Griffiths and Barbour Claim County Doubles Title

Carlisle’s Mike Griffiths and Rob Barbour have won the 2019 Cumbria County Doubles Championship in a thrilling day at Carlisle’s Portland Snooker Club culminating in a 4-2 final win against Barrow’s Danny McDonald and Tony Mason.

The Portland Snooker Club and Custom Cakes by Debbie Louise sponsored event produced a first title for the Carlisle pairing who on the day produced the most consistent snooker.

The first frame of a very tactical final started as Griffiths delivered a 20-point lead. McDonald and Mason tried hard to force an opening but as the Carlisle duo kept them at bay a 75-22 frame win made it 1-0.

Frame two became a disjointed matter very early on, however with McDonald and Mason making the most of the small chances they were presented with a 52-29 frame victory ensured parity at 1-1.

As the next frame moved along both pairings were starting to settle into the match, nevertheless with the balls not lying well, from a break building perspective, another safety dominant game resulted. Picking off what they needed it was Griffith and Barbour who moved 2-1 ahead with a 66-38 win.

The fourth frame again proved to be a slow burner but with a break of 33 Barbour took the bull by the proverbial horns. This created a comfortable lead and even though McDonald and Mason battled hard to pull the deficit back they went down 60-38.

Frame five delivered a large blow for the Barrow duo as Mason’s tip came off his cue. Not looking for an excuse he quickly barrowed a cue from a fellow competitor and carried on. At this point McDonald took over potting duty and with some fine play he brought himself and his partner back into the match with a 52-38 victory.

At 3-2 to the Carlisle pairing the game was finely poised but with the match nearing the end, quite naturally, both pairings were starting to show small signs of nerves. This produced another fragmented affair and with just the green remaining the frame was still in the balance. A safety shot from Barbour looked like leaving a chance for Mason to tie the contest however in clipping the brown on the way to potting the green the opportunity was gone. All that was left was for Griffiths to clear from green to pink to take the frame 65-25, match and title to the delight of his Carlisle team mate.

In the first of the semi-finals McDonald and Mason supplemented each other brilliantly as some fine potting by both players was more than enough to take them through 4-1 against defending champions Kevin Basnett from Workington and Andrew Mitchelhill from Cockermouth.

The other semi-final saw Griffiths and Barbour win by the same score against inspired first time entrants in Workington’s Stephen Jackson and Ian Fulton.

The highest break of the championship came from Workington’s Kevin Basnett with a contribution of 104 in a 4-1 first round win over Aspatria’s Gary Miller and Gary Stewardson.

The event also saw a plate competition held for all first round losers with Workington’s Peter and Stephen O’Hagan presiding over Maryport’s Ryan Ismay and Ryan Barker, 3-2. The individual highlight of the plate competition came from Ryan Ismay as with a contribution of 103 he recorded his first century break in competitive play.

Thanks to Ron and to Ron & Mary Wilson of the Portland Club, Carlisle for providing an excellent venue.

The County Snooker Singles Championship will be held on Sunday 24th March at the Portland Snooker Club, Carlisle. 1030am start. Further info contact 07983522842, 07720251818 or go the the Association’s Facebook page at Cumbria Billiards and Snooker Association.

Results

Prelim

McDonald & Mason (Barrow) beat Sharp and Scott (Maryport), 4-0.
Basnett (104 break) & Mitchelhill (Workington/Cockermouth) beat Miller & Stewardson, 4-1.
Nixon & Wright (Carlisle) beat Ismay (50 break) & Barker (Maryport), 4-3.
Fulton & Jackson (Workington) beat Garroway & Dawson (Workington), 4-2.
Griffiths & Barbour (Carlisle) beat O’Hagan & O’Hagan (Workington), 4-1.

Quarter finals