The Team snooker Inter Insular took place last weekend at the First Tower Institute.
With Jersey defending their title from their previous win in Guernsey last year, the team consisted of Karl Le Fevre (Capt), current Jersey and Channel Island champion Aaron Canavan, Ross Symes, Jeremy Gogan and debutant Sean MacDonald, with Guernsey fielding a strong side with Island Champion Adam Shorto, Martyn Desperques, Glen Le Prevost, John Skillett and Paul Le Sauvage.
With play commencing at 14:00 and two tables been used, Aaron Canavan got Jersey off with a convincing win against Paul Le Sauvage before Adam Shorto replied for Guernsey with an equally dominant win against Jeremy Gogan to put the tie at 1-1. The next tie was Sean MacDonald against John Skillet and after a scrappy frame, John came out on top 66 – 21. On the opposite table, Ross Symes played Glen Le Prevost who got off with a red and a blue before missing a red to let Ross in. Looking composed Ross began to get in his stride and after fluking a red on 28, compiled a brilliant 119 clearance to win the frame to put the overall score at 2-2.
Next on for Jersey were Karl Le Fevre and Jeremy Gogan who played Paul and Martyn from Guernsey. Both frames became scrappy affairs but Paul eventually ran out an easy winner against Karl whilst Jeremy beat Martyn keeping the overall scores level at 3-3.
Matches 7 and 8 consisted of Aaron versus Glen and Sean versus Adam with honours been shared again as Aaron came out with a 65-14 win over Glen whilst Adam beat Sean 72-36 making the overall match 4-4. And going forward the next 4 Matches were also shared between the two island teams with Karl and Ross beating John and Martyn to gain 2 points for Jersey and Glen and Paul winning for Guernsey against Jeremy and Sean respectively.
The final 2 frames of the session were between Aaron and John and Ross versus Adam Shorto. Aaron took control of the frame early and kept John at bay throughout to win by 51 – 20. In a much closer affair Ross beat Adam 63 – 50 by potting the pink, giving Jersey an overall score at the interval of 8-6.
At the 19:00 resumption the first two matches were between Karl and Glenn and Sean against Martyn. After a tight match Karl ran out 59-34 winner against Glenn whilst Martyn was in fine potting form beating Sean 95-9 to move the overall score on to 9-7 in favour of Jersey.
The next four matches were again shared between the Island with Aaron beating Martyn 78-9, and Ross beating Paul 89-6 whilst for Guernsey Adam beat Karl 66-40 and John beating Jeremy 77-45 meaning as the final matches went in to a one table scenario, Jersey lead Guernsey 11 – 9, two frames away from retaining the Inter Insular.
Next up was Sean who played Glen and after frustrating Sean with some tight safety shots, Glen ran out a worthy winner 62-29 to cut the gap to 11-10 in favour of Jersey.
Match 22 was between Jeremy and Paul. After a tight game and with Paul leading 48-38, Jeremy needed the remaining blue pink and black. With a couple of great pots, he cleared the pink and black to win the frame 56-48 to put Jersey within touching distance of the win.
Next match on was between Ross and John, and with Ross winning all his 4 previous matches, he was keen to keep his 100% record, and continuing his great form beat John 61-47 to get Jersey to the magical 13 to retain the Inter Insular.
The remaining two games were completed, and whilst the overall result was confirmed, both Matches were played with the same attitude and fight. Karl eventually beat Martyn after potting the pink and black 55-51 whilst Aaron who too had a 100% record beat Adam 56-5 to record an overall victory of 15-10 to Jersey.
Byron Le Cornu, the president of the Jersey Billiards and Snooker Association, then presented the winners and runners up medals to the two teams and also gave thanks to match referees Howard Smith, Guy Heys and Malcom Malzard as well as to the First Tower Institute for holding the event.
