Paddy McLoughlin (Warrenpoint) has won the 2012 Connaught Open in Enniskillen after beating Chris Leal (USA) in a tense and closely fought final.

Paddy had to make it through the ‘group of death’ in the round-robin first round after being drawn into the same group as Ronnie Boyle, Gareth Deegan and Nathan Todd. Despite arriving at the event after working all night, with no-sleep, and losing his first match, McLoughlin put up a fight and made sure he booked his place in the next round with some great performances.

Meanwhile, Chris Leal, who hails from Massachusetts, made a rusty start to his first Irelands 9-Ball Tour event. But he soon showed the skill that helped him win many a match in pro-events like the Joss NorthEast tour. In the quarter-finals he was 1-8 down against Tyrone’s Carl Martin, but in an amazing comeback, he won the match 9-8.

But the day was set to be Paddy’s. He overcame Chris’ challenge and sleep deprivation, to earn himself another title on Ireland’s number one tour.

Special thanks goes to Donaldsons Snooker Club, Enniskillen and to Ronnie Boyle, Tour-Director, Irelands 9-Ball Tour for a great event, with a lot of pool for everyone.

This annual 9-ball ranking tournament advertised on the Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour tournament diary to take place in Sligo has been changed to Donaldson’s Snooker Hall Enniskillen with full details listed below…………TIME-SLOTS WILL BE IN PLACE.

Tyrone’s Carl Martin is the current champion when he became the youngest player on Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour to win a official ranking tournament after the 14 year-old cueist was crowned Connaught Open 9-Ball Champion 12 months ago and will be looking to retain his title next Saturday 21st April…………..

Details of the 2012 CONNAUGHT OPEN 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS are as follows !!!!!!!!

NAME OF TOURNAMENT: Connaught Open 9-Ball Pool Championships

DATE: Saturday 21st April 2012

VENUE: Donaldson’s Snooker Hall, Sligo Road, Enniskillen

CLOSING DATE: Thursday 19th April 2012

TIME-SLOTS: time-slots will be given to all players who PRE-ENTERS by Thursday 19th April

ENTRY FEE: £20 or 25euros

FORMAT: straight knockout best 17 (race to 9) —— “HANDICAP EVENT”

DRESS-CODE: black trousers, polo or dress shirt, dress shoes

TEL: 07917887147 or from Rep of Ireland (0044) 7917887147

FACEBOOK: Send message through RB Cue Sports facebook page

WEBSITE: www.rballsports.com

BRIEF DETAILS:
Full tournament diary can be viewed by visiting the tours official website www.rballsports.com and clicking on the 9-ball link and then click on tournament diary…………..

All ranking points for each event will be rewarded from the ¼-finals onwards with each ranking tournament having 8 seeds for each tournament…….

Everyone is reminded that all entries must be pre-entered on or before the Thursday of each event (Thursday 19th April for this event)with this date also being the cut-off date for all tournament seeds………………….

If any player fails to wear the tournament “DRESS-CODE” he or she won’t be entitle to any prize-money or receive any ranking points……….

Pool legend Grady Mathews has passed away.

Grady Mathews (born January 3, 1943, San Antonio, Texas died April 18, 2012), also known as “The Professor”, was the first inductee into the One-Pocket Hall of Fame in 2004.

In addition to success at the table, he had been a technical advisor to movie producers, a regular commentator on pool matches taped by Accu-Stats Video Productions. In 1986, Mathews played the character “Dud” with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning film The Color of Money. He was also revered for his contributions to pocket billiards through his promotional activities and lessons.

Mathews worked tirelessly throughout his career to promote pocket billiards, particularly the game of one-pocket. He was the creator of the Legends of One-Pocket series, and gave fans of the game many other tournaments as well. In his prime Mathews was widely regarded as “the most feared one-pocket player in the world”. He also wrote a monthly instruction column for InsidePOOL Magazine and was a contributing writer to other pool periodicals such as Billiards Digest, 1984-1987, The Snap Magazine, 1989-1991, and The National Billiard News.

