Last weekend I had the honour of coaching the RIBSA Irish team to win the 2015 EBSA Men’s Snooker Team Championship when Robert Murphy & Michael Judge won the prestigious European title in the Dolmen Hotel in Malta In the final they beat the team from Malta of Tony Drago and Brian Chini 5 frames to 3 in an exciting final which was broadcasted live on Maltese TV.
I have now had the honour of coaching and guiding Irish players to win all major EBSA European Men and Masters Snooker Titles. David Hogan won the European Men’s Singles title in 2009, Mark Tuite & Anthony Bonnar won the European Masters Team Title in 2013, Mark Tuite won the European Masters Singles title in 2014 and now Robert Murphy & Michael Judge have won the European Men’s team title to complete the set of all EBSA men’s and master titles.
The Format
The format of the final was one singles frame each, followed by a scotch doubles frame and this was repeated three times in a total of 9 frames to find the winner. The match was very exciting but it started badly for the Irish when Michael Judge lost the opening frame to Drago, Robert levelled the match but the Malta team then won the Doubles frame to go 2-1 up at the interval.
After the interval the Irish came back strong when Robert beat Drago to level the match at 2-2. Michael then beat Chini to go 3 frames to 2 up. The Irish pair then won the doubles frame to go 4-2 up which was one of the most dramatic frames of snooker I have ever witnessed. Drago then fought back to beat Mick to close the gap to 3-4 but then Robert turned on the style to win his frame and the overall match and title 5 frames to 3 to delight all the crowd.
