Wallace books place in Poland after emphatic final triumph

PATRICK Wallace booked a swift return to the European Amateur Snooker Championships by winning the Northern Ireland qualifier in Limavady last week.

The Dungannon man beat number one seed Robbie McGuigan 5-0 in the decider last Wednesday night to earn his place in Poland this coming April.

It was the third meeting in a final between the pair this season and with the score sitting at 1-1 before Wednesday night a tight tussle was anticipated.

That didn’t unfold, however, as Wallace ground out frame after frame to secure an emphatic victory over the number one seed.

Both players struggled to show their best of the night with the highest break in the final being 53 in the last from Patrick to seal the win. Incidentally, 52-year-old Wallace had the highest break of the tournament with a 130 in the last-16 against Anto Heaney.

“We both had a lot of chances in the first frame and it turned out to be fairly important that I nicked it,” explained Wallace, who beat McGuigan in the final of the season opening Coach Classic, before losing to the same player in the decider of the North West Trophy and the semi-finals of the Drumaness Masters.

He continued: “It was scrappy stuff, chances were going back and forwards on both sides and luckily enough when it came to crunch time of the frame I got chances to finish the frames off and I did.

“Any win against Robbie is a really good win because he’s the best player in Northern Ireland and he’s the Northern Ireland champion and the Northern Ireland number one and he’d beaten me the last twice we played, so any win is a good win even though it was a struggle for us both.”

Before taking on McGuigan in the 3Cs club last week, Wallace was part of the Northern Ireland team that finished second behind the Republic of Ireland in the International Challenge Cup in Killarney. The Republic will look to claim the trophy for a fifth time in a row when they take on the North, France and Scotland again in October at the Pot Black Club in Cookstown.

But Wallace is looking forward to another taste of international action before then, in April, when he returns to the European Championships, which this time take place in Poland.

Wallace and another Dungannon man, Dermot Loughran, both played in the last edition of the European Championships in Portugal last autumn, with the aid of financial support from Mid Ulster District Council through a Sports Representation Grant, and they earned a bronze medal in the seniors team competition.

“Thanks to Mid Ulster District Council’s financial support we were able to travel to Portugal late last year and we were delighted to win a bronze medal,” they said.

Before then, Wallace will compete in the Belfast Trophy, the fifth Northern Ireland ranking event of the season, which takes place between February 5th and the 13th.