He survived his wife Randi, who died August 7, 2009. He lived in Columbia, South Carolina and managed his pool room, Grady’s Billiards. He is survived by two children, Marie and Grady IV.

Mathews continued to compete professionally, as well as putting on exhibitions, pool clinics, and private lessons throughout the United States until the he was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. Grady lost his 8 month battle to cancer April 18th, 2012.

There are some nice tributes to him from top pros on AZ http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?storynum=9951

Also, well done to two of the 9-Ball new comers Graham Murrin & Dave Moore. Both playing in their first 9-Ball Competition, qualified from the group stages with Graham reaching the last 8 and Dave going on to the Semi-Finals only to lose out to Paul Dunne.

Rankings after Event 1.

1 Shane Connor: 45pts
2 Paul Dunne: 35pts
3 David Poole: 25pts
4 Dave Moore: 19pts
5 Paul Tierney: 15pts
6 Graham Murrin: 10pts
7 Rafal Paluch: 10pts
8 Jack Li: 9pts
9 Elmir Brdar: 4pts
10 Jason Power: 3pts
11 Piotr Zukowski: 3pts
12 Conor Brady: 3pts
13 Patrick O’Rourke: 2pts
14 Christopher Clarke: 1pts

Next Event is on Saturday 12th of May.

Stephen went into the tournament as the current Ulster Open 9-Ball Champion with the Co. Antrim cueist reproducing the form from 12 months ago against top players throughout the day to win back to back Ulster Open 9-Ball Titles in superb fashion which seen him record victories over Shaun Ingram, Paul Corrigan, Daryl Beattie and Tyrone’s Ronnie Boyle in the final on 10-5 score-line.

Congratulations to Stephen on another brilliant performance, winning another prestigious title on Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour showing all his experience and skill that has won him many major titles over the years with all players having to raise there game if they want to compete with the Co. Antrim cueist in Ireland’s high profile 9-ball tournaments.

RESULTS FROM THE ¼-FINALS ARE AS FOLLOWS.

¼-FINALS:
Daryl Beattie 10-9 Mark McDonald
Stephen Johnson 10-6 Paul Corrigan
Ronnie Boyle 10-6 Gary Johnson
Sean Judge 10-9 Stephen Bennett

SEMI-FINALS:
Stephen Johnson 10-8 Daryl Beattie
Ronnie Boyle 10-5 Sean Judge

FINAL:
Stephen Johnson 10-5 Ronnie boyle

NEXT EVENT: ——-(Saturday 21st April 2012)
The next 9-ball ranking tournament organised by Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour will be the 2012 Connaught Open 9-Ball Championships played on Saturday 21st April 2011.

Team Ireland’s other player at the EPC was Irish No.1 Paddy McLoughlin. Despite showing flashes of brilliance, Paddy’s championships were dogged by a bad draws in every event, which meant he had to fight against former champions from the word go.  But the Warrenpoint man, showed that European competition is where he should be, and the highlight of his week was probably the match against former European Champion Ivica Putnik. The match was fairly even throughout, but when it went hill-hill, paddy play a great safety on the two-ball, practically guaranteeing the match. But the lucky Croatian played a heavy kick shot sending the two ball flying up and down the table twice, eventually sinking into a pocket. It kind of summed up Paddy’s event. On a different day, the results would have showed how good Paddy is on the European stage.

With two events down, and one to go, it looks like a great championships for Fred Dinsmore and Ireland.

Ireland’s other competitor at the European Championships, Paddy McLoughlin has had a harder time in Luxembourg. So far in his matches he’s been drawn against 5 former European Champions, including the likes of Marcus Chamat. But Irelands No.1 is still in the 9-Ball competition, the same one that he finished 9th in 2011. So there is still a few more games to be played in this one.

