FORMER Irish International and Ulster No1. table tennis star Jack Cash is the new name on the Gerry Carson Memorial Cup.
His victory over Banbridge’s Roy Coard in a thrilling five set final was the climax to another successful two nights of table tennis with all proceeds going to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The action kicked off on December 19 with the subsidiary open singles, with the four semi-finalists progressing to the main event the following night.
In group 1, Jim Ritchie, still not match fit, found himself two sets down to the talented Polish national Marc Shotkeuitch before just managing to get home 11-9 in the fifth.
In the same group was Jonathan Deeny, playing in his first competitive competition, showed in all his games that another talent from this famous table tennis family dynasty is about to emerge.
Strangford’s Noel Breen, with a great track record in this competition, had club mate Mark Cullen, the improving Neil Reilly and Vincent Poland in his group, but the seasoned veteran showed the field a clean pair of heels and progressed in first place to the quarter-finals.
Adrian Brown was always too good for his running mates, going through in first place with Peter Doherty, who lost to team-mate Ray Ross, but who recovered to see off the rest of the competition to go through.
In the first quarter-final, Ritchie lost in four sets to Alan Cairns. Doherty went at Shotkeuitch like an express train and was rewarded with a straight set victory. Brown needed five sets to get home against Poland 12-10 in the game of the night.
The star-studded main event attracted record spectators .This is always a competition that holder Peter Clarke wants to win, but with Cash, Coard, Pickles and Dickson in the field he knew that it was going to be tough.
Cash headed up group 1 and came through without ping a set, leaving Alan Cairns, Peter Deeny and Joe McConville jostling for the runner-up spot. Deeny saw off the challenge of Cairns in four sets, and then needed to beat Joe McConville to progress.
The game was a classic five setter, but the Downpatrick man always just kept his nose in front and came home 11-5 to secure a quarter-final place.
In group 2, Breen found himself in the hardest group of the night, which included Roy Coard, Tom Donnelly, and Stevie Turkington, but this wiry campaigner rolled up his sleeves and produced another great performance.
Coard ped only one game on his way through, while Donnelly, unwell throughout his games, finished second. Breen and Turkington, with seemingly nothing to play for, toyed with each other with Breen winning in four games, only for Turkington to find out that Donnelly had retired and his loss to Noel had put his opponent through for a quarter-final place.
In group 3, Pickles and Dickson were favourites to progress, with Adrian Brown and Arnie Morgan needing two wins to go through, which in the end was beyond them, despite recording goods scores against top quality opponents.
The final group headed by Peter Clarke, included Jim Sterling, Jay McAllister and Peter Doherty.
Clarke wasted no time in disposing of his opponents in straight sets, with two wins needed by the three remaining players. McAllister seemed the most likely, and having beaten Doherty in straight sets, disposed of Sterling by a similar score for ensure his quarter-final place.
As the competition reached its conclusion, two matches in particular had stated to draw spectators attention.
On table one, Clarke and Dickson were locked in a tense battle for supremacy, while on table two, Peter Deeny and Roy Coard’s match was equally a point for point encounter.
In the middle of the fifth set it was clear that Clarke was in trouble, unable to get clear of Dickson whose forehand was on fire.
Clarke’s fighting instincts had now pushed him to match point before another Dickson forehand levelled the score, and two more sealed victory 12-10.
Deeny was matching Coard point for point until midway through the fifth when the Banbridge man found some daylight to push his advantage home 11-8.
The remaining matches went true to form. Breen covered himself in glory again, and resisted Cash the best he could before losing his straight sets. Pickles was equally impressive in his game against team-mate McAllister, and won in straight sets.
The first semi-final featured Coard and Dickson, and after another thrilling affair, Coard won the fifth 12-10.
The Cash/Pickles affair was mainly one-sided, and although these two usually produce close encounters, the Ards man came through in straight sets to contest the final.
While Coard had beaten Cash in a league match this season, he had just come through two hard five set games, while his opponent had a relatively easy passage to the final.
The first two sets were won fairly comfortably by Coard 7 and 9, carefully selecting forehand kills which Cash seemed unable to answer.
Cash decided that taking the initiative was the best way to get into this match, which brought him the third and fourth sets.
There was nothing the Banbridge man could do to stop the onslaught he was being subjected to in the fifth as the hard road to the final finally caught up with him as Cash ran out a comfortable winner.