Wallace regains top spot in rankings after latest title success

PATRICK Wallace returned to the top of the NIBSA rankings on Saturday afternoon following his emphatic 5-0 victory over Mark Jackson in the final of ranking event five at the Blackstaff club in Belfast.

It was the 54-year-old’s third win in four ranking events and he was not only delighted by his latest title success but also about regaining top spot in the rankings after knocking Robbie McGuigan off the summit.

“Thar’s four out of the last three for me and I lost 4-3 in the semis of the other, so it’s been a really good run for me and I’m unbelievably pleased because when I went nearly two years without winning a tournament I wondered if the days of winning them were gone,” Wallace said.

“I’m really chuffed to be back in the number one position of the amateur rankings after being something like 360 points behind Robbie McGuigan about a year ago.

“I’ve managed to catch him and pass him and there’s two tournaments left before the end of the season and it would be some achievement for an auld lad like me to be top of the rankings at the end of the season. That’s my aim now.”

The veteran Dungannon cueman was in fine form throughout the latter stages of the competition, dropping just one frame in his final three matches.

The former World Championship quarter-finalist didn’t find it so easy in the early rounds, however, but despite having his back against the wall for a time against Derry’s Shea Moore in the last-32 and Limavady’s Gregory Cooke in the last-16, he battled through to record 3-1 and 3-2 victories respectively.

“I didn’t play overly well on the qualifying day,” Wallace admitted. “In my very first match, in a best of five against Shea Moore, I was 1-1 and 50 behind.

“I did well to win that frame on the black and then I won the next fairly comfortably to win 3-1 and then in my next match I was 2-1 down to Gregory Cooke and in a bit of bother. But I managed to play two reasonable frames after that to get through that one.”

From that point on, things couldn’t have gone much better or been more comfortable for Wallace, who brushed aside Brian Milne 4-1 in the quarter-finals, Paul Sweeney 4-0 in the last-four and Jackson 5-0 in the decider.

“It was a good day for me on Saturday, winning my semi-final 4-0 and the final 5-0 – you can’t really ask for much more than that,” he beamed.

“As the tournament went on I got stronger, which is really, really pleasing.”

Alongside, Wallace, there were several other Tyrone players involved in the tournament in Blackstaff where Castlederg teenager, Darragh Arkinson enjoyed a confidence boosting run. He earned a bye through the last-80 after Dean McAleese withdrew before he defeated Conor Kelly in the last-64. He then lost 3-1 to John Robinson in the last-48.

Unfortunately, Darragh’s dad, Gary exited at the last-64 stage, losing 3-0 to Paul Campbell, the same score that accounted for Dermot Loughran by Shea Moore.

Dunamanagh’s Jamie Gardiner made it through the last-48, beating Davy Clifford 3-0 before losing to Raymond Fry, who knocked in a 138 clearance, 3-2 in the last-32 where Brockagh’s Fergal Quinn also lost 3-2 to Alastair Wilson.

Another local veteran, Castlederg’s Dermot McGlinchey progressed through the last-32 thanks to a 3-1 win over Paul Currie but he then lost 3-0 to reigning Northern Ireland champion, McGuigan in the last-16.

The penultimate tournament of the season takes place at Daly’s in Derry towards the end of March.