NORTHERN IRELAND

Donnelly first ...

The first ranking tournament of the NIBA took place during October at St. Patrick's, Newtownwards. This ended with a win for No.1 seed Paddy Donnelly (scr) over the second seed Tony Buttimer (scr). The handicap formula produced lots of close finishes in the one-hour matches. Donnelly, in one of the early rounds, beat Sammy Currie (rec.40) by a few points with a 50+ break in the last few minutes. Jimmy Millar (rec.40) also won a thriller against Roy Lattimer (rec.40), both players producing some good billiards. Local player Hugh Quinn had a good competition just losing out in a close game to Tony Buttimer (scr) in the semi-final. The hospitality in St. Pats was excellent as usual and the generous monetary prizes were presented by the NI Team Manager Oliver McGuigan. Those present then went on for a night's entertainment in a local licensed premises.

Buttimer second ...

The second NIBA Ranking Tournament concluded at the Reading Rooms, Bangor, in November. Tony Buttimer came out on top after winning the best match of the quarter-finals by six points, despite his opponent Trevor Shields having a break of 119 (the highest in the competition) and others of 73, 56 and 42. Buttimer then went on to beat Colin Mylcreest in a ding-dong battle, Tony making breaks of 117, 52 and 63 unfinished. Mylcreest also played well, making a string of breaks over thirty. The prize money was presented by George Thompson on behalf of P.T.S. Amusements of Bangor. All players from the last eight received cash prizes ranging from £10 to £100 for the winner. The NIBA also received a cheque for £100 which was greatly appreciated. In the final against Paddy Donnelly, neither player produced their best form. Buttimer, starting with a 73 break managed to retain the lead all the way through the match to win 500-316.