Williams rounds off his impressive domestic season to win the inaugural Irish Masters Title. Newell secures automatic promotion and the Herbert Corbally cup by winning division two.
The final day of the Irish Masters had arrived and there was everything still to play for. Patsy Fitzgerald, Simon Williams, Ed Cunningham and Andrew Johnston were all still in the hunt for the Division one title. Meanwhile Nathaniel Healy, Conor Broderick and Michael O'Shaughnessy would spend the day battling to maintain their status in the top flight of this event. Michael O'Shaughnessy finished up a frustrating season with a 2 - 0 loss to Gerard Healy and was automatically relegated from division 1 after finishing 8th in the table.
Evan Newell had completed all his games and only lost one match and hence won division two outright and would be playing in the top division next year. However Russell Harris and Kieran Murphy had finished second and third respectively in division 2 and earned the right to a playoff against Nathaniel Healy and Conor Broderick, 7th and 8th respectively in Division one. These play off matches were best of three games and Nathaniel put together two impressive triple peels to win 2 - 0 against Kieran. Conor and Russell had a tight battle that went down to the wire, Conor just got over the line to secure his place in the top division next year with a 2 - 1 victory.
In the main event for the Cyril Corbally cup, Andrew Johnston had to beat Patsy Fitzgerald to have any chance of making the final and duly he won 2 - 0. It now all came down to outcome of Simon and Ed who had descended into and uncharacteristic battle of mental ability as opposed to skill and they each had to try and grind out a victory. Simon held his nerve and won the match 2 - 1 and thus confirmed his place in a repeat of the Irish Open semi final a few weeks previous against Andrew Johnston.
The final turned out to be a masterful display from the man who has dominated the sport in Ireland in 2008. The first game was won with a 4th turn quadruple peel followed by a 6th turn triple peel. Later in the day Simon Williams received the Cyril Corbally trophy from Nathaniel Healy and commented how honoured he will be to be the first name on this trophy.
In general all competitors felt this event was an overall success and we look forward to next years event.