Annette Newman Wins Billiards Ranking 1 – The Stars Academy Masters @ Sharkx Newbridge

Annette Newman from Carlow continued her winning ways, taking the Stars Academy Masters National Billiards Ranking 1 for the 2020 season at the RILSA Academy Sharkx Newbridge.

This event was very successful with the largest entry of female players for a ranking event since its inception in 2015.

Session 1 saw Annette Newman from Carlow get off to a good start against the ever improving, Jennifer Earle from Dublin taking the win 66-39.  Young Roisin Beale from Kildare won her match against Stephanie Morrison from Carlow in a close but low scoring match 29-22.  Christine Carr from Kildare was trailing newcomer to Billiards, Joanna Ward also from Kildare before stepping up her game with breaks of 14 & 17 with minutes remaining to take the win 61-31.

Session 2 saw Annette once again play solid billiards against Joanna and with a number of breaks of 15,16,18 to finish the 30 minutes with a 81-23 scoreline.  Roisin Beale kept up her good scoring against Valerie Maloney from Offaly taking the win against the National Intermediate Champion 50-32.  Christine had to play well against Jennifer to keep ahead with minutes remaining to win 62-40

The 3rd session was to see Annette and Christine fighting it out going to the last few minutes with Annette putting in a small break of 16 to finish with the win 53-38.  Stephanie started well going ahead of Joanna but Joanna came back to take the match on the alarm 29-25.  Jennifer went ahead early with Valerie levelling with 10 minutes left however Jennifer took advantage of a few misses by Valerie and closed out with a win on the clock 46-27

The 4th session saw Annette keep up a great standard of play against Stephanie finishing comfortably 74-30.  Jennifer and Roisin’s match was slow to begin with Roisin not producing the goods when needed and again Jennifer capitalised on her mistakes to win 35-16.  Valerie started to get into her stride against Christine and was ahead for a while however Christine finished strong with breaks of 12 & 20 to take the win 78-44

In session 5, Annette was unstoppable, making breaks of 14,15,17,20 to see off Roisin with a good win 90-20.  Again Valerie was to start well against Stephanie and had chances to finish off with the win but Stephanie scored a 6 on the clock to finish with a win 38-32.  Joanna stepped up her game against Jennifer who was playing well on the evening and took the win with minutes remaining 42-36 for Joanna

Session 6 saw Christine in good form against Roisin and won the match 60-29.  Stephanie kept up her form against Jennifer after the win against Valerie and finished strong with minutes remaining to win 48-29.  Joanna also in better form now against Valerie was to finish with a few small scores to take the win 41-31.

In the last session of the evening, Annette remained in full control as she took the win against Valerie 75-46.  Roisin was to take her 3rd win on the evening in a low scoring but very close match against Joanna 25-23.  Christine was to continue her good form against Stephanie taking the win comfortably 73-25

Once the scores were tallied, Annette finished with a great score of 439 points taking the win and Christine with a good score of 372 in runner up spot.

3rd place was Jennifer who certainly is making great progress with 225 with  Valerie in 4th place on 212 points, not bad as she was not in her usual form overall.  Joanna and Stephanie took 6th & 7th spots respectively with only 1 point separating them with Roisin finishing 7th place.  When we look at the scores overall per player we see much improvement and again it’s all on the day as anything can happen.

Congratulations to Annette on her win and to Christine on a fine performance.  Thanks to all the girls for their participation and to Dave for helping out refereeing.  Thanks to Bernie & Paul of Sharkx for their continued help and support towards female billiards.

Annette holds number 1 spot with Christine in 2nd place on the National Rankings.  3rd place is Jennifer with Valerie close in 4th spot.

TOP 8 PROVISIONAL – RILSA NATIONAL BILLIARDS RANKING 2020 SEASON