April 28th 2011,
***Irish Senior A-Team Dominate at the EBA Masters***
Ray McGuinness is crowned Senior European Masters Individuals Champion 2011!!
Ray hits the high note as he wins the Senior title at the Europeans Masters this month in Bridlington,UK.
The Senior team Ray was part of also won the speed pool event and were runners-up in the Team section too.
A super performance and result for all the guys... well done!
Irish Senior A Team:
Pat Merrigan, Brendan Hinchy, Ray McGuinness, Dave Costello, James Bernes, Con Price, Adrian Hammond.
March/April 2011,
Paddy McLoughlin disgraced & stripped of Championship title!
After an unfortunate result in the Championship Playoff final, and with Paddy McLoughlin not turning up to the Trophy presentation, the question still remained.... what exactly happened?
In conversation with Paddy McLoughlin he was questioned, did he purposely interfere with his opponent to disrupt him during play which changed the whole outcome of the match....
It was a shock when Paddy admitted to the bad sporting behaviour which caused the end result only a few days ago. This was something that would never have been expected of a player of Paddys' status. Due to these circumstances, it left the Academy with no other alternative but to strip Paddy McLoughlin of the title win and award it to his opponent Paul Tierney who had been cheated after he had dominated the match completely.
This kind of behaviour from any player is very disappointing and will not be tolerated at any level!
Unfortunately prize monies had already been settled and could not be changed in this instance..
The Championship Winners Trophy will be presented to Paul Tierney and the Championship Shield will be re-engraved to show his name as the 2011 Winner.
March 20th 2011,
The Shacks 2010 Season draws to a close with the Championship Playoff Finals
After a tough battle throughout the Championship from December onwards, there were many upsets...
Seated players Darren Feehan and David Poole struggled in their quarter final matches. With David Poole scraping a win over Shay Logue, Darren Feehan crashed out to a very in form Shane Connor.
Paul Tierney beat 9-ball new comer Elmir Brdar to book his semi final place against Shane Connor and Paddy McLoughlin defeated Dave Csotello to set up his semi final with David Poole.
Shane Connor got off to a great start against the past Senior Irish Champion Paul Tierney. He took the first set 7-2.
Tierney fought back though to take the next 2 sets 7-4 and 7-4 booking his place in this years final.
An unconvincing performance from David Poole saw McLoughlin take his spot in the final in 2 straight sets, 7-5 and 7-4.
The built up final between the 2 past Irish Champions saw Paul Tierney turn up and hit the practice table up to an hour before the final started. He was well preped for this match!
The final begun with Tierney romping home with a 7-3 first set.. It looked like McLoughlin was in for a match of the season and needed to dig out something special to slow down his opponant and keep him in this final.
Paul Tierney continued his form in the second set and looked certain to keep the pressure on McLoughlin throughout the match. A slight slip up by Tierney saw him lose the 2nd set 7-6, setting up a 3rd and final deciding set to determine the winner. McLoughlin knew he'd been let off the hook and given a lifeline..
A very tight but controversal final set saw Tierney forfeit the set and match to McLoughlin.
It was later said that unprofessional conduct during shooting is what caused the poor result to a very good year of pool.
As a result, Championship Playoff Winner for 2010 was awarded to Paddy McLoughlin.
December 2010,
The Shacks 2010 American 9-Ball League ends in fine class!
The 2nd half of the season saw the top 3 battle it out for the League Title. A couple of close losses saw David Poole bow out of the title race leaving the final challenge between newcomer Darren Feehan and Newry's Paddy McLoughlin.
McLoughlin, with a couple of matches in hand had the advantage over The Feehan Machine. McLoughlin went on to beat Darren in one of his final matches and even with losing to David Poole he still had the upperhand. By winning his back matches, Paddy went on to take the title with a match to spare.
Congratulations to the 2010 League Cup winner Paddy McLoughlin.
Also well done to Darren Feehan for a super 1st season playing American Pool.
Below the Top 10 as they finished!
Premier League Top 10
2010
1
Paddy McLoughlin
2
Darren Feehan
3
David Poole
4
Paul Tierney
5
Dave Costello
6
Max Pinchuk
7
Paul Haughton
8
Shane Connor
9
Rafal Paluch
10
Elmir Brdar
November 13th 2010,
Irish U23's Regain World Title!
The young stars of the Irish U23's double their glory by once again being crowned "World Champions".
Congratulations to them for a super achievement which should, without doubt, list them amongst the great teams & champions of the past!
November 12th 2010,
Irish Teams a Touch of Class in France!!
