April 4, 2001 wasn't a night to remember for North West, long-time champions of the Donegal Snooker League. With two games to go in the current campaign, the Letterkenny men needed only a draw in Donegal Town to ensure that the League Trophy would remain on John Doherty's well-filled honours shelf. CYMS of Letterkenny needed Donegal to do them a big favour and the southerners obliged in a fantastic night's entertainment watched by a goodly gallery. Oliver Plunkett will hope that his upcoming wedding will go as well as did his two frames with Gerry McKeever. The Donegal man potted fluently and accurately to take both frames. Tom Plunkett then outlasted Gerry McCluskey in a titanic battle littered with poor shots and nervy cueing. North West were in trouble although Joe Devine was potting well and a break of 49 in the first frame of his match with Michael Neary boded well. But the ace golfer is not yet a spent force on the green baize and he responded magnificently to level the match and set up a thrilling final frame. Joe started the better of the two but Michael rallied and in a shot which summed up North West's luck on the night, Michael fluked the pink to complete a remarkable comeback. Three down and with only pride to play for, the ever-consistent Pat Bonner triumphed two-one over Charles Murphy in the final match of the night. It was a famous victory for the Donegal club and set the locals wondering about what might have been had Donegal not drawn so many matches during the campaign. Having only one defeat to their name, Donegal will be hoping to build on this next season.

New leaders CYMS defeated Twin Towns B without dropping a frame. Phelim McClafferty, Chris Gibbons, Anthony Duffy and Paddy McGroarty were in awesome form with Anthony hammering in a 50 break, Chris knocking in a 32 and Phelim enjoying runs of 30 and 35. They know that Donegal will battle as hard this week as last, so Donegal Town Snooker Club will be the place to be this Wednesday for what should be a memorable and thrilling finish to the season.

The other outstanding issue which has interested snooker observers is the identity of the team which will finish fourth and thus capture a Top Four Cup place. Last week, Killea were the favourites to win through but first they had to defeat Convoy B in Convoy. In a most disappointing night for the visitors, Convoy B did their A team counterparts a massive favour by holding Killea to a draw. Robert Brown and Gerard Lennon won for Killea but Paul Lynch and Gavin Toner responded magnificently to surely scupper Killea's hopes of finishing fourth. That honour will probably be gained by Convoy A who lead Killea by one point, with a visit to bottom-club Ramelton B their final match. Killea will travel to Twin Towns B but can't be too optimistic about their chances of overhauling Convoy A.

Ramelton A finished their league campaign last week on a disappointing note, losing at home to North West B. Michael O'Hara, Johnny Connors and Richard Gerrity won for the visitors while Philip Friel finished his season with a hard-earned win over Gerard Duffy.

The final match saw Twin Towns A defeat Ramelton B 4-0 in Ballybofey. Jack McGranaghan and youngsters Simon Connolly, Daniel O'Brien and Jason Browne were most impressive in a comprehensive victory.

The penultimate league table reads as follows...1st CYMS 48 ; 2nd North West A 47 ; 3rd Donegal 42 ; 4th Convoy A 31 ; 5th Killea 30 ; 6th North West B 26 ; 7th Ramelton A 22 ; 8th Twin Towns A 19 ; 9th Convoy B 14 ; 10th Twin Towns B 11 ; 11th Ramelton B 2 .

Chris Gibbons will win the Player of the Year award should he avoid defeat in his final match in Donegal. Should he lose 2-0, Phelim McClafferty will win the title should he win 2-0 in Donegal. Should Chris lose 2-1 and Phelim win 2-0, the title will be shared as their frame difference will be identical. Should Chris lose 2-1 and Phelim win 2-1, Chris will win the title. Only a teacher would enjoy such permutations! Said anorak lies in third place, a win behind Phelim. His decision to drop himself for the first two matches of the campaign scuppered any chance he might have had to retain his Player of the Year title. Gerry McKeever is in fourth place, also on 16 wins. Robert Brown of Killea has 15 victories to his credit and is undoubtedly Killea's strongman.

The County Donegal League were in Galway last weekend trying to qualify for the All-Ireland Championships. The team consisted of County Champion 2000 Anthony Bonnar; last year's Irish No. 18 Pat Bonnar; leading Intermediate player and Connacht Under-16 champion Johnny Connors; leading Donegal League Player of the Year and County Under-21 champion Chris Gibbons; 1999 County Champion Phelim McClafferty; and last, but by no means least, sometime comedian and sartorially elegant Gerry McKeever...he has also one of the finest records of any player in past All-Ireland Championships. Full details of their efforts will appear next week.

Finally, we all wish Dan McLaughlin of CYMS a speedy recovery after his recent hospitalisation.