‘Underdog’ Arkinson claims Masters berth

CASTLEDERG’S Gary Arkinson described his comeback win over former professional Declan Hughes in the final of the Drumaness Masters qualifier on Sunday of last week as ‘one for the underdogs’.

He sealed his place in the Drumaness Masters for the first time when he came from 2-0 down to defeat former professional Hughes 3-2 in the decider.

And having also had to come from behind in his semi-final to beat Davy Clifford 3-2, having ousted Conor Murphy 3-0 in the quarter-final, Arkinson admits he would much prefer to win easy than have to go the distance every time he plays.

“I’d rather win easy than have to do that!,” he exclaimed. “But I’ve been on the end of many, many defeats, so it’s nice to get a win.

“It’s fantastic and it’s nice to get back here because the tables and the set-up are fantastic.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it and hopefully I can do myself some justice [in the tournament proper in a couple of weeks time].”

To qualify for the Drumaness Masters, which was won last year by Dungannon’s former World Championship quarter-finalist, Patrick Wallace, Arkinson had to dig deep on two occasions.

However, having comeback to oust Clifford in the last-four, the Tyrone man thought he was headed for a quick exit in the final when he found himself 2-0 down to Hughes, who had dispatched Gary’s son, Darragh 3-1 in the last eight.

But Arkinson relaxed at that point and he pulled one frame back, then another before knocking in a tricky green after under-hitting the yellow to tee up the brown and blue in frame five to seal the win.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting it because Declan started very quickly and scored very heavily,” Gary observed.

“I tried to limit my mistakes, take the balls as I could see them and not make any silly errors. My safety play was quite good, I forced him into a couple of mistakes and I scored a few points off it.

“Declan’s an ex professional so at 2-0 down I thought it was over but I tried to stick in there and tried to enjoy it. It’s strange, because there’s nothing to lose at 2-0 down and sometimes when the game is almost over you can have as much enjoyment going for snookers to make things awkward and I loved the fact I was making things awkward for him..

“I was looking forward to the fight and a safety battle for a bit of craic because I thought it was going to be 3-0 but then I got a few points on the board.

“It was a tough old day but safety and potting key balls got me over the line.”

Looking ahead to the Drumaness Masters proper, Arkinson knows he faces a steep uphill battle if he’s to progress given that he will be up against the top 16 players in Northern Ireland plus eight wildcards, with the likes of NI champion, Robbie McGuigan, Dungannon’s Wallace, and another Castlederg man, ex-tour player Dermot McGlinchey, to name just three.

“I don’t even think Joe Swail’s in the top 16 at the minute and when you look at the likes of Wallace, Raymond Fry, Declan Lavery, Darren Dornan, they are all so good. The standard of snooker here is lethal!,” he exclaimed.

“And it doesn’t matter if you’re the best player in Northern Ireland or the worst, once they get in you’re just a passenger. You just have to wait!”