Group B was a ‘group of death’ with four experienced players being drawn together, along with relative newcomer, John Kinsella. The Dublin man was up against it, suffering 4 defeats but he kept going and gained valuable experience. Ballymena’s Kenny Beggs topped the group with a 3-0 victory against Cork’s Italian player, Mario Frittelli, a close 2-1 win over Bangor man, Eoin Adams, and a 1-1 draw with John Moore from Wexford. Moore beat Adams 2-0 and Mario recovered well from his opening defeat to beat Moore 3-0. This result proved decisive, as he just pipped Moore to 2 nd place in the group on goal-difference to qualify for the Q/F.
Group C was topped comfortably by current Circuit Champion, Dublin’s Mark Farrell, while other Dubliners, Andy Fitzpatrick and Daniel Kaliszewski, battled it out for 2 nd place. They picked up 4 points each against Tralee’s Cian Hogan and Ian Greer of Cookstown, which meant it came down to their result between each other. It ended with a 2-1 victory for young Daniel – a terrific win against Andy, who had finished Runner-up in the All-Ireland Championships a few months ago.
Group D was a very tight group, with all 5 players having a realistic chance of qualifying. Maybe not one for the spectators, as seven of the matches were 0-0 draws! The stand-out fixture was a 3-2 win for Stephen Rodgers of Belfast against Dave Elton of Tralee. Donegal’s Brendan Rodgers and Derry’s Stephen McAllister also picked up a 1-0 victory each, against Dave Elton and Oisin Mor (Derry) respectively. This left 3 players on equal points and equal goal-difference at the top! Stephen Rodgers went through in first place, thanks to goals scored in his 3-2 win but Stephen McAllister and Brendan Rodgers were inseparable, so required a shoot-out, which Brendan won to go through in 2 nd place. An interesting detail abOut Stephen Rodgers, was that he topped the group using original Subbuteo lightweights! In the Quarter-Finals, Martinog Bradley had a narrow 1-0 win against Daniel Kaliszewski, Mario Frittelli beat Stephen Rodgers 3-0, Mark Farrell beat Barry Spence 3-1 and Kenny Beggs won 2-0 against Brendan Rodgers.
Farrell and Beggs, so often used to meeting in finals, were semi-final opponents this time. Farrell scored the only goal of the game with about 4 minutes remaining. The other semi between Frittelli and Bradley went to extra-time, with the Italian scoring a golden-goal to win 2-1 and reach his first final on the Irish Circuit. Mario gave a good account of himself in the final but Mark Farrell’s experience pulled him through with another 1-0 victory.
JUNIORS
There were 4 juniors in attendance, so they were able to have their own competition. They played each other in a round-robin, with the top 2 placings (Roisin Hogan & Elliot Fitzpatrick) qualifying for the final, which Roisin, from Tralee, won 2-0.
The Shield had some strong players, proving what a tough tournament this was. John Moore and Andy Fitzpatrick would normally expect to reach the latter stages of the Main Event. But they met each other in the Shield semi-final this time, with John winning 2-1 to set up a Final with the rapidly improving Ian Greer, who had been a semi-finalist in the previous two Irish Circuit events. John lifted the Shield with a 1-0 victory.
(Report by Kenneth Beggs)
