MARTYN DESPERQUES’ attempt to lay his hands on all the individual snooker titles fell at the final hurdle when he was beaten 3-1 in the Norman Wale handicap by Clint McGrath. The Channel Islands champion had to overcome a 56-point deficit and, with the additional handicap of playing with a borrowed cue while his own is repaired, the task proved too great.
It wasn’t as though he did not have his chances, though, particularly in the first frame when a nervous McGrath was short with his safety on his first shot to allow Desperques in with a 28.
After McGrath profited from a well laid snooker, the gap was then reduced to 14 when Desperques made a break of 30, but the second-division player showed great composure to come back with a 21 break of his own.
With four colours left, a re-spot looked on the cards when McGrath left the brown over the centre pocket, but Desperques failed to seize the opportunity and an entertaining first frame ended with brown and blue taken by his less experienced opponent.
The second saw McGrath play more conservatively and he looked in deep trouble when Desperques followed a break of 16 with a best of the night 43 to reduce the gap to just two points.
But the frame turned when McGrath followed an excellent pot on the third-from-last red with a tough snooker that saw him gain 16 points in fouls. Going into the colours McGrath led by 11 and he held his nerve well to individually pick off yellow to blue for a 2-0 lead.
With Desperques throwing caution to the wind in the next, McGrath soon built an intimidating 72-point lead, but from a seemingly hopeless position, breaks of 25 and 39 for the former saw the pair again enter the colours with all to play for.
A missed slow green seemed to have cost Desperques the match, but the occasion proved too much for McGrath as he, too, failed to clinch match ball and the frame slipped away soon afterwards.
The fourth saw Desperques open in the same cavalier fashion, but any hopes he had of McGrath’s missed opportunity in the previous frame playing on his opponent’s mind were soon quashed.
Playing his best snooker of the night, McGrath amassed a 96-point lead with the aid of a fine 23 break, leaving Desperques needing snookers with eight reds still on the table.
Such a deficit proved too much even for Guernsey’s number one and McGrath was able to relax in the closing stages of a well deserved win that offered glimpses of the huge potential he has in the game.
Desperques did, however, manage to finish the season on a high as the last match of the campaign saw four of the island’s best players contest the Spillane pairs snooker handicap final.
Adrian Holley and he made their second consecutive final by the skin of the teeth, having needed two black-ball frames to come from 2-0 down to beat Gerry Platt and Paul Cohu in the semi.
Playing against Ian Platt and Stan Lester, Holley and Desperques won the first frame thanks to the latter’s break of 33, but promptly lost the next two despite a 53 from the island’s top break builder.
The match was levelled as Holley took brown to pink to set up a late-night decider that started just after 11 o’clock.
The frame took a decisive swing as Platt, as he had often done to good effect all evening, laid a snooker with just one red left.
Holley’s escape was a good one, but even more so as it resulted in an even tougher snooker that saw Lester foul on the black.
Using the blue as a free ball, Desperques’ break of 18 to green clinched the match that will see him pick up one of just two trophies that has not yet sat on his mantelpiece.
In other finals played, Paul Sarre won the battle of the snooker players chancing their arm in the billiards handicap by beating Marcus Haysom 3-1, while Gremlin Galacticos lost a second knockout final.
Having been in the hunt for four trophies, the Galacticos were left with just the Premier title after they were well beaten in the handicap knockout final by North Social L-Plates.
The Division Two champions were worthy 6-2 winners, with Ross de Carteret and Darren Hughes doing most of the damage.
Adrian Lihou and Adam Shorto both drew to keep the Galacticos in with a shout at 3-2 behind, but the L-Plates ran away with the last three frames.
* A PRESENTATION of trophies and medals will be held at the Gremlin Club on Friday, starting at 7.30pm.
Article posted on 22nd May, 2007 - 12.00am
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