Meanwhile, Irish #1, Paddy McLoughlin showed good form in his 10-ball challenge, qualifying through to the Single-Elimination stage of the event. The Warrenpoint man wasn’t helped by a tough draw, which meant he was up against 2008 European Champion Marcus Chamat. The swede won the early morning match 8-3.

Both Irish players now have the 8-ball and 9-ball events in their sights.

The European Championships continues all next week.

Former World and European Champion, Fred Dinsmore, and All-Ireland winner Paddy McLoughlin will take to Europe’s top stage this week, in Luxembourg. Both players will be competing in 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball in their respective divisions.

With no recognised NGB in Ireland, both players had to qualify based on their previous track record at the European Championships, with Fred clocking up a dozen medals at the Europeans since 1999, and Paddy finishing 9th in last year’s European 9-Ball Championships.

You can follow all the action from the world’s top players, including our own, on the EPC website [http://www.irish9ball.com/?p=150

Paddy McLoughlin (Down) put on a fabulous display to be crowned 2012 All Ireland Open 10-Ball Champion on Sunday past (19th February) in the beautiful Belfry playing venue Sligo with the Co.Down cueist adding another prestigious title to his fantastic CV………….

Paddy also goes straight into number one on Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour official rankings for 2012 with ranking points rewarded from tournaments throughout the year involving all cue-sport categories of American 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball events……….

It is also great to see one of Ireland’s top 8-ball players Barry Hough (Mayo) making regular appearances by playing in events organised by Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour with the Co. Mayo player starting to leave his mark on the tour by reaching the semi-finals of the All Ireland 9-Ball Championships back in July 2011 and now reaching the final of the 2012 All Ireland Open 10-Ball Championships on the weekend past only to be defeated by the inform Paddy McLoughlin on a 10-5 score-line……….

Paddy wasn’t producing his top form in recent tour events over the last few years when the new handicap system was introduced on the tour which made it very difficult for the Co. Down cueist but after the weekends performance in the 2012 All Ireland Open 10-Ball Championships all players should watch out because the “GINGER MAGICIAN” is back better than ever…………

NEXT RANKING EVENT:
The next official ranking tournament organised by Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour will take place on Saturday 24th March played at Hustlers American Pool Club Belfast when the 2012 Ulster Open 9-Ball Pool Championships takes centre stage with Stephen Johnson (Lisburn) being the current champion when he defeated young Jordan Gorman (Belfast) in the final 12 months ago………for all entries and further information contact 07917887147 ………
Listed below are results from the last-16 onwards where the ranking points are rewarded at each ranking tour event.

LAST-16:
Coilean Massey 9-3 Daryl Beattie
Ronnie Boyle 9-6 Mickey Earley
Paddy McLoughlin 9-7 Carl Martin
Sean Judge 9-6 Shaun Ingram
Stephen Johnson 9-7 Brian Heraghty
Mark Mcdonald 9-4 Gareth Deegan
Paul Corrigan 9-4 Eddie Gahan
Barry Hough 9-5 Stephen Hope
NOTE: losers receive 1 ranking point

¼-FINALS:
Coilean Massey 9-6 Ronnie Boyle
Paddy McLoughlin 9-7 Sean Judge
Mark McDonald 9-5 Stephen Johnson
Barry Hough 9-5 Paul Corrigan
NOTE: losers receive 3 ranking points

SEMI-FINALS:
Paddy McLoughlin 9-2 Coilean Massey
Barry Hough 9-8 Mark McDonald
NOTE: losers receive 5 ranking points

FINAL:
Paddy McLoghlin (Down) 10-5 Barry Hough (Mayo)
NOTE: winner 12 ranking points —— runner-up 8 ranking points

PHOTO:
Westley McGowan representing the Belfry venue Sligo (tournament sponsors) presents Paddy McLoughlin (Down) with his prizes for being crowned 2012 All Ireland Open 10-Ball Pool Champion………

The 2012 season will see Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour moving into its 10th season this year with more ideas and events being introduced to the tour…..

