Alpha 8-6 Monkstown Bees
Barbarians 5-9 Rockers
Scorpions 11-3 Dolly Mixtures
Pirates 4-10 Eastway
Monkstown v Spartans (P)
Greenisland 5-9 Castle
Castle made the short trip to Greenisland with one eye on their RAOB counterparts, the Barbarians, fixture against last years third placed team the Rockers. Perhaps they should have had both eyes on this fixture. It started off relatively well as Glenn Burns missed his finish to let Trevor Whiteside in for a magnificent 8-ball clearance but things quickly turned sour as Barry Crossey missed his black and league veteran Harry Warwick equalised with a crisp clearance. Dee Irwin edged a tactical frame against Richard Croft to put the visitors ahead again but Tom McCorry then failed at two attempts on the black to let W Morrison equalise for the home side. Things kept descending for the Champions as Paul Roberts gave away two shots to let Glenn Burns in for a good finish and to put the home side ahead for the first time in the match. W McCandless was unlucky to dry break against Irwin, who duly whipped in a breathtaking 8-ball finish. Stuarty Lennon controlled his frame throughout against James Meredith and gave the Greenisland boys a thoroughly deserved 4-3 half time lead.
After some harsh words from their captain the Castle moved up a gear with Whiteside winning a fine tactical frame against Morrison. Irwin was handed his third as the unlucky Burns potted the black mid frame. Meredith then won a tactical game against Warwick as the Greenisland Club came alive with singing and dancing. Roberts, obviously thriving on the atmosphere pulled out a splendid break and finish against Croft. Warwick drew Crossey again with the same result, clearing after getting two shots. McCorry continued his resurgence of form with a great finish against Lennon and Roberts got his second of the evening, pouncing on a missed black from McCandless to duly clear.
A good night had by all and a very good first half performance from Greenisland who just didn't have enough gas in the tank to take the points. There were a lot of signs of encouragement for Harry Warwick as he tries to bed his new players in.