Third Mayo pool title for cue star Liam Cannon

Edina Mulrennan claims inaugural ladies title

AFTER a thrilling weekend of pool in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel, Belmullet, it was Liam Cannon (Ballintubber) and Edina Mulrennan (Balla) that were crowned the Mayo pool champions for 2023.

Liam Cannon won the title for a third time after coming through a tough 63-player field to defeat Westport’s Daniel Feehan in the final by four sets to three. Liam is a class act on and off the table and everyone was delighted to see him put himself up there with the all-time greats of Mayo pool. Hard luck to Daniel, who won the first Mayo event he entered earlier this season, is in the final of the second and was runner-up in this. Very impressive and surely a future Mayo champion.

Liam was in action on Saturday morning and made it through to the last 16 with wins over Walter Prendergast, Pat McGowan and David Doocey, while in the evening session Daniel defeated Paul Fitzgerald, Jack Coyle and Padraic Coyle where he needed all his experience to come from behind to record a 7-6 win over the young Erris star.

The tournament was run on a double elimination basis up to the last 16 and in the morning session Paul Gallagher, Declan and Barry Hough as well as Liam Cannon made it through the winners’ section, while Ian Sheehy, Colin Holmes, Michael Golden and Dermot Barrett were the four qualifiers from the losers’ section.

In the evening session it was Michael Cuffe, Sean Conway, Ed Holmes and Daniel Feehan who came through the winners’ section and Padraic Coyle, Senan Prendergast, David Gallagher and Dave Sweeney who qualified from the losers’ section.

That set it up for an exciting day of pool on Sunday, and it did not disappoint with some excellent matches throughout the day. There was a change of format as matches were first to four sets, with each set been a best of three frames. Most matches in the last 16 went the way of the favourites, with the match of the round seeing Padraic Coyle push the eventual winner Liam Cannon all the way to the final frame, Liam coming through on a 4-3 scoreline.

Colin Holmes had a 4-1 win over Sean Conway while his brother Ed had to come from two sets down to beat Ian Sheehy 4-2. Michael Golden, Daniel Feehan, Dave Sweeney and the Hough brothers were the other last 16 winners.

In the quarterfinals the Hough brothers met the Holmes brothers in two of the four matches while Liam Cannon faced Michael Golden and Daniel Feehan took on Dave Sweeney. Ed Holmes was pushed all the way by Declan Hough but it was the defending champion from Erris who progressed to the semi-finals by claiming the final set in a match that could have gone either way.

Ed would face Liam Cannon in the semi-final. The eventual winner began to play better and better as he beat Michael Golden 4-2. Daniel Feehan was too strong for Dave Sweeney as he set up a semi-final with Barry Hough, who beat Colin Holmes 4-2.

The first semi-final to get underway was Daniel against Barry and this match went all the way to the deciding frame, with Daniel making it to the final as he took out an exceptional finish after Barry came close to a break and dish but he missed his second last red to allow Daniel to take his chance. This was a real high quality semi-final with plenty of 8 ball clearances from both players. In the second semi-final, Liam Cannon took advantage of plenty of dry breaks from Ed Holmes to reach the final on a 4-2 scoreline, with Liam rarely missing a pot taking out some of the best finishes of the day to knock out the defending champion.

The final was always going to be tough to call and it could easily have been Daniel that lifted the title as he came to within a frame of the win in the sixth set. Daniel took the first set but Liam hit back as he dominated the next two sets before it was all square again when Daniel claimed the fourth set. Daniel then went back in front by taking the fifth set by two frames to one before Liam levelled matters once more by taking the sixth set. Liam held his nerve in the final set to secure the title as Daniel never really got a look-in, and it was the ‘Cannonball’ who was lifting the Perpetual Shield to bring a close to proceedings after two excellent days of pool in Belmullet.

In the ladies’ event, Tooreen’s Edina Mulrennan won the inaugural title with a 5-2 win over Annie Lynskey.

Edina, who is a regular at Irish events, showed her class with some top quality pool.

The quarterfinal pairing was decided after the group stages, with Edina needing to be at her best as she had a 4-2 win over Catriona Barrett, while Lynskey, Natalie Jones and Rita Walsh had wins over Loretta Gallagher, Anna Scott and Martina Coughlan respectively.

In the semi-finals, Edina had a 4-1 win over Natalie while Annie Lynskey needed a final frame decider to get past fellow Erris woman Rita Walsh.

In the early stages of the final Annie was going frame to frame with Edina but as the match went on, the Tooreen woman showed her experience as she won three frames in a row to secure the title by five frames to two. The ladies will be putting at least two teams in for the inter-counties this year, which will be great to see. They will be contenders given the pool on display!

The Mayo Pool Association would like to thank all at Erris Pool Events, Jack Coyle (doing lots of work in the background as always), Kieran Gallagher (taking the baton Sunday afternoon upon returning from a trip away) and especially Ed Holmes who somehow managed to run the scheduling and make it to the semi-final on top of all the preparation in the months leading up to the event. He was a tired man come Sunday evening - an epic effort altogether. Erris Pool Events really have set a very high standard these last few years.

Eoghan McGrath from DE Sports provided the streaming services for the two days and thanks to him for his time and effort during the event. He also helped with the scheduling and live-scoring. Antony Healy supplied the tables, which were going all weekend. The word ‘flawless’ has been used a few times.

Thanks to the Broadhaven Bay Hotel for the use of the venue and to the sponsors: Connacht Amusements, Castle Cue Club, Connacht CCTV and KGSS Chartered Geomatic Surveyors.

Thanks also to all that helped out over the two days in making this event such a success as events like this can’t happen without the help and cooperation of the players.

That almost wraps up the Mayo majors for the year but there are still a couple of games left, with the final of the Balla Grand Prix to be played and semis and final of the Mayo King of the Hill to come. Next on the agenda is finalising the Mayo teams for the inter-counties and getting some vital practice in for that.

There will be underage events around the county in next couple weeks and overage comps too, all going well.

There are also some good weekend competitions to get stuck into, with the Belmullet Open in the Broadhaven again on April 22 and Jonathan Leneghan Memorial, which will be a handicapped comp, being run in Ballina in May. There are plans to run some comps restricted to a player’s grading or lower too.

The newly opened Castle Cue Club in Castlebar will have lots of events coming up soon in addition to the usual venues, so keep your eyes peeled for information on how to get involved.