Wallace on cloud ‘nine’ after clinching latest NI crown

PATRICK Wallace claimed a ninth Northern Ireland Championship title on Sunday of last week when he defeated Raymond Fry 10-7 in Antrim.

The 55-year-old Dungannon cueman won his first NI crown 32-years-ago in 1993 and he claimed a remarkable eighth in 2016 when he completed five in a row, but it has taken him a further, and rather appropriately, nine years to win the most coveted of snooker titles in the province.

And while he admits to have almost given up hope of winning the prestigious trophy again, he was delighted to have done so once more.

“I went to sleep with a smile on my face and I woke up with a smile on my face. I’m absolutely chuffed to bits!,” Patrick beamed.

“I was starting to think it was maybe not going to happen because 2016 was the last time that I won it. It’s been a little bit frustrating because I’ve still been winning tournaments on the circuit that feature all the same players that have featured in the Northern Ireland Championship each year, but I’ve never been able to connect with the big one.

“In that time I’ve lost a final, two semi-finals, both 6-5, and four quarters, so I’ve been getting to the final stages but I’ve just not been able to get over the line.

“I was just chuffed to get to the final because I hadn’t been in the final since 2018. It’s been such a long run after a brilliant run when I won it five years in a row when I came back to amateur snooker.

“I was just thinking, my first one was 1993 – wow! Thirty-two years between the first and the latest, it’s absolutely crazy. So, that’s my ninth, but I don’t like odd numbers so I’ll have to get to 10 – that’s a nice number!”

Having eased past Maurice McCusker 5-0 in the last eight, Wallace then defeated Danny Boyle 6-2 in the semi-finals, while Fry, who has enjoyed the upper-hand over the former World Championship quarter-finalist in recent years, accounted for Sean Gray (5-2) and club-mate Declan Lavery (6-2) ahead of the decider.

And it was Fry’s semi-final victory over Lavery, which gave Wallace plenty of cause for concern.

“I certainly wouldn’t have picked Raymond [as a final opponent], with my recent record against him,” Patrick acknowledged.

“I beat him in the final in Derry a couple of months ago, but I played exceptionally well that night – one of the best matches I’ve played all season. But before then, he had beaten me four or five times in a row over the previous couple of seasons and some of those matches I played really well. He was just playing exceptional snooker.

“And that’s why the start of the match was so important for me. I struggled a bit in my semi-final, I wasn’t scoring as heavily as I’d have liked and Raymond was very, very impressive in beating Declan Lavery 6-2 with a couple of century breaks and a couple more ‘in one’ visits.

“So I was going in, in my mind, as a slight underdog based on the form from the day before and I was very focused on making a good start because I didn’t want Raymond getting off to a flyer and swamping me.”

And a bright start is what Wallace got with breaks of 66 and 78 giving him a 2-0 lead before Fry responded with knocks of 87 and 65 to level matters. By the first interval, deadlock remained at 3-3 after breaks of 80 for Wallace and a 53 for Fry.

But the match swung dramatically in the Tyrone man’s favour after the interval as Wallace took advantage of a rare poor shot from Fry to go 4-3 up before making it 6-3 when, despite being in a ‘solid position’ he wasn’t counting his chickens and even at 9-4 he knew the match was far from over.

“In those long matches you really have to keep your foot on the gas and it’s a really good job I did that,” he acknowledged.

“I was quite strong to go 9-4 and then there was another mini-interval and I felt very comfortable at that stage, but you really want to get it done at your first chance because if you don’t and he gets on a bit of a roll, he’s more than capable of winning three or four frames without me seeing a ball.

“I got a chance [in frame 14] but I didn’t score heavily enough and he punished me, then I had a chance in the next and scored next to nothing and the next thing you know the pressure was starting to come on.

“I lost a scrappy next frame for it to go 9-7 and the next thing you know it’s basically the toss of a coin. So, I was pleased with how I held my composureand I finished off with a 59 break to get over the line.

“There was a huge sense of relief!”

Patrick’s snooker season isn’t over yet as he, Fry, Declan Lavery and another player to be named later will represent Northern Ireland at the Home Internationals, which they have never won.