Champ Chris is billiards ace

Champ Chris is billiards ace

22 March 2017

CHRIS Johnston is the billiards individual champion for 2017.

The semi-finals and final were played out before an appreciative crowd in Drumaness last week. 

In the first match, Crossgar team-mates John Weston and Kenny Campbell locked horns and with only five points difference between them on handicap, indications were that this would be a close one. 

However, the younger Campbell had other ideas and, with breaks of 30, 32, 58 and a closing 62, he booked his place in the final with a 200-80 win. 

On the other table St Patrick’s player Johnston was up against Marty Singh from the Drumaness club and the pair were closely matched on handicap. 

Neither player was able to recapture their quarter-final fluency early on, but with breaks of 30, 45 and an unfinished 38, Johnston ran out a worthy winner at 200 -107 to book his place in the showpiece final.

Having recently beaten Johnston in the Bangor league individual, Campbell went into the final in confident mood, but that mood changed as Johnston hit the ground running. 

With handicap advantage and early breaks of 22 and 32, he had built up his lead to over 100 points.  Campbell rallied with a tidy 42 break, but couldn’t quite make up the lost ground as Johnston kept the scoreboard moving with further 20-plus breaks.

The Crossgar faithful thought the tide was turning when Campbell closed to within 30 points at 112 to 142. 

However, that was as good as it got, as Johnston finished strongly to emerge the 2017 champion at 200 points to Campbell’s 119.

League treasurer Robert Pollock did the presentation honours and congratulated all four semi-finalists, before commiserating with Kenny Campbell — beaten in the final for the second year running — and handing the trophy over to a delighted Chris Johnston.

He thanked the referees for their assistance on the night and the Drumaness club once again for staging the finals and their generous hospitality throughout.