Everyone
at Eastpoint was thrilled to see Alan Monks retain his National
Championships title at the Valley Leisure Centre in Newtonabbey
at the weekend.
He
won this title in March 2000 but the championships were postponed
because of the foot and mouth outbreak and played last Saturday.
The championships also featured the new 5 games to 11 for the first
time. Alan defeated Andrew Dennison from Belfast in the Quarter
finals 14-12, 12-10, 11-9 and Darryl Strong from Omagh in the Semi-finals
13-11,11-13,11-8,12-10.
In the final Alan faced Brian Fitzgerald the Irish No.1 from Cork in a tense final. The first two sets were honours even with Brian taking the first 12-10 and Alan the second 11-9. In a great third set both players played well but Alan came out on top 13-11 and ran away with the fourth set 11-2 to lift the Eddie Limberg Memorial Trophy for the National Champion. We commiserate with Brian who is playing in the club at the moment but it was Alan's day. All the more reason as Alan is heading off to Glamorgan University to study Psychology next week. We wish him all the best.