Doran leads Drumaness Heads to whitewash win and close gap on Allstars

Doran leads Drumaness Heads to whitewash win and close gap on Allstars

12 March 2025

DRUMANESS HEADS........................6 

DRUMANESS POTTERS....................0

DRUMANESS Heads, led by NI champion Darren Dornan, stunned Drumaness Potters with a 6-0 demolition, moving to third place and closing the gap on league leaders Drumaness Allstars to just two points.

Darren got the ball rolling for the Heads, easing to a 2-0 victory over Ethan Hanna. 

Having won 20 frames in the league so far this season, the Heads’ star leads the pack for player of the year, with only five matches remaining. 

Steven Madine regained form with back-to-back wins, after going three weeks without a victory. 

He fought hard to get over the line in both frames against Des Sweeney, who can count himself unlucky to not get a point out of the match. 

Individual champion Ryan Dornan looks to be coming out of his slump in form as well, handing Michael Philips a 2-0 defeat. 

Ryan had to rely on the black to shade the first frame, but had it all his own way as he secured all six points for the Heads in frame two.

DRUMANESS FIFTHS........................2

ST MARY’S A.....................................4

ST Mary’s travelled to Drumaness and managed to come home with a share of the spoils and find themselves just seven points adrift of the top spot.

Seamus McGivern and Colly Hughes shared two very close frames to get proceedings off to an entertaining start. 

Hughes took the first frame 59-39 and the second was also going his way, but an in-off on the final pink allowed McGivern to pot pink and black for a black ball re-spot. 

After a tense safety battle, McGivern found the middle pocket with the black, levelling the scores at 1-1. 

Meanwhile, on the other table, Mark Magoran and Owen Maguire were locking heads. Magoran got off to a good start, taking an early lead, and Maguire was unable to recover as he conceded the first frame. 

The second frame was much closer and, as it came down to the final colours, Maguire took yellow, green and brown to level the scores at 2-2. 

Colin Patterson was up against Gerard Travers in the final match, having only suffered one league defeat this season, and was in a positive mood to extend his winning streak.

However, it was Travers who got off to the better start, protecting his early lead and pocketing the first frame. 

Patterson started the second frame in style, knocking in an early break of 30 and putting the pressure on Travers.

Travers stuck to his game plan, but needed the last three reds and all of the colours to steal the frame. 

As the balls fell into favourable positions, Travers took his chance and bagged the frame  on the black, sealing determined win for his side.

DRUMANESS ALLSTARS..................3

CROSSGAR.........................................3

CROSSGAR threw form out the window when they held league leaders Drumaness Allstars to a draw on their own patch Brian Gordon got the better of Brendan Coiley in the opener, using the handicap to his advantage and potting some great balls in a deserved 2-0 victory.

Eamon Ferris pulled a frame back for the Allstars, recording a break of 42 to draw first blood against Robert Pollock. 

As their second frame progressed, Robert maintained a small margin and, with just the pink and black remaining, 

miraculously doubled both balls to take the frame and give Crossgar a shock 3-1 lead.

Michael Pollock will be kicking himself after he let two great chances slip to win both frames from Paul Lyndsay. 

Lyndsay capitalised in style, producing two great clearances levelling the scoring at 3-3. 

On reflection, this match could easily have resulted in a 5-1 victory for Crossgar, but it just was not meant to be. 

The Allstars remain top of the table by the skin of their teeth, holding a gap of just one point.

ST MARY’S B.....................................2  

DARRAGH CROSS..............................4

A SOLID away win keeps Darragh Cross in fourth position, while St Mary’s B prop up the lower end of the table. 

Daryl McLaughlin and Fra Cochrane shared the opening two frames and the two sides had to wait for a breakthrough, with Charle Murray and Johnny McQuade splitting the next two frames and levelling the scoring at 2-2. 

Finbar McLaughlin made light work of Paul Travers in their first frame, pushing the visitors in front at 3-2. 

Travers was being totally outplayed in the final frame and despite only conceding five reds, decided to concede the point and hand victory to Darragh Cross.

 Ballykinlar had a bye this week.