At the Blackball World Championships in Limoges, France, the Irish U23's win the Speed-Pool, have 2 players reach the Semi Finals of the Singles and also book their place for tomorrow in the finals of the Team Event!!
September 23rd 2010,
New entry from Cork for 9-ball League at "The Pool Knight Shack" !
See full details in Success Stories!
August 23rd 2010,
Blackball Singles League Entries flood in for Premier/Division 1 !
Current Entrants:
Con Price,
Brendan Price,
Tyson Price,
Elmir Brdar,
David Joyce,
Max Pinchuk,
Paul Haughton,
Daniel Flynn,
Gavin Cleary,
Martin Cording
Cormac Dennis
Charlie Hanlon
Only A Few Places Remain!
August 2010,
"The Pool Knight Shack" affiliates with "Irish Blackball" and the "Southern Ireland Pool Federation".
See the full story in "Success Stories!
June 2010,
TV3 visit "The Pool Knight Shack"!
See the full story in "Success Stories!
End of 2009,
Championship Playoff Result!
The "Comeback Kid" Davy "One Ball" Poole does it again in the Final to be crowned 2009's Championship Playoff Winner.
See success stories for details!
Oct 16th 2009, NEW! NEW! NEW!
Blackball 3-Man Team Tournament announced to take place in the Summer of 2010...
This will be the 1st of 8 Events hosted by The Pool Knight Shack at the new Charthouse Business Centre Venue!
See Poster for details!
August 17th 2009, With a nail biting end to the Season, "The Glove" is crowned League Cup Champion 2009...
See Success Stories for details..
Sept 5th 2009, While Shane "The Shootist" Connor awaits his opponant in the final of The Best of the Rest Playoff after a very convincing win in 2 straight sets, 2 very tight matches sets up the Championship final between Paul "The Glove" Haughton and the newly renamed "Comeback Kid"... Davy "One Ball" Poole
More details to come on these matches in the Success Stories section..
August 17th 2009, With a nail biting end to the Season, "The Glove" is crowned League Cup Champion 2009...
See Success Stories for details..
As of August 4th 2009, Only 6 places remain for the new 9-ball League & Championship set to start September/October '09.
Current Entres include: Aidan Nolan, Dave Costello, David Poole, Eddie Gahan, Joe Morris, Max Pinchuk, Paul Haughton, Paul Roche, Shane Connor, Kevin Byrne, Jason Mahon, Paul Tierney, John Cooper & Stephen Carroll
Contact us now to apply! Limited to 1st 20 players
July 2009. As the end to the 2009 League becomes very near, the top 4 players are continually changing.. leaving it very hard to make a call on who takes the 4 places in the Championship Playoffs..
Notice. New League is set to start in September or October 2009.
April 2011,
***Irish Senior A-Team Dominate at the EBA Masters***
Ray McGuinness is crowned Senior European Masters Individuals Champion 2011!!
Ray hits the high note as he wins the Senior title at the Europeans Masters this month in Bridlington,UK.
The Senior team Ray was part of also won the speed pool event and were runners-up in the Team section too.
A super performance and result for all the guys... well done!
Irish Senior A Team:
Pat Merrigan, Brendan Hinchy, Ray McGuinness, Dave Costello, James Bernes, Con Price, Adrian Hammond.
November 13th 2010,
Irish U23's Regain World Title!
The young stars of the Irish U23's double their glory by once again being crowned "World Champions".
Congratulations to them for a super achievement which should, without doubt, list them amongst the great teams & champions of the past & present!
November 12th 2010,
Irish Teams a Touch of Class in France!!
At the Blackball World Championships in Limoges, France, the Irish U23's blitz all in the Speed-Pool to take home the title.
They also defeat France today in the Semi Finals of the Team Event by a scoreline of 13-7, booking their place in the Final tomorrow against South Africa.
This Event is set to be shown live at 3pm on Eurosport2!
In the meantime......, Irish U23's hotshots, David Joyce & David Carrie, 2 excellent young prospects in the game, make it as far as the Semi Finals of the Singles Event... unfortunately for their journey to end there.
Elsewhere in the Championships, Pat Merrigan from the Irish Seniors A Team, also showed some really good form by reaching last 8 of the Singles in the Seniors Category.
So everyone, please tune in tomorrow at 3pm and support these young stars in their bid for another World Championship title.
This match is set to be a replay of the 2008 Final in South Africa, when the U23's emerged the victors over the home nation.
Lets all get behind them and see them do it all over again!
Best of Luck Guys!!
October 24th 2010,
2nd Blackball Challenge Match Result!
The Pool Knight Shack are victorious with a score line of 25-24 against Irelands Seniors A Team!
The Ireland Seniors A Team came to the Shack for one of their toughest preparation matches to date, a 49 frame match. 7 sessions of Pool in a race to 25. The first of its kind!
The Seniors (over 40's) Team are, on paper, one of the best Teams to be listed to represent Ireland for a Championship event. The players not only have great experience at International Level but also impressive results and statistics from the Irish Blackball Tour as well as numerous years at Internationl Events.
The Shack Team also had an impressive line up, some players unknown to Irish Blackball as many come from an American Pool background. This would be the first time that many of the great players from both Irish Pool disciplines were to meet in person and in a match situation.
The atmosphere was brilliant as the players all entered the venue on Sunday October 24th. Martin Kirwan also arrived to level the tables for the match and was greeted with a newly layed out and closed off arena, along with a number of new and familiar faces.
Official Pool Knight Shack Blackball Score Cards with the new scoring code system were also in use for the match. This scoring system was introduced to us in Germany in 2007 for the European Championships and The Pool Knight Shack is the first Irish Venue to enforce the system.
The match got off to a super start for the Shack Selection as they took the Irish Team by surprize with a 5-2 lead in the first session. From here the Irish Team knew they were well and trully in for a real match!
The Irish Squad hit back taking the 2nd session 4-3 closing the gap to only 2 frames...
The Shack Selection managed to keep the pressure on the Irish Squad in the 3rd session extending their lead but only by 1 more frame as the halfway mark approached (session 4).
Starting the 4th session with a 12-9 lead, The Shack took the session 4-3, inching ahead even further with 3 sessions to go. The Shack Selection were now in a very good position angainst the Irish Veterans needing only 9 frames from the remaining 21. However, The Shack selector David Poole knew it was far from over with such a class Irish Team line up.
Now 16-12 to The Shack Selection, and some top quality finishing from both sides saw the Irish Team take the next 2 sessions 4-3, 4-3. Nothing less was expected from the Irish Veterans sending the match into a final deciding session.
The Irish Team who now trail The Pool Knight Shack 22-20, experience a massive blow by losing the first 2 frames of the final session, not even getting to the table after the lag in the 2nd frame. 24-20 down and it would seem like it was all over bar the shouting for the Irish Squad...
But in true "Fighting Irish" style, the Veterans didn't give up and took the next 4 frames to send the match into a final deciding frame, seeing Paul "Lefty" Wright for the Irish Seniors take on The Shacks newest recruit, Kevin Pugh from Cork.
Paul wins the lag and breaks for what could be the last visit to the table for the Cork man. A lovely break by Paul sees the balls split nicely to the encouraging cheers of the Irish Team Players. Only one tricky shot to the center gives hope to The Shack...
Lefty makes his way round casually pocketing the yellow balls and tracking the tricky middle pocket shot... Silence spreads throughout the arena as he settles for the shot..
Gently striking the white in an almost slow motion sequence sees the yellow ball divert off line by grazing another ball on route to the pocket. The Shack Players up on their feet cheer as the Cork man Kevin Pugh makes his way to the table...
The positioning of the red balls make it very unlikely for Kevin to finish the frame at this visit..
Some tactical play from both sides eventually sees an unforced error by Lefty, giving Kevin the chance to take the frame and match... 3 very tough reds and the black remain for the Cork man...
Kevin gets down and sinks all 3 difficult long distance reds with what looked like ease to leave a straight long black diagnally across the table... All look on anxiously as Kevin cues up to the white ball...
He plays the shot with top side missing the pot completely and sinking the white to give Lefty and the Irish Seniors Team almost certain victory with 2 visits and only 2 yellow balls and the black left on the table.
Lefty pots the first of his two remaing yellow balls leaving himself perfect to track the black ball which was almost centre of the table... but a perhaps too much adreneline sees Paul (Lefty) over hit the white sending it up into the baulk leaving a very sharp cut on the black into the middle pocket..
Paul lines up the shot, cuts the black perfectly sending it straight towards the pocket... but lack of pace on the shot denies the Irish Team an amazing come back victory as the black ball rests over the centre pocket leaving an unmissable pot for the Cork man.
What an ending to a super match by both Teams. The match was such a success that the Irish Team Players said they'd like to try have another match in The Shack before heading to the Championships in France in November.
We look forward to having the Ireland Senior Team back again soon for what will no doubt be a cracking return match!
Irish Seniors A Team:
Shane Connor,
Con Price,
Adrian Hammond,
Ray McGuinness,
Pat Merrigan,
Paul Wright,
Peter Austin (not present),
James Berns (not present),
The Pool Knight Shack continues to support all the Irish Teams and assist with their preparations for all upcoming Tour & Championship Tournaments.
