Second time lucky for St Michael’s in Breen Cup decider

23 March 2016

THE final of the famous Breen Cup, donated by the Breen family 60 years ago, was played out in the St Michael’s clubrooms last Sunday night between St Michael’s and Crossgar.

Receiving 170 points on handicap and having come through a dramatic play-off in the semi-final, the St Michael’s team started as slight favourites.

When the match pairings were completed, Gareth McKeever was drawn against John Weston, Bobby Douglas against Kenny Campbell and Michael O’Donnell against Robert Pollock.

McKeever and Weston broke off and the Crossgar man was soon into his stride with a 24 break on his second visit.

McKeever got his first points on the board too, but when Weston added further 20 and 24 breaks in quick succession, there was only going to be one outcome.

With Weston scoring regularly and well into the second hundred, McKeever’s potting ability kept yielding minor scores as he edged towards the 70 points required for a personal handicap win.

Weston added a further 20 break and a nice 32 as he eventually ran out the winner by 200 points to 85, albeit a pleasing 15 point handicap win for Gareth.

On the other table the Douglas/Campbell encounter was a slow starter. Neither player was at their best, but Douglas was keeping in front as he built up a 22 points lead in the early stages at 88 to 66.

A 25 break took Campbell into the lead for the first time at 91 to 66, but the fluency evident in the semi-final was missing.

Douglas came back with a 23 of his own to take the lead again at 131 to 114, but Campbell finally found some form to register further breaks of 23 and 33, as he crossed the finishing line at 200 to 140.

This result was a disappointment for Campbell and the Crossgar faithful, given that it was a 55 point handicap reverse.

The combined results from the first two matches left Michael O’Donnell only five points behind going into the last against Robert Pollock.

On paper this looked like a formality for the St Michael’s man, but it didn’t quite work out that way as some early missed opportunities seemed to unsettle him.

Pollock tried to capitalise, but couldn’t build up any momentum and there was only ever a few points separating the players as each broke into the second hundred.

A 22 break by Pollock was quickly matched by O’Donnell as he took the lead going into the final quarter. At 144 to 139 in O’Donnell’s favour, the teams were effectively all square at 384 points apiece.

Pollock tried in vain to exert some late pressure on proceedings, but O’Donnell kept his nerve at the death to win out at 200 to 172, giving his team

victory by a narrow 23 point margin.

League treasurer Pollock, having been custodian of the famous trophy for the last year, presented it to Bobby Douglas and congratulated him on his team’s win.

Bobby accepted the cup and commiserated with Crossgar on losing the final. He thanked all those in attendance, particularly the Newtownards team players from St Patrick’s and Queen’s Hall for refereeing the matches.

ST MICHAEL’S A 440

CROSSGAR 417

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