The Snooker Presentation Night will be held at the Churchtown Con Club, Thursday the 23rd of May, the Marshall Handicap final being played before the presenting of the cups and trophies. That final will start at 7:30pm

Individual and Team Cup Competitions...
With just the Individual Cup and Team Competitions left to play out for the 2024 season now. I will keep this page updated with all news about the semi-finals and finals, with the dates and venues where they will all be played at as well.

The James Yates 1st Division Final
Date: Wednesday 15th of May, venue Churchtown Cons, start time 7:15pm, best of 5 frames
Gareth Hibbott, Fleetwood Hesketh v John Rimmer, Southport Cons

Rickerby Cup Final
Date: Thursday 16th May, venue Southport Cons, 8:00pm start
Southport Cons B v Southport Cons C

The Birch Handicapped Pairs semi-finals & finals
Date: Monday 20th of May, venue tbc, 7:15pm start
Saul Kemp & John Melvin, Birkdale Cons v Dave Palmer & Russ Thornley, S & B cc
Gareth Hibbott & Mike Roberts, Fleetwood Hesketh v Trevor Ford & David Quinn, Churchtown Cons

Marshall Handicap Open Final
Date: Thursday 23rd May, Churchtown Cons, 7:30pm
Martin Brown, Fleetwood Hesketh v Gareth Hibbott, Fleetwood Hesketh

Cup Final results...

The Frank Lodge Final
Congratulations must go to the Churchtown Cons B team who fought back form a near impossible position to snatch the Frank Lodge title away from the Birkdale Cons B team, securing the title on the final pink ball of the night…!! Facing a huge 108 point deficit going in the last pairings, George Wright and stand in Captain for the night Gary Hudson pulled off a quite extraordinary result, to the amazement of their fellow team mates, the despair of the Birkdale Lads.

The opening two frames got off to a bit of a luke warm start, players from both sides struggling to find any form at all in the early stages. John Stringfellow and Paul Connor were locked for most of their frame until John went in off after potting the second to last red handing the advantage over to Paul Connor who took the frame 69-37 in the end. John ‘Basher’ Barton smashed and walloped his way to a healthy 25 point lead over poor David Robinson who just couldn’t pot a thing early on. But Basher’s aim started to lose its way as the frame progressed, David fighting back admirably only to go in-off the final black, losing out 38-42, which was hard to take for the Birkdale man.

The middle pairings saw a definite swing to the Birkdale Boys, the pressure building up, and missed pots seaming to play havoc with the nerves of players on both sides. John Warnick and Colin Tennant played out a scrappy frame, John managing to pull away and take it 61-38, the 24 point advantage helped by potting most of the final colours. That 24 point advantage was then extended as Reg ‘The Rocket’ Dobson beat Mark Kitchen 57-20, knocking in some superb full length of the table shots, enjoying a slice of luck on the way it must be said, but, hey, it all helps out as they say.

The situation was that Birkdale could try and defend a 108 point lead if they could, or go for it and stop Churchtown from scoring. With Churchtown probably having to gamble and force the pace to get back in to it. How the frames eventually panned out was probably not what everyone watching on could have imagined.

The start of the frame between Phil Green and George Wright saw both players missing good opportunities to put pressure on their opponent, none more than George who looked like he was playing with a broom handle than a snooker cue. How he got out to a 20 point lead early on is anyone’s guess, but eventually he found some form. A really nicely taken break of 24 seemed to kick start the memory bank, and after that he cruised his way to a final 76-20 win, the four pots made to make the 22 break clearance was a joy to watch.

As George was finally starting to find his feet, Gary Hudson was already over 40 points up on Geoff Tyas, the bit right between his teeth, nothing safe and looking likely to get the 108 point deficit back on his own. But an in-off here, missed pot there, Gary started to feel the pressure. So, when George potted the final blue in his frame towards dishing up, it put Churchtown 3 points ahead on the aggregate, with Gary still having all the colours left on the table…!! With this in mind, the watchers on were now getting very much involved, the number crunching started and the nerves starting to get shredded. It was all going off…!!

It meant that each and every pot that either Geoff or Gary made was hugely important as to who could go on to claim the Lodge title, with Geoff having a couple of attempts himself on the final four colours to pull it back towards a Birkdale’s win. Gary, however just needing a couple of good pots to send it Churchtown’s way. It was nicely balanced. With just the 18 left on the table, a three ball clearance from Geoff would see Birkdale take it by a single point, leaving Churchtown short in their huge attempted comeback. Geoff sunk the final blue with the rest but let the white run in to an area of the table that was too far in to reach for comfort, and an awkward shot to play with the rest. His attempt missed, it would be his last chance.

Step forward Gary Hudson who would make the final and most important pot of the night when clipping in a tough-ish pink to the yellow pocket with the rest to ensure that it would be the Churchtown lads who would come out triumphant in the end, and the 2024 Frank Lodge winners…!!

A great night had by all, though the Birkdale players might not share that view, credit going to the resilience that the final pair from Churchtown showed, who never gave up in their efforts to get back that huge 108 start. Superb stuff indeed…!!

