Individual Post

We have clear leaders in all three Divisions of the Newry and District Pool League.

Trainor's slaughtered Orchard Bar 8-0 to maintain their 3 point lead at the top of the Premier Division.

Ballyholland's final frame win put them two points clear at the top of Division 1. Windmill slumped to a shock defeat in Bosco to slip 3 points behind but St. Monnina A moved up into 2nd place and trail the leaders by 2 points thanks to a handy nights work over Forester's A.

Nifty Fiftys moved 5 points clear in Division 2 with their 7th win of the season but they are the only team not to have had their bye, so that gap should close after the next round of league games. Closest rivals Millvale slipped up in a somewhat derby game against Port Bar. TJ's C closed the gap at the top and moved into promotion contention when they whitewashed Indo 8-0 and it was in the Indo too. St Monnina B are up to 4th after a final frame win took the 2 points away from TJ's B.


Only teams that put full names on the scorecard get writeups in the blog. Sorry but that is the blog policy.

We start our round up on the Millvale Road where Port Bar travelled the straight road from Mountnorris to their closest opponents in Division 2.
Millvale needed the points to keep in touch with leaders Nifty Fiftys and a defeat for Port Bar would surely end any lingering dreams of promotion as they would have fallen 6 points behind Millvale and would actually only been 1 point of the bottom of the table clubs such is the tightness of Division 2.
Millvale only drew the week before but Port Bar came from behind for a fantastic victory over Dan's Rebels.
Colly McCann was taking on John McClure in the nights opener. If memory serves me correctly McCann was a former Port player but correct us if we're wrong. It was McClure that took  nervy 1-0 lead for Port Bar to make up for his defeat the week before.
Anthony O'Hanlon was on form as he levelled matters against the talented Ryan Kernaghan.
Allister Marks and Paul Taylor both had important wins the week before and both were spot on again as they put Port Bar 3-1 up. Ironically opponents Benny Hoey and Liam Ferris both lost for the 2nd week in a row and now the visitors had Millvale on the ropes.
Killian McDonald has that touch of class about him. The Millvale ace could comfortably hold his own in the Premier Division and it was no surprise he pulled it back to 3-2 before team mate Dean Fallon who is also on a good run levelled matters with just 2 frames to play.
Willy Hughes and Mark Jones would play the penultimate frame with the prize being that their next team mate up would be playing for maximum points.
Willy Hughes won the week before while Mark Jones was on the back of a defeat. Form went out the window as the resolute Jones edged Port in front 4-3.
So long time Millvale servant Martin McGoldrick would take on cool customer Philip Sterritt. McGoldrick lost the decider the week before and needed to redeem himself against Sterritt who was only sub in the last match. It was Sterritt that came out trumps and heap more misery on McGoldrick.
A superb 5-3 win for Port Bar brings them up to 9 points and now just a win off 2nd spot. They now have 5 points out of a possible 6 and gathering a head of steam just as the Christmas break looms.
Millvale need to get the confidence back. After drawing with leaders Nifty Fiftys 3 games ago they've had a dip in form. They need players like Ryan Diamond back in the team and playing well if they are to push for the title.

Tj's C could mount a promotion challenge if they get a few more results like Thursday night. Tj's C have Shane Durnin at the helm and the sharpshooter is in fine form since guiding team away from the smallest league in Ireland to one of the biggest. They don't have some of the bigger names they had when they played from the Armagh/Down but with Durnin pulling the strings they should be right up there in the mix for honours.
Indo have taken some bad beatings and hopefully they can bring in a player or two to bolster their squad.
As Claudio Raniari said after his Fulham side got a 1st half mauling by Man United, "it was lambs to the slaughter" Indo were ravaged by a rampant and hungry TJ's side.
Adam Carroll, Matty O'Brien, Nathan Crudden and Jamie McManus reeled off the 1st 4 frames to leave Indo just waiting on the knockout blow.
Colm Cahill, Stevey Hyland, and Peter Cahill the 1st 3 to lose for Indo
Captain fantastic Shane Durnin had won his last 3 league games and is bursting with confidence. It was no surprise when he fired in the killer blow for 5-0.
Ozzy Gray made it 6-0 before Ethan Doyle made it 7 zip. Would Indo grab a consolation frame? Of course not. Ryan Gray made it 8-0 and Indo were lucky to get to nil.
Indo are joint bottom with three other teams but have the worst frame difference with  - 18 whereas Forester's B have - 8 and TJ's B  - 4.
TJ's C can not look up the table as they should be hoping to close in on 2nd spot. They now trail Millvale be just 2 points but Nifty Fiftys have a 7 point gap on them.