October 16th 2010,
Blackball Challenge Match Result!
The Pool Knight Shack win 19-13 against Irelands U18's!
The Shack Team got off to a good start taking the first session 6-2 over the U18's who started slowly.
It wasn't long before the U18's were in full swing taking the games and finishes head on. Some excellent shooting by the young lads brought their spirits right back up.
The 2nd session ended 4-4, with slight positional errors by the U18's the only thing keeping The Shack Team in this session.
A now 10-6 scoreline going into the 3rd session in favour of The Pool Knight Shack, sees them storm through and taking the session 7-1.
But even with the match win already sealed 17-7, the Irish U18's showed true character by still playing on and taking the final session 6-2.
We look forward to having the U18's back again soon for a return match!
Irish U18's Team:
Sean O'Neil,
Keith Hanney,
Sean Madden,
Owen Cullen,
Stephen Meehan,
Karl McMacken,
Patrick O'Rourke,
Kevin Shannon,
From all at The Pool Knight Shack, we support and wish the Irish U18's the best of luck with their Championships bid in France next month.
September 23rd 2010. New entry from Cork for 9-ball League at "The Pool Knight Shack" !
Kevin Pugh is the newest player addition to the American 9-Ball Pool League in Dublin. He will frequently travel from Cork to participate in the newest and most professionally run Pool League setup Ireland has ever seen.
With the growing popularity of the League along with the new website design and its' live update system for all match schedules and results, this League, without doubt, has the potential to sweep across Ireland, going from a single Dublin 9-Ball League to an All-Ireland 9-Ball League.
"Contact Us" if interested in making this possible..
August 2010,
"The Pool Knight Shack" affiliates with "Irish Blackball" and the "Southern Ireland Pool Federation"
Dublins newest Pool venue "The Pool Knight Shack" officially joins "Irish Blackball" under the "Southern Ireland Pool Federation". This affiliation will hopefully further help the Southern Ireland Pool Federation in its bid to unite all cuesports in Ireland into one "National Association".
The Pool Knight Shack is setup to facilitate competitions and match preparations for both Blackball and American Pool In Ireland.
June 2010. TV3 visit "The Pool Knight Shack"
David Duggan and his IPA Under 21 Irish Team are interviewed by TV3 at The Pool Knight Shack in preparation for their Trip to the World Championships in Blackpool.
The interview was broadcast on TV3's The Morning show at 11am on Monday June 21st.
In a grilling best of 3 sets match, the newly named "Comeback Kid", Davy "One Ball" Poole, lost the first set 7-4 and trailed in the 2nd set 6-2 against the 2009 League Winner, Paul "The Glove" Haughton. It looked certain that the Glove was going to do the League and Championship double!
But the "Comeback Kid" came back to take the 2nd set 7-6 and force the match into a final decider set. It was a tight match going to a final deciding frame where another thrilling combination on the 9 from Davy sealed the victory!
Aug 5th 2009.
The Championship Playoff continues the end of the Leagues great standard of Pool with Paul "The Glove" Haughton continuing his reign taking first spot in the final after beating the Estonian Shark, Max Pinchuk, in a final set decider which went straight to the wire.. 7-4, 4-7, 7-6. Both were in such outstanding form throughout the match that it could have gone either way!
"The Bopper", Dave Costello controlled the 2nd semi-final match against Davy "One Ball" Poole.. taking the first set 7-3 and leading 6-3 in the 2nd, he looked certain to take the vacant slot in the Final. But the newly named "Comeback Kid" found some form taking the match to a final set decider after winning the 2nd set 7-6, only to trail again 6-3 in the final set.. Another great comeback sees Davy "One Ball" take the 3rd set 7-6 sending him on to the Final.
August 17th 2009.
The 2009 League comes to an end after a very close final couple of sessions where the Top 3 fought it out for the Title.
Paul "The Glove" Haughton emerged victorious taking first place & is crowned 2009's League Cup Wimmer.
Paul played steadily throughout & will be the man to beat when ranked as no1 coming into next Seasons League.
July 30th 2009.
The new League and Championship Trophies arrive and with their unique design features for The Pool Knight Shack, they really make their mark on the new Dublin setup.
June 13th 2009.
As interest soars, various Irish Pool Tour + Ireland's American 8 & 9 Ball Tour players add their names to the list of those wanting to join the 2009/2010 League.
22nd April 2009.
ThePoolKnightShack officially starts its 1st ever League.
