MARTYN DESPERQUES finishes a memorable 2009 as the holder of the three major titles available to him in Channel Islands snooker.

It has been an outstanding year for the Guernsey No. 1, with the major highlights coming in the space of a month at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Almost predictably, he won back the Island Championship with victory over Adam Shorto as their fifth consecutive final meeting followed the script of the previous four, ending 4-2. So far, neither man has been able to retain the title.

A couple of weeks later, an imperious Desperques (pictured) whitewashed Gary Britton to claim the CI title.

The Guernsey champion looked a different class to his Jersey counterpart as he won the best of seven frames match 4-0 at the Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

And that was no mean feat as Britton is certainly no mug having defeated Ken Doherty at Fort Regent last year.

‘I just played really solidly and I didn’t give him much of a sniff all match, which was a good thing because he’s a good player,’ was the Sarnian’s assessment of his performance.