In Division 1 Ballyholland are in ominous for lately. They are strong right the way through their squad and their experience in tight games is seeing them through in a lot of 5-3 Victories.
For the 2nd week in a row Kevin McGovern has come up with the magic to scrape Ballyholland over the winning line and only for his nerves of steel the league table would look a whole lot tighter.
Giby Vettiankal left No. 7 Bar proprietor Kris Fletcher feeling rather ill when he took the opening frame of the night to give the travelling Ballyholland the lead in Warrenpoint.
Marty Bolton tied the match when he beat Brendan Keenan before Ballyholland found their stride. Dave McAvoy, Jim McMahon and Niall McQuillan sunk blacks for the league leaders for a 4-1 advantage. Richard Fletcher, Chris O'Hare and JP Lennon losing out.
No. 7 Duke Street had hoped for the win that would have fired them top of the league but now the best they could hope for was a draw.
The fightback began thanks to the Duke Street sides' captain Jeremy O'Brien. He beat Gerard McAvoy who only the week before had won on a re-spotted black. There was no re-spot this time as O'Brien made it 4-2.
Shane Cunningham made it 4-3 with a good win over the steady Colm Shields and the game was back in the melting pot.
Two Kevin's would do battle in the finale and it was McGovern the Ballyholland 'Iceman' that cooly delivered for a brilliant 5-3 win for Ballyholland.

Bosco A are had a massive win of Windmill Bar to put themselves back in the promotion hunt and because the league is so tight they ease 4 points above the relegation zone and now trail 2nd place St. Monnina A by just a single point.
Brendan McVerry had a good win over skillful Ciaran Morgan for 1-0 Windmill.
Experienced Dee Brady levelled then Darren Devlin and Robert Devlin fired Bosco 3-1 up. Brian McGeough, Aaron O'Callaghan and Conor Cunningham the triple whammy to get ko'd.
Kieran Cummins is slow but precise and is calm in the finish. He was too good for John Anderson and 4-1 was never in doubt.
Paddy McMahon could never be described a genius but he has potting ability and he wasted no time wrapping up the points for 5-1. David Loughran unable to prevent the route.
Stevie Gray pulled a consolation back for Windmill when he beat Gary Wilson.
Eamon Hurley put the icing on the cake for Bosco when he made it 6-2 by defeating Conor Heaney.

Cavern will be delighted with their performance Thursday night when they stunned Trainor's B and prevented the South Armagh side going 2nd in the league. Cavern are 3 points off 2nd place and only 2 points off the bottom.
It was a fantastic game in South Armagh and when Trainor's talisman Tommy Mooney got thrashed it shook the fancied home side to the core.
Mathew Cregan is a strong competitor but it was a big surprise when he beat Mooney to fire the visitors into the lead.
Joe Campbell doubled that lead when he beat the inconsistent Brendan McNally.
Crafty Luke Phelan is doing a whole lot better than his former individual champion winner Cathal lately. Phelan pulled it back to 2-1 by beating Stephen Byrne but Cavern didn't fold like some may have expected.
DC Campbell made it 3-1 when he beat Aaron Ruddy and then a switch in order of play came off perfect for Cavern when David McKevitt made it 4-1. Trainor's were shell shocked as Charlie Docherty lost but they dug deep to try and claw the match back.
Paddy McKeown is a quality potter and he beat Joe Byrne to make it 4-2.
Mark Trainor was taking on old pal Iceman Martin Reavey and it was the Iceman that was defrosted by Trainor and it was now down to 4-3.
Damon Murphy is probably on his day as good as most of the top players outside the Premier Division. He is a tremendous potter and has a good safety game. His temperament is top notch too and he was excellent again when he beat Davey Doran to make it 5-3 and a spectacular result for Cavern Bar.