NORTHERN Ireland champion and number one Robbie McGuigan has stamped his dominance on the local scene early in the season with two tournament wins already.
The Antrim man, who has been given a wild card to play in the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast later in the month, beat Derry’s Stephen Brady 5-0 in Wednesday’s final of the Three C’s Classic in Limavady, the first senior ranking event on the 2023-24 calendar.
That followed up his success in the opening U21 event of the season at the QEII in Carrickfergus earlier in the month.
The final was a one-sided affair but there was no shortage of close encounters and fine break-building throughout the event.
Ninety-four players had been in the field initially, with four qualifying from each of the first two days’ play.
McGuigan was joined by Anto Heaney, Alistair Wilson and Robert McCullough from the top half of the draw, with Declan Hughes, Declan Lavery and Gregory Cooke joining Brady to make up the quarter-final line-up.
Hughes and Wilson joined Brady and McGuigan in the last four, with Brady’s quarter-final against Antrim man Lavery the pick of the matches.
Lavery responded to Brady’s runs of 120 and 55 with breaks of 87 and 52 to force a decider, but the Derry man got over the line.
McGuigan had to come from 2-0 down to beat Paul Sweeney 3-2 in the last 32, but from there he had things much easier, dropping just two frames in his last four matches
In his quarter-final against McCullough, breaks of 67 and 53 helped him to a 4-0 win, and he had a similarly smooth passage into the final against Wilson, winning 4-1 with runs of 79, 61 and 56.
A break of 80 was the highlight of Brady’s semi-final win over Craigavon man Hughes.
Meanwhile, at the U21 ranking event in Carrickfergus, McGuigan took the scalp of his closest rival in the underage ranks, 15-year-old Joel Connolly, in the final, winning 3-1.
He had been more impressive in his semi-final win over Ryan Marcus, runs of 135, 85 and 54 helping him to a 3-1 win.
Connolly, who has also been given a wild card for the Northern Ireland Open, had lost one of his matches in the group stages, against host club player Zak Sheldon, but he gained revenge in emphatic fashion with a 3-0 semi-final win.
A field of 17 took part, with a group format reducing that to eight for the knock-out stages.
Thirteen-year-old Riley Patterson, also from the host club, reached the quarter-finals in his first-ever junior ranking event thanks to wins over Conor Doran and Jake Quinn.
Shea McConville (14) also emerged from his group after wins over Joel Quinn and Conor Murphy, but he bowed out to Sheldon in the last eight.
Conor Kelly and Jamie Gardiner were also group-toppers but were second best in their respective quarter-finals against Connolly and Marcus.
Organisers of the event wish to thank Gee Crawley of Car Repairs Bodyshop NI for sponsoring the tournament.
Senior ranking event two will be the Antrim Open at the Antrim Sports Club, which will be played between October 7 and 15, while the attention on the juniors scene turns to the first ranking events for the U16s and U18s this Sunday at Potters, Coleraine.
