North West B did the rest of the league a mighty favour last week when they became the first team to defeat their A team this season. What looked like a procession to yet another title has now taken a twist. The winning B side have been seriously boosted by the presence of former County Championship finalist Paul Doherty and he secured a fine victory over in-form Gerry McCloskey. Gerard McKeever gave the league leaders hope by beating John Doherty two nil (compiling a 59 break en route) but by then they were two down thanks to the superb form of Michael O'Hara who included a break of 61 in defeating Bernard McGuinness. It was left to young Johnny Connors to finish the job and he didn't disappoint, celebrating his international call-up with a solid two-nil win over Joe Devine.
CYMS closed the gap at the top to just two points with a fine three one win in Killea. The key match here was between Robert Brown and Phelim McClafferty, both at the top of the Player of the Year stats. Phelim triumphed two nil and Paddy McGroarty increased the captain's pleasure by replicating that scoreline in defeating Gerard Lennon. Chris Gibbons is currently the winningest player (as the Americans say) in the league and he isn't in the business of even dropping frames. His good form continued with a two-nil win over Shane Grant. Three down, Killea were heading for a whitewash but Brian Woodrow saved their blushes by pulling out a hard-fought victory over Anthony Duffy.
Fourth-placed Convoy A took advantage of Killea's discomfort by beating their B team three one. Willie Breen outgunned Andrew Doherty two one, Darren Ponsonby did the same to Chris Devenney while Justin Lynch hung Paul Lynch out to dry (if one can forgive the awful pun) in winning two nil. Gavin Toner ensured that the B side would get something out of the game by defeating John Lynch two nil.
The two Rameltons also clashed and the A side emerged triumphant by three matches to one. Philip Friel defeated Johnny Duffy two one, while Kieran Murray and Mark Friel both achieved two-nil wins over Francis McFadden and Francis Murray respectively. Peter Friel avoided the whitewash by defeating Chris Murray two nil.
Twin Towns A defeated their B team four nil with Simon Connolly, Jack McGranaghan, Jason Brown and Daniel O'Brien triumphing.
As stated previously, Chris Gibbons leads the Player of the Year rankings closely followed by Gerry McKeever, also on ten wins. Robert Brown lies just behind Phelim McClafferty with nine wins apiece. The top two will make the County Team in May.
More details on snooker activity in Donegal can be found on Donegal Town's website. Just search for "Donegal Snooker". Tom Plunkett would like information on each club in the county, especially its history and he will then add that club's details to the website. His e-mail address is tomplunkett@eircom.net.