By Roger Stephens

Cornwall County Pool Association Interleague Knockout Cup finals at Bodmin Q Bar – Sunday, July 7

NEW boys Orchard Week St Mary took on Redruth Renegades in a ‘Loser Round One’ first to ten contest. The newcomers went down 10-6 to the seasoned Redruth side.

In ‘Loser Round Two’ we had four teams battling it out.

Newcomers Hairy Potters lost 10-8 to Penwith B, which was followed by Orchard Week St Mary against East Cornwall.

This one went to the wire at 9-9 and East Cornwall won the three-frame shootout to go through 11-9.

Next up we had a ‘Winners Qualification Round’ where Mid Cornwall beat Ospreys after another three-frame shootout, 11-9.

Mid Cornwall then went on to convincingly triumph over East Cornwall 10-3.

In ‘Losers Round Three’, East Cornwall bounced back, beating Penwith B 10-5, only to lose in the semi-final to Ospreys 10-4.

This set up a final between the favourites, Mid Cornwall, and Ospreys. 

The final was best of 27 and Mid Cornwall lived up to their favourites tag, earning a convincing 14-7 success.

Thanks go to Alan Bartlett for this well-organised tournament.

Cornwall County Pool Association Interleague at Venue Sports Club, Liskeard – Friday, July 19

EAST Cornwall welcomed Redruth Renegades in this best of 36-frame contest, and earned a comfortable 22-14 success.

The hosts got off to a flying start taking the first three frames courtesy of wins for Rob Cowling, Darren Hooper and captain Luke Penhaligon over Barry Mitchell, David Durnan and Chris Mason.

The next six frames were shared with Darrell Hidson and Brian ‘Reedy’ Reed winning two of East Cornwall’s frames for a 6-3 lead.

The second set of nine saw East Cornwall again get away to a good start as Cowling and Hooper beat Shaun Buckingham and Barry Mitchell.

The visitors put up some resistance, taking the three out of four of next frames with only Ollie Rounsevell taking a point for the home side.

At 3-3 and the set in balance, East Cornwall came storming back taking the last three frames as Reed, Gerry Markwell and Mark Stevens secured the second set in the bag for the home team.

The third set was a much closer affair with the visitors fiercely contesting it.

Cowling lost his first frame of the night to Chris Mason before Hooper pulled it back against Shaun Buckingham.

This was becoming a see-saw set as Barry Mitchell beat Penhaligon only for Rounsevell and Hidson to defeat Durnan and Nathan Mitchell thus taking the home side into the lead 3-2 at the halfway stage of set three.

Renegades’ Josh Strick beat Eastley to level things up, but a brace from Reed and Markwell clinched the set by winning their frames against Michael Mills and Ryan Grimwood, despite Paul Murphy’s last frame victory over Stevens.

With the overall match score at 17-10 to East Cornwall, it was looking odds on a match win for the hosts, and sure enough they took the first two frames needed in the fourth set when Cowling and Hooper did the business against Durnan and Mason.

But Redruth fought all the way to the wire as Buckingham took out Penhaligon in next frame Rounsevell pulled one back beating Barry Mitchell.

The Renegades refused to buckle with Murphy and Mitchell getting the wins against Hidson and Eastley, but East Cornwall came back with a brace of their own when Reed and Markwell beat Strick and Mills respectively.

Although Grimwood won the last frame of the night for the visitors when beating Stevens 5-4, it was the home club’s night as they moved up to second in the table.