Megan Randle from Wicklow won her second National Intermediate Snooker Championship Title at the RILSA Academy Sharkx Newbridge with a win over twin sister Carrie in the final.
The Randle family have dominated the National Intermediate Championships over the past three seasons with Megan taking the 2018 title against her mam Suzanne and returned to the final in 2019 to lose out to twin Carrie who took the 2019 title and a return of the twin sisters in 2020 to contest the final once again with Megan successful this time out.
In the first of our quarter finals on the day we saw the current National Intermediate number 1, Christine Carr from Kildare go out to Emirjeta Doda from Dublin in a very close contested match 2-1. A battle of two former National Intermediate Champions Valerie Maloney from Offaly and Megan Randle from Wicklow was had in this quarter final match but Megan proved the stronger on the day and took the win 2-0 to Meet Emirjeta in the semis.
The other half of the draw saw current holder of the Title, Carrie Randle from Wicklow see off Stephanie Morrison from Carlow in a good match with Carrie making a number of breaks of 16 and 25 in the second frame to seal the win 2-0. Irish Intermediate number 2 Joanna Ward from Kildare had a match on her hands against Jennifer Earle from Dublin with Jennifer taking frame 1 on a black ball and the second frame was close all the way down to the pink ball which Jennifer potted to take the win and a place in the semis against Carrie.
Semi final 1, Emirjeta had a few chances to take frame 1 but Megan held firm and took it, frame 2 was similar but again Megan proved the stronger on the day and took it to reach her 3rd National Intermediate Championship final in a row. On the other table Carrie had to play well to overtake the ever improving Jennifer and this she did taking both frames needed to move into the final for the second season and against twin sister Megan.
The National Intermediate Championship had never been retained to date and not won twice by any player, however it was now down to the girls to determine the outcome. The final was a very close contested match with Megan taking the first frame on the pink ball and it came down to the black ball in the second with Carrie having a number of chances of taking it to level the match but it was not to be as Megan was left with an easy pot over the pocket to win her second National Intermediate championship Title.
Congratulations to Megan on her win and to Carrie on a fine performance. Well done to our youngsters Emirjeta and Jennifer on making it to the semis and of course to all our players for their participation and support. Thanks to Bernie, Paul and Leon of Sharkx for providing excellent facilities as usual and their attention to detail providing second to none COVID-19 guidelines to help us back to competition in a safe environment for our players.
On the provisional National Intermediate Rankings, Megan Randle now takes number 1 spot up from 24th while sister Carrie is in 2nd place up from 20th with Jennifer Earle maintaining her 3rd place and Emirjeta moving from 10th place to 4th. We see Christine Carr down to 5th and Joanna Ward down to 6th place with Stephanie Morrison just down from 5th to 7th spot and making it back into the top 8 at 8th spot from 21st is Valerie Maloney.
Thanks to Dave Earle and Joanna helping out refereeing on the day, we look forward to seeing you all again in August for the National 6 Red Championship dates yet to be fully confirmed. We ask our members to check regularly on our website for all future events www.rilsa.ie
