ballyvary) lost in the decider to Alice's (Achill) after topping their group in the round robin.

The teams thank Patten's Bar for a great venue for the finals.

The Castle Inn team: Seán Conway, Jimmy Canning, Eugene Carolan, Padraic Golden, Stephen 'Jinxy' Jennings, Dylan Ruane, Seanie Lavelle, Richard Delahunty.