The tour organisers would like take this opportunity by thanking “SIMONIS CLOTH” for their fantastic sponsorship and support to Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour which will help the tour promote all American Cue-Sport Games in Ireland to a new playing level throughout the 32 Counties………

One of the ideas that Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour will be introducing to its tour in conjunction with Q-Sports Academy Sports Club and “SIMONIS CLOTH” will be a TV Arena for live streaming of top quality matches such as Money Challenge Matches involving top players from throughout Ireland and overseas, finals of Major Ranking Events, Junior Events just to mention afew…………

“SIMONIS CLOTH” is the Global Leader in Cloth for Pool, Carom, Snooker & Pyramid manufacturing superior quality cloths since 1680……………

“SIMONIS CLOTH” ——- Website Link
Please visit “SIMONIS CLOTH” website by clicking on the link advertised on Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour official website www.rballsports.com

These fantastic highly rated tournaments are open to everyone throughout the 32 counties of Ireland north and south of the border with all events also open to overseas players who are willing to travel which sees the tour organisers trying to keep revamping all American cue-sport games in Ireland………..

Listed below is the tournament dates for 2012 with the organisers still working to secure the right venues to suit these Irish prestigious 9-ball events…………………NOTE: the organisers will be trying to secure venues in the four provinces for all named tournaments but failing to do so each tournament will still be going ahead under the name set in place but could be played in a different venue………

JANUARY: —– Saturday 21st:
All Ireland Under-21 9-Ball Championship —- (2011 event prefixed —— played in ENNISKILLEN)

FEBRUARY:——–Sunday 19th:
All Ireland 10-Ball Championships —— Sligo

MARCH: ——– Saturday 24th:
Ulster Open 9-Ball Championships —— Belfast

APRIL: ——– Saturday 21st:
Connaught Open 9-Ball Championships —— Sligo

MAY:
Tournament To Be Confirmed

JUNE: ——– 23rd:
Leinster Open 9-Ball Championships —— Letterkenny

JULY: ——– 28th:
All Ireland Open 9-Ball Championship —— Sligo
All Ireland Under-21 9-Ball Championship —— Sligo

AUGUST:
Tournament To Be Confirmed

SEPTEMBER: ——– 22nd:
Munster Open 9-Ball Championship —— Venue TBC

OCTOBER:
Tournament To Be Confirmed

NOVEMBER: ———– 24th:
Irish 9-Ball Masters —— Belfast

DECEMBER: ———– 8th:
All Ireland American 8-Ball Championships —— Letterkenny

SOME BRIEF DETAILS:
All tournaments will be played in a “HANDICAP SYSTEM” with each player receiving a playing handicap………….

All tournaments will carry ranking points with the following three tournaments having a open draw All Ireland 9-Ball Championships, All Ireland 10-Ball Championships and All Ireland American 8-Ball Championships………………all points will be rewarded from the ¼-finals onwards of each ranking event…….

Each ranking tournament will only have four seeded players for each tournament…….

All ranking tournaments will be played in a “GROUP” double elimination or round robin format if it’s suitable from the entries received at each tournament………………

All entry fees for each tournament will be £15 plus £5 registration or 25 euros (unless otherwise stated) which sees all entry fees paid out in prize-money with all registrations going towards the running and up keeping of the tour such as newspaper advertising, reports, results and photo’s, the setting up and the up keeping of a website, the organisers expenses and costs for the running of each tournament before and after the event, on the day of the tournament just to mention a few…….

PLAYERS:
These tournaments are open events to any player…………………..if it happens that any player or players don’t agree with the rules which is set in place by Ireland’s American 8 & 9 Ball Pool Tour, the organizers has the right to refuse any entry if need be………

WEBSITE / FACEBOOK:
A full tournament diary poster will be updated shortly along with all other information which can be viewed by clicking on the 9-ball link on the following website www.rballsports.com ……………up-to-date information will be also be advertised on RB Cue Sports page on facebook……………

TOURNAMENT ENTRY:
Everyone is reminded that all entries must be pre-entered on or before the Thursday of each event with this date also being the cut-off date for all tournament seeds…………………players could also have to qualify to get into group format if not entered inside the deadline……….

NON – APPEARANCE:
Any player who enters a tournament and doesn’t turn up will have to pay the entry fee for that tournament…………………NOTE: afew players entered tournaments last season including the All Ireland American 8-Ball Championships and didn’t show up so these players won’t get playing until outstanding entry fees are paid…………….

ENTRIES / INFORMATION:
For all entries and information contact any of the contact details listed below……

TEL: 07917887147 or from Rep of Ireland (0044) 7917887147

EMAIL: irelandsamericancuesports@yahoo.co.uk

WEBSITE: www.rballsports.com

FACEBOOK: RB Cue Sports

NOTE:
IF ANY PLAYER WANTS TO RECEIVE UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON IRELAND’S AMERICAN 8 & 9-BALL POOL TOUR CAN DO SO BY SENDING THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS AND IT WILL BE PUT ON THE TOURS MAILING LIST……………..

Mr. Judge also said, “The new Irish Professional Season will be strictly limited to 16 players as we want quality not quantity. It consists of 5 Pro Ranking events (Double Elimination with guaranteed tournament pay outs) which will then seed players for the Grand Final! We have also adopted a ‘Grand Slam’ initiative for any player that achieves 5 tournament wins in one season. All of our events will be supported with Trophies, guaranteed prize money and we are extremely pleased to announce official sponsors to our season.”

As a display of our intentions we are privileged and humbled to announce that McDermott Cue are to be the official cue sponsor of our tour. We have previously met Director of Cue King Promotions, Jason Lawrence who has shown huge interest in Irelands American Pool scene. So it has been a natural and mutual development process for us.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for McDermott Cue. Increasing the participation of billiards and driving the profitability of pool room operators is critical for the success of our industry,” said McDermott Cue Promotional Director Jayme Cernicka. “Providing players with superior products as the G-Core and I Shafts, with a perfect blend of performance, affordability and the newest technology available, are core values that McDermott Cue represents and is just one of the key benefits of this program.”

In addition, the APL’s official Marketing Team, Cue King Promotions has confirmed that EMERGEN-C will be our official sports drink. “This is really cool and exciting for our tour. All players be greeted with a cocktail reception at every event, to kick start their day. As well as being able to re-vitalise, re-charge their battery (so to speak) with this healthy balance diet of fruit enhanced vitamin C energy drink. I can see this being a hit with our players, especially towards the latter stages of gruelling tournament play.” explained Rachel Adams, Marketing Manager of CKP.

Unfortunately there was none on hand to speak on behalf of The APL and its business intentions. All we know is what is stated on their website:

The American Pool League: The APL is the first American Pool League system with a primary objective a managing players from around the world under one system. That system is to be always known as American Pool. A place where amateur players can enjoy playing all disciplines of American Pool, interact with top professional players, get tips, lessons, chat, qualify for pro events, and get on the right track to being the best pool player you can be! Whether you are the avid American Pool players or just a beginner, you’ll find the APL to be a fun and friendly environment where you can play American Pool, enjoy American Pool and also WIN CASH!

Ireland’s Professional Ranking Season is due to commence late August / early September 2011 and entries are filling up fast. For further information, please visit www.apluk.org

For further information on Prestigious Billiards Cues or high energy drinks please visit www.mcdermottcue.com and www.emergenc.com respectively.

Congratulations to Paddy McLoughlin who finished 9th in the European 10-Ball Championship in Brandenburg, Germany. This was Ireland’s best ever result in the men’s division, and followed up his 17th place in the 8-Ball.

Also representing Ireland in the Men’s Ten-Ball were Jason Power and David Poole, who both finished 65th.

Meanwhile an under the weather Fred Dinsmore found it tough going, finishing 5th in the in both 9-ball and 10-ball, in the Wheelchair division. But the Dubliner still takes home Ireland’s only medal of this years EPC, for his well deserved 3rd place in 8-ball.

Despite organisational problems in the Irish camp leading up the European Championships, there are a lot of positives the team can take away from the this year’s event. Jason Power from Waterford, competing in his first EPC, showed no fear against Europe’s best players, winning 5 matches across the disciplines. Fred Dinsmore consolidated his position as one of the world’s top players in the wheelchair division. And arguably the best performance of Team Ireland was by Paddy McLoughlin from Warrenpoint who showed he’s becoming a world class player. With the odd roll, we may well have seen a medal in the Men’s division, something which is more likely than ever in the coming years.

Sunday dawned with Jason continuing his good form with a win against Jo Graff (Lux) before being unstuck by Belgian Serge Das.

Meanwhile Paddy faced Aki Heiskanen to qualify for the last 32 but the Finnish player ran away with it 8-1.  But Paddy had one more chance.  He needed to win his ‘loser qualifer’ round match against French number one Vincent Facquet.  The Warrenpoint man dominated, taking it easily in the end 8-4, to set up a last-32 match against ‘The Kaiser’ Ralf Souquet.  The 3-time World Champion took a 5-0 lead, and it looked like it was all over for the young Irishman.  Someone forgot to tell Paddy and he dug in deep, winning 5 from the next 6 racks.  A great cut shot on the 8-ball by McLoughlin, made it hill-hill.  Paddy broke, made a ball, but the rack wasn’t straight forward.  Eventually Paddy needed to bank a stripe the length of the table, but the ball lacked the pace and left an easy clearance for the Kaiser.  Despite the defeat, it was a great performance and showed how much Ireland’s number one player has moved his game forward.

But the best was yet to come, with former World Champion Fred Dinsmore putting in a solid performance against British player Matt Duffy, 5-2, making it to the Semi-Final in the wheelchair division, guaranteeing an 11th European Championship medal in as many years for the Dubliner.

The semi-final of the 8-ball takes place on Monday, as well as the start of the 9-ball championships.

Jason Power from Waterford

Day 1 in the European Championships in Brandenburg, Germany saw the start of the 14.1 (Straight Pool) event.

Ireland number 1, Paddy Mcloughlin, took on World Straight Pool Champion Oliver Ortmann. In a spirited fight the ‘ginger magician’ from Warrenpoint scored 69 points against the German master before a couple of runs took Ortmann over the finish line.

Paddy’s next opponent was Zika Mihajlovski. A scrappy opening saw the Macedonian take an early 55-18 lead, but the magician fought back hard. In a tense, 3 hour marathon, Paddy prevailed and won 125-94.

Meanwhile, 2009 All Ireland Open 9-Ball Champion, Jason Power, playing in his first EPC, took on Sandor Tot. Tot, the former European 8-Ball Champion from Serbia created a 40 point advantage against Jason. But Tot didn’t have it all his own way and the pair traded blows back and forth, until a 50 ball run from the Serbian was enough to take the match from the young Irishman.

The losing side of the draw then found Jason matched against Belgian veteran Pascal Budo. The Waterford player started strong and kept his opponent under pressure for the entire match, never relinquishing the lead to notch up Ireland’s best win of the day (125-67).

Despite a strong opening day, Day 2 saw the two remaining Irish straight-pool players lose their matches and bow out of the 14.1 event. The men’s division cooked up many surprises with no german or dutch players on the podium for the first time in the event’s 30 year history. Tomasz Kaplan from Poland won the event, winning his country’s first ever European Championship by beating Italian maestro Fabio Petroni, 125-17. The Women’s division ran more to form, with Jasmin Ouschan winning her 13th European Gold Medal.

Wheelchair Champion Fred Dinsmore will start his EPC campaign in the 8-ball event Saturday.