Date posted: Nov 7, 2016
The Bruce Lyster Snooker Trophy returns to Killiney.
What a night –What a team – What a snooker spectacle – What a win?
It all started a year ago down in the Royal St. George Yacht Club when Killiney were beaten in a very tight black ball decider. The prize – The Bruce Lyster Snooker Trophy –Killiney’s team manager Gordon Horsfield vowed to put a strategy in place for this annual event to regain the trophy this year on home ground.
His team had been in strict training, following a gruelling diet and workout regime for the full day before match. The competition is decided in doubles format and the best of five games takes home the Bruce Lyster Trophy.
The George’s danger man is the legendary Flag Officer and retired veterinary surgeon Paddy Trainer – he had to be taken down for Killiney to have a chance. Paddy was out first with their convenor Robin Sykes but we had the Killiney Gladiators Bryan ‘The whirlwind’ Casserly and Des ‘The dapper’ FitzGerald. An awesome pairing with an AA rating. Although they played really well they succumbed to the wizardry of the George pairing. 0 – 1.
Undeterred Killiney put out another hot team for the second frame - Ivan ‘The X man’ Cruise and Tom ‘Into the long Grass’ Brett. Tom Brett is revered by the George for his tactical prowess. His most recent book ‘How deep is your Baize’ was a best seller and has been translated into over twenty languages. If there was a prize for ‘Shot of the tournament’ then Tom would have won it hands down. If you have some spare time ask him to take you through it and it helped the Killiney duo to a vital win. The score is now 1 – 1.
Into the dining room for a fantastic dinner – Well done to Mark, Gerry, Niall and the team for a great evening.
The next frame – the first after dinner - was crucial – so Killiney put out a team who have never been beaten in the southern hemisphere - Gordon ‘Captain’ Horsfield and the much respected Willow ‘The Wizard’ Murray. It turned out to be a decisive manoeuvre by Killiney with Willow playing some of the best snooker seen outside of the Crucible Theatre. Willow clinches a black-ball game with a tight cut into the middle pocket.
2 – 1 Killiney edge in front.
No expense was spared in bringing this Killiney team together for the evening and Joe ‘The show’ MacAvin had been flown in from Costa del Wexford for the evening and was chomping at the bit to get going but next out was the cunning pair of Stan ‘The Man’ Noble and Ronnie ’Who the hell is Ronnie’ Butler. It was a great frame with both sides producing some fine snooker but when only the colours remained Killiney were behind and needed something special, something inspirational, something like a Roy of the Rovers moment is what we needed and Stanley Noble produced it - a rousing barrage of potting, finally taking the Brown, blue and pink to seal victory.
The Lyster Trophy was Killiney’s – Well done Stanley – well done team – well done Killiney.
Gordon Horsfield
