CUP SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG - Fox and Pheasant v Irish Champs 2B

You could feel the crackle of electricty as the Irish Champs 2B descended on the Pox and Feasant for the first leg of the cup semi final. The town had been buzzing since the draw had been organised some months back at the possible clash of these two Behemoths of the Baize (google it you uneducated plant-life !) and here it was in all its finery.

A couple of warm up frames was enough to tell us that Andy and the Wonder were still rubbish and that the table was even worse than I remebered. Slow, warped and making a dull noise when you hit it but thats enough about John Shiel, on to this weeks report.

Thankfully Pat was turning up late so we finally had a chance to take the lead in a match for the first time in three months. John Shiel took over as the opener for the Irish and faced Leigh Munday. It was nip and tuck all the way as to who was the worst player but Leigh delivered the knockout blow by rattling a long black and allowing John to pot a very nice double that was totally out of character for the rest of the frame.

This basically set the tone for the night, scrappy frames that could have gone either way if anyone was able to just string some pots together. The table made it almost impossible to move the white ball around with any confidence and the top left pocket seemed to be a cm smaller than the object balls as no one seemed to be able to put a ball into it.

Andy 'Bagel' Brant lost to Steve Carmichael in an appalling frame that left Andy shaking his head and asking if we had anyone to replace him in the second half because he was feeling so depressed. Unfortunately we didn't , and to be honest the rest of us had already made that enquiry after his fourth shot , let alone leaving it till the end of the frame. 1-1

Jon Ashby didn't seem to fancy hanging around too long against The Bear as he blundered a pot to the corner leaving Brad a long black to make it 2-1 five minutes later.

'Wonder' Walls took out the sort of finish that made him famous in the old days, followed by missing the sort of black that is making him legendary these days. He got too straight on a black that had to be flicked off a yellow and into the middle and having done the hard part hit the jaw with the black - Vikas said 'told you this was an easy win' and cleared up. 2-2

The 'bronze adonis' Payney returned from his Caribbean holiday to knuckle down and defeat Del, and Pat proved The Reporters theory that he has to play further down the order by playing an excellent frame against Paul to put us 4-2 up. This was despite trying to tell us that a 'heavy' white ball was to blame for his performance in the three man during the week. Here was another to add to the list of top ten excuses in pool which will deserve a separate thread of its own soon. Please Captain Terry, no more playing Mr Phelan in slot one.

So 4-2 up at the break and it was time to put the foot down and leave this band of monkey wanna-bees in the dirt. John Shiel put in yet another W next to his name for 5-2 and is becoming more and more dependable by the week. 'Bagel' Brant then played his best frame in a long time (which unfortunately shows just how appalling he has been) with a super finish against Del and from 2-2 it was 6-2 and we were well in control.

Brad and Payney to come and already I sensed that we had one foot in the final. But like slipping your hand under the dinner table to Heather McCartney, this leg was not all it appeared to be and the Fox mounted a comeback. Brad missed a long yellow against 'Vileda' Vikas, who got out the super-mop to cut the deficit to 6-3 and Steve Carmichael took advantage of a seriously sloppy frame from the otherwise wonderfully tanned Payney to make it 6-4.

The brief panic was was soon hushed as Pat 'I get the sweetest' Phelan put in his second top class frame of the night against Jon Ashby and ensured we had a first leg lead 7-4.

What was needed now was a solid frame from Walls against Trevor 'Buenos' Dias. The writing was on the wall when the 'Wonder' actually played his first safety shot of 2007 to gasps from the crowd. He looked pretty proud of himself and then realised he really had no idea what to do after that and collapsed in a pile of mediocrity for the rest of the frame.

So a win for the Irish but at least Keith made sure that its all to play for next week and hopefully we get some sort of cliff hanger/pressure finish as it should be in cup knockout competitions. 8-4 and it was probably all over, but with the score now only 7-5 it means there is plenty of life left in the second leg, rather like slipping your hand under the dinner table to …. oh you get the message ! :roll: