Individual and Team Cup Competitions...

With just the Individual Cup and Team Competitions left to play out for the 2024 season now. I will keep this page updated with all news about the semi-finals and finals, with the dates and venues where they will all be played at as well.

The date for the Presentation Night will be posted after our committee meeting to be held at Churchtown Cons this coming Monday the 15th...

The Lucas Open semi-finals
Date: Tuesday, 23rd of April at Southport Cons, start time 7:30pm, best of 5 frames
Trevor Wetton, Churchtown Cons v Richard Gaskell, Tarleton BC
Martin Brown, Fleetwood Hesketh v Gareth Hibbott, Fleetwood Hesketh

Frank Lodge Cup semi-final (1)
Date: Thursday 25th of April at Churchtown Cons, start time 8:00pm
Banks B v Birkdale Cons B

The James Yates 1st Division semi-finals
Date: Tuesday 30th of April at Banks St Stephens, start time 8:00pm, best of 3 frames
John Rimmer, Southport Cons v Peter Burns, Tarleton BC
Sean Bynoe, Tarleton BC v Gareth Hibbott, Fleetwood Hesketh

Frank Lodge semi-final (2)
Date: Wednesday 1st of May, venue tbc, 8:00pm start
Churchtown Cons B v Scarisbrick C

Rickerby Cup semi-final (1)
Date: Thursday 9th May, venue tbc, 8:00pm start
Fleetwood Hesketh A v Southport Cons B

Cup Final results...

The JJ Birch, 2nd Division final
Andy Linaker of Scarisbrick D beat Stan Hughes, who plays for Scarisbrick E, 2-0 in the JJ Birch final held at Tarleton Bowling club recently.
The Bullen Lane lads played out a somewhat cautious opening frame, safety dominating the early exchanges, until the frame opened up with a few reds left on. Stan, who was giving 15 start to Andy managed to close the gap down to a single point with just the final red left on and was probably favourite to go on and take the opening frame. But Andy took the final red with a blue and the next four colours to leave him 21 ahead with just the pink and black left on. Try as he did Stan just couldn’t get the snookers he required, Andy taking the opening frame 63-42.
The second frame got away from Stan early on, not that Andy potted everything, he just chipped in with the odd red and colour combo, it was that Stan just couldn’t seem to pot a colour, any colour after sinking a red missing a couple of big shots on the blue twice and a couple each on the pink and black. Andy took his time and eventually killed the game off 60-19, Stan unable to make any inroads to the lead Andy had built.
A good match up, played in very good spirits, Andy a deserved winner in the end.

The Seniors Cup final
Having lost out to Ian Tinsley in the 2022 Seniors Final, Reg ‘The Rocket’ Dobson took the 2024 Seniors title 2-0 after beating Churchtown’s Mick Coxon 2-0 in the final held at The Old Golf Links last week.

The opening frame took a while to get going, both players maybe suffering from cup final nerves before Reg started to pull away aided by his 28 handicap from the start. Mick now faced a deficit of 48 points before he landed his first pot but got it back to be 46 behind with 51 on, then 33 with all the colours left on. But try as he might, he just couldn’t get Reg in any danger in regards to drawing a foul from him, Reg taking the opening frame 65-29 after sinking the final brown.
The 2nd frame saw Mick play with a little more freedom, trying to force his way back in to the match, and he did playing some good snooker and potting some crucial balls. Only 9 back and all of the colours left on, Mick probably fancied levelling things up, but with some bad shots, missed pots Reg began to pick the colours off one by one. Mick, now needing one snooker with just the pink and black balls left on couldn’t have been given a better chance when Reg missed the pink completely to hand the required foul points over to Mick. Game on. But a few shots later Mick left the pink right over the middle home for Reg to sink and take it 2-0.
For Reg, absolute delight at claiming his first Individual Cup competition. For Mick, he would have rather played the 9 holes on the green turf than the 6 holes on the green baize at the time…!!

The Atherton, 3rd Division Final
Another final to feature two players from not only the same club, but same team, as Andrei Le Roi beat fellow teammate Kyle Cheezey Prescott 2-0 in the Atherton Cup final.
In only his first full season playing in the Southport Snooker League Andrei has played himself in to the history of the Atherton Cup, the 48th new name on the cup in it’s 56 year of it’s playing. The opening frame got off to a somewhat predictable cagey start, both players showing more than a bit of respect for each other. The frame eventually coming down to a wonderful cut back on the final blue to clot home the pink into the middle, taking it 54-46 in the end.
To be fair, and we all need it, Andrei had Lady Luck on his side for bits of the 2nd frame, leaving Kyle with either no or very tough shots to play after bad or missed pots. But Kyle dug in, got back into the frame with another close call frame looking likely to be settled on the final colours. That indeed played out, Andrei sinking the final black in to the middle pocket to take it 62-43 and so with it the 3rd Division title for 2024. Well played sir…

All the best, keep smiling and enjoy your snooker

Chris Gill

Gen Sec