Congratulations from the DBSL to Roadstone D on winning the 2023 DBSL League Cup. The Final took place Tuesday 2nd May at the Roadstone Snooker Club where Roadstone D came out victorious over runners-up NS Academy.

Roadstone D’s journey to the final saw them beat Willows B in the last 16, Glenalbyn B in the Quarter Finals, before moving on to beat Roadstone C in the Semi Finals.

NS Academy’s road to the final included wins over Roadstone B in the last 16, Pioneers Blacks in the Quarter Finals and finally Pool Knight Shack in the Semi Finals.

The final between Roadstone D and NS Academy match ups:
Table 1 – Philip McCaffrey v Chris Hannigan
Table 2 – Gavin Stokes v Dave Carton
Table 3 – Conor Harkin v Damir Catic
Table 4 – Justin Byrne v Brendan Murphy

NS began the match with an advantageous two frame handicap putting Roadstone D under pressure from the off. The close fought match on table 1 saw Philip McCaffrey playing solid and beating the in-form Chris Hannigan 2-1, while over on table 2 Gavin Stokes strong and unwavering performance was too much for Dave Carton on the night, with Gavin winning the game 3-0 and taking the overall match scores to 5-3 at the midway point.

The second half of the match began on table 3 with Conor Harkin against Damir Catic. Damir’s strong safety play kept him in control for most of the match and he came out the winner 2-1 over Conor, bringing the match to 6-5 in favour of Roadstone D. Meanwhile, Justin Byrne took on Brendan Murphy on table 4, in the final fixture on this exciting race to 8 frames. Roadstone D’s Justin put pressure on NS straight away winning the first frame. Brendan fought back in the second frame but Justin held strong and won that frame, bringing the overall score-line to 8-5 and taking his team to victory.

DBSL would also once again like to thanks Roadstone Snooker Club for their hospitality.

Winners: Roadstone D: Conor Gaffney, Justin Byrne, Philip McCaffrey (Capt), Conor Harkin, Gavin Stokes

DBSL would like to wish a huge congratulations to Ivor “The Wolf” Fitzpatrick on winning the new 2023 Dublin Individual Championships which was held over two days in Roadstone and Pioneers Snooker Club on the 15th/16th April 2023.

Ivor’s road to victory started Saturday morning with a solid win, in round 1, over Eric Pei, beating him 3-0, including a break of 86, before taking down Pioneers Pink’s Daniel Brcko 3-1 in the last 16. The quarter final on Sunday morning saw Ivor take another solid 3-0 win, this time over Pool Knight Shack’s Alan Byrne with a break of 70 along the way.
Ivor was in fine form heading into the Semi final meeting another Pioneers Pink Peter Conroy where the game drew level at 1-1 before Ivor grew stronger and took the match with a 3-1 in the end.

The final showdown saw Ivor take on the strong competitor Paul Dunne from Pool Knight Shack. Ivor was strong in the early part of the final getting off to a 2-0 lead before Paul Dunne took the third frame taking the match to 2-1. The fourth frame was a battle showing some decent tactical play from both players, but Ivor “The Wolf” Fitzpatrick finally secured the frame in the end winning the match 3-1.

Paul’s impressive run to the final began in the pre-lim rounds beating Sean King of Willow’s B 3-1, and Stephen Reddington of Roadstone E 3-1 in round 1, before eventually coming out victorious of Roadstone A’s Daniel Merrigan with a 3-2 win in the last 16. On Sunday morning Paul beat Stephen Byrne Snr of Pioneer’s Blacks 3-2 and Brendan Canavan of Roadstone C with a scoreline of 3-1.

DBSL would like to thank both Roadstone Snooker Club and Pioneers Snooker Club for hosting the event, including Niall Lawless, Mick Kearns, Brendan Murphy, Ivor Fitzpatrick, Kevin O’Brien and Stephen Merrigan for showing a great deal of hospitality to all the players throughout the event and a big thank you to Alan Byrne of Pool Knight Shack for refereeing the final.

DBSL would like to especially thank First Aid Systems Ltd for sponsoring the event which has hugely helped support this great tournament and Snooker growth in Dublin.

Winner and Runner-up: Ivor Fitzpatrick and Paul Dunne

Full details of the event below.

Draw

Event details
Venue: Roadstone and Pioneers
Entrance Fee: 20 Euro entry fee includes table charges
Format: All matches are best of 5
Handicaps: DBSL handicaps used
Time: 09.30am start
Dress code: Full Dress Code

DBSL would like to wish Roadstone D a huge congratulations on winning the 2023 Dublin Club Championships. The event was successfully held jointly between Roadstone Snooker Club and Pioneers Snooker Club.

At the Roadstone venue, Roadstone D qualified top of their group, and proceeded to the semi final stages along with group runners up, Roadstone A. Meanwhile, at the Pioneers venue the two home teams Pioneers A and Pioneers B fought hard to qualify group winners and runners up respectively.

The first semi final commenced at the Roadstone Venue where Roadstone D faced Pioneers B. Roadstone D got off to a great start with their captain Philip McCaffrey beating Pionners B captain Daniel McNamee, followed by victories from Gavin Stokes over Stephen Byrne SNR, and Conor Harkin over Fergal Hagen to take Roadstone D to the final.

The second semi final saw Roadstone A getting off to a good start with Philip Browne beating Joey Kenny, of Pioneers A, 2-0 with a barrage of heavy scoring. Pioneers A answered back quickly with Brian O’Rourke beating Daniel Merrigan 2-0 to level the match at 1-1. Pioneers A then took the match lead 2-1 when Kevin O’Brien marginally beat Ian Smith 2-1 in a decider, before all eyes turned to the final fixture between Brendan Thomas of Roadstone A and Pete Conroy of Pioneers A. This nail biting fixture went down to a tense decider with a relieved Pete Conroy eventually beating Brendan Thomas 2-1 on the blue, after Brendan had gotten the two snookers he required to stay in the match.

The final between Roadstone D and Pioneers A brought the following match ups:
Table 1 – Peter Conroy v Gavin Stokes
Table 2 – Joey Kenny v Conor Harkin
Table 3 – Kevin O’Brien v Shane Merrigan
Table 4 – Brian O’Rourke v Philip McCaffrey

Roadstone D once again got off to a strong start with Shane Merrigan beating Kevin O’Brien on table 3 and finishing strong with a 2-0 scoreline. Roadstones reliable and formidable captain Philip Mc Caffrey then took down Brian O’Rourke on table 4, with Brian going in off the pink in an unlucky fashion and losing the game 2-0. There was slight hope for Pioneers A when Joey Kenny beat Conor Harkin 2-1 on table 2, to take the match to an overall 2-1 scoreline. However, it proved not enough as Gavin Stokes was in total control on table 1 laying almost next to impossible snookers against Peter Conroy. Pete battled hard but Gavin saw the match through 2-0 to take his team to a well deserved victory.

The highest breaks on the day of 78 and 80 was compiled by Philip Browne of Roadstone A.

Winners: Gavin Stokes, Philip McCaffrey, Conor Harkin, Shane Merrigan

Finalists: Pioneers A and Roadstone D

Semi Finalists: Roadstone A

Semi Finalists: Pioneers B

Champions: Roadstone D