The Lucas Open final
Fleetwood Hesketh’s Gareth Hibbott claimed his 22nd Lucas Open title, seventh on the trot, after he beat Trevor Wetton 4-0 in the final, dazzling once again with two majestic century breaks for good measure. The Marshside Maestro was in superb form after settling the first frame off with a break of 33 to break the ice and go one nil to the good. This only seemed to spur him on to greater things, and greater they were, as he picked off the reds one by one to see himself hit the century mark of 102 with one red left on the table, all of the colours aligned up bar the black. The missed red in trying to get on the final red ball may have been his undoing now, but bigger and better things were to come later.

The third frame followed the theme of the previous two frames, Trevor playing mostly from the baulk cushion as he had done all night, the splinters from the baulk rail causing him more pain than not being able to pot a ball. When Trevor did get his hand on the table, he just couldn’t find any rhythm or flow to his game, breaking down almost straight away. This was no more highlighted in this frame when he played and missed on a few safety shots only to eventually fluke a red, land on a colour but missed his next shot. That just meant Gareth was in amongst the balls, reds not ideal, but a path laid out before him. With just the four reds left, Gareth noticeably checked the score, saw the total left and went for the flat 100 break still left on. It surprised us all when he broke down on 65 having missed the last red with all the colours located on their spots. Don’t worry, he’s be back…!!

The fourth, and what would prove to be the last frame on the night, was magically taken by Gareth who, once in amongst the reds plied his craft, skill and touch to create a wonderful exhibition of break building. As Gareth got the high colours out in to the open, available to all pockets, his arm did the rest culminating in a wonderful clearance of 123 made from taking the final 13 reds and colours, to see him record his 9th century break this season…!!

Well played to Gareth, his appetite for winning and entertaining are equally admirable, and whose records may never be beaten if his eyes last that is…!! For those of us who enjoy watching him play this wonderful game of ours, long may he reign…!!

The JJ Birch, 2nd Division final
Andy Linaker of Scarisbrick D beat Stan Hughes, who plays for Scarisbrick E, 2-0 in the JJ Birch final held at Tarleton Bowling club recently.
The Bullen Lane lads played out a somewhat cautious opening frame, safety dominating the early exchanges, until the frame opened up with a few reds left on. Stan, who was giving 15 start to Andy managed to close the gap down to a single point with just the final red left on and was probably favourite to go on and take the opening frame. But Andy took the final red with a blue and the next four colours to leave him 21 ahead with just the pink and black left on. Try as he did Stan just couldn’t get the snookers he required, Andy taking the opening frame 63-42.

The second frame got away from Stan early on, not that Andy potted everything, he just chipped in with the odd red and colour combo, it was that Stan just couldn’t seem to pot a colour, any colour after sinking a red missing a couple of big shots on the blue twice and a couple each on the pink and black. Andy took his time and eventually killed the game off 60-19, Stan unable to make any inroads to the lead Andy had built.
A good match up, played in very good spirits, Andy a deserved winner in the end.

The Seniors Cup final
Having lost out to Ian Tinsley in the 2022 Seniors Final, Reg ‘The Rocket’ Dobson took the 2024 Seniors title after beating Churchtown’s Mick Coxon 2-0 in the final held at The Old Golf Links last week.

The opening frame took a while to get going, both players maybe suffering from cup final nerves before Reg started to pull away aided by his 28 handicap from the start. Mick now faced a deficit of 48 points before he landed his first pot but got it back to be 46 behind with 51 on, then 33 with all the colours left on. But try as he might, he just couldn’t get Reg in any danger in regards to drawing a foul from him, Reg taking the opening frame 65-29 after sinking the final brown.

The 2nd frame saw Mick play with a little more freedom, trying to force his way back in to the match, and he did playing some good snooker and potting some crucial balls. Only 9 back and all of the colours left on, Mick probably fancied levelling things up, but with some bad shots, missed pots Reg began to pick the colours off one by one. Mick, now needing one snooker with just the pink and black balls left on couldn’t have been given a better chance when Reg missed the pink completely to hand the required foul points over to Mick. Game on. But a few shots later Mick left the pink right over the middle home for Reg to sink and take it 2-0.

For Reg, absolute delight at claiming his first Individual Cup competition. For Mick, he would have rather played the 9 holes on the green turf than the 6 holes on the green baize at the time…!!

The Atherton, 3rd Division Final
Another final to feature two players from not only the same club, but same team, as Andrei Le Roi beat fellow teammate Kyle Cheezey Prescott 2-0 in the Atherton Cup final.

In only his first full season playing in the Southport Snooker League Andrei has played himself in to the history of the Atherton Cup, the 48th new name on the cup in it’s 56 year of it’s playing. The opening frame got off to a somewhat predictable cagey start, both players showing more than a bit of respect for each other. The frame eventually coming down to a wonderful cut back on the final blue to clot home the pink into the middle, taking it 54-46 in the end.
To be fair, and we all need it, Andrei had Lady Luck on his side for bits of the 2nd frame, leaving Kyle with either no or very tough shots to play after bad or missed pots. But Kyle dug in, got back into the frame with another close call frame looking likely to be settled on the final colours. That indeed played out, Andrei sinking the final black in to the middle pocket to take it 62-43 and so with it the 3rd Division title for 2024. Well played sir…

All the best, keep smiling and enjoy your snooker

Chris Gill

Gen Sec