Irish Blackball Association

Each year, Gavin Cleary runs a memorial tournament for Brian Gargan, a good friend of many pool players who sadly passed away a few years ago. The competition is run out of Liffey Gaels club in Ballyfermot, in memory to Brian and his family. The entrance fee is €50 and the first round is played as a round robin group stage. This years tournament is down to the last 16 stage which will be played this week. This years tournament was won by Graham Baitson who beat Glenn Hannigan 10-6 in the final, which was held in the Kettles Hotel at the 4th event of the Irish Tour. The following is the line up and results from the last 16 up until the final.

Last 16

David Neary 7 v 3 Dave Costello

Glen Hannigan 7 v 4 Darren Feehan

Gavin Cleary 3 v 7 Niall Docherty

Dave Kelly 7 v 0 David Carrie

Ger Griffin 7 v 4 Con Price

Graham Baitson 7 v 4 Pat Merrigan

Greg Clarke 7 v 5 Trevor Glass

Robert Kirwan 7 v 5 James Berns

Quarter Finals

David Neary 1 v 8 Glen Hannigan

Niall Docherty 5 v 8 Dave Kelly

Ger Griffin 0 v 8 Graham Baitson

Greg Clarke 5 v 8 Robert Kirwan

Semi Finals

Glen Hannigan 9 v 7 Dave Kelly

Graham Baitson 9 v 0 Robert Kirwan

Final

Glen Hannigan 6 v 10 Graham Baitson

The new tables from 2010 arefor sale delivery is 1st week in December,

You simply pick the table youwant pay a deposit of €200. Balance can be paid in installments payment to be made in full by 31st October Total price of tables is €800, Delivery can be arranged at an extra charge.

Please remember guys these are a top quality tables with a Simonis cloth and Aramith balls. Each table will have only had 5 tournaments played on them, Interested?

 Contact Kevin 087 9791008

Irish Blackball Association dedicates event 4 (i.e. Fri 25th - Sun 27th June 2010) of the 2010 Blackball Tour to Northern Ireland's late chairman Willie "The Glove" Lucas in the form of the "Willie Lucas Memorial Cup". In addition to the tour event, this weekend announced a round of international friendly matches between Ireland and Northern Ireland in the Kettles Country House Hotel, Swords. The International matches took place on the Friday night 25th June, with Individual Tournaments on the Saturday 26th and finishing on Sunday 27th. Northern Ireland participated with a Mens 'A' Team (5), two Mens 'B' Teams (9 in each), a Seniors Team (5), a Ladies 'A' Team (5), a Ladies 'B' Team (5), a Juniors Team (8) and a Learning Difficulties Team (5).

Quoted from the Northern Ireland Blackball site

"Northern Ireland came out on top over their Southern counterparts in a series of friendly matches to mark the inaugural Willie Lucas Memorial Cup which the Southern Irish Pool Federation kindly hosted. With 2 points up for grabs in each section a tight match was expected and most of the matches didn't disappoint. But it was Northern Ireland who rose to the occasion and took the honours with a 12-4 win. Willie's son Dayne and his partners son James were down in The Kettles Country Hotel, Swords just outside Dublin to watch the event. A squad of over 60 players had travelled down on Friday night for the 3 days of competitive Pool on 20 top quality Championship Tables recently recovered with Iwan Simonis 2000 Grade Pool cloth. New NIPA Chairman Trevor Harte thanked the SIPF for their hospitality and a minutes silence was held in memory of "The Glove". Debby Walker and Kevin Byrne exchanged pennants before the match and a much appreciated gift of an Irish Scene painted by Southern Ireland player Cormac Dennis was given to Willies family members. All in all it was an unforgettable weekend and the NIPA Committee would like to thank the SIPF for all their hard work in organising the occasion. Thanks also, to the Kettles and Roganstown Country Hotels"

For more information on the results of the matches and on the Northern Ireland team and players, visit http://nipapool.blogspot.com/

Ireland will be participating in the European Blackball 'B' Championships 2010, which is taking place in Rhyl, Wales from October 6th - 11th 2010. There will be trials for the teams to represent Ireland in the European B team and individual event. All players that were not selected to represent Ireland at the World Blackball Championships are eligible to play in these trials. The trials will take place in the Kettles Hotel on the Friday of Event 5 (i.e. Friday 16th July 2010) at 8pm sharp. The entrance fee for these trials is €10 and players must be entered before the closing date (i.e. 1st July 2010).

Players can enter this event by emailing superleague.ireland@gmail.com or by texting Kevin Byrne 00353879791008, Martin Kirwan 00353863046485 or Stephen Carroll 00353868886766. Please note that this competition is being ran in conjunction with the Irish Blackball Association, therefore there is a dress code for this event and all future competitions, players not wearing the appropriate attire, will not be allowed to play. The dress code can be found in the rules and regulations.

Ireland will be participating in the World Blackball Championships 2010, which is taking place in Limodge, France from November 8th-13th, 2010. The following are the Ireland A, Seniors and Under 23 teams that Martin Kirwan announced in early June.

Ireland A Graham Baitson, Robert Kirwan, David Neary, Mick Connors, Glenn Hannigan, Darren Feehan and Dave Kelly

Ireland Seniors Martin Kirwan (Captain), Peter Austin, Pat Merrigan, Ray McGuinness, James Berns, Con Price and Paul Wright

Ireland Under 23s Wayne Neeson, Aaron Sheridan, David Carrie, Christi Caulfield, David Joyce, Tyson Price, Dean Mahon and Robert Warren

Ireland Ladies Yet to be confirmed

The PoolKnightShack has now changed venue to the Richmond Road. This venue is now open, breaking the way to various new competitions. One of these competitions a new 9 ball league.

For more information you can visit www.thepoolknightshack.info or contact David Poole by emailing

admin@thepoolknightshack.info or 087 2381202.

The PoolKnightShack has now changed venue to the Richmond Road. This venue is now open, breaking the way to various new competitions. One of these competitions a new Blackball 3Man Team Event.

For more information you can visit www.thepoolknightshack.info or contact David Poole by emailing

admin@thepoolknightshack.info or 087 2381202.

The Superleague Festival of Pool 2010 took place Friday the 21st of May in the Kettles Hotel, Lipsopple village, Swords, Dublin. Congratulations to the following:

    * Superleague Cup Winners - Under 23s  

    * Superleague 5-Man Team Winners -  Liffey Gaels Nuts  

    * Superleague Singles Winner - David Neary 

Martin and Betty have contributed more than 30 years to the game of pool. They have helped young kids come from beginner pool players to world champions, that is some achievement. The amount of work they do for pool is remarkable, from running pool academys in Ballymun for junior pool players to running seasoned pool tours for the Irish Blackball Association. Martin puts a huge amount of work and efford into the game on a national and international level. Jim McCabe presented Martin and Betty with the award and all of the players that have been part of Martin and Bettys success wish them all the best in the future and thank them for all they have done in the game.

Congratulations to the Premier League Winners "The 23s", Division 1 Winners "Club Ui Chaidain" and Division 2 Winners "Salmons Bar". The final league tables for Superleague 2009/2010 can be viewed http://www.irishpool.ie/superleague.htm.