Robert Murphy put himself back into contention for the Irish No.1 spot with a superb 5-0 victory over fellow Dubliner Robert Redmond in the final of the Irish Masters last weekend in Carlow.
This was only the fourth Irish Ranking Event of the season after the new year weather led to the postponement of the event back in January but the win has now gave Murphy a realistic chance of catching No.1 ranked Rodney Goggins.
A poor entry by normal standards shows that the downturn in the Irish economy is hitting everyone hard with only 83 entries down from it's normal 110-140 runners. However all the top players were accounted for but it wasn't long before many of them were falling by the wayside.
The Last 64 saw Irish Champion Martin McCrudden dumped out of the event by 16 year old Daniel O'Regan by three frames to two. Daniel, a younger cousin of main tour professional David Morris then went on to beat No.24 seed and fellow Irish Junior International David Cassidy 3-1 to reach the Last 16.
This was where his run was ended 3-2 by Clinton Franey but a great days play from the youngster to reach this far and a round which saw some of the biggest casualties of the day. No.1 seed Goggins lost out 3-1 to former professional Colm Gilcreest and Vincent Muldoon lost 3-1 to Nigel Power and with No.2 seed Mario Fernandez having lost in the Last 32 the tournament was now open for anyone to win.
Murphy got to the final thanks to wins over Charlie Byrne 3-1, Robert Donoghue 3-1, Greg Casey 3-1, Nigel Power 4-0 and then a 4-3 battle with Gilcreest in the semi finals. The final however was a one man show with Murphy running out a 5-0 winner with breaks of 58, 53 and 54 along the way.
The win gives Murphy those all important 15 points giving him a 9 point gain on Goggins but still has a long way to go to claw back the other 9 points he still lags behind. With a main tour nomination at stake all is to play for in the remaining four events which include the Irish Championships in May.
Last 16 Round
Rodney Goggins 1 3 Colm Gilcreest
Daniel O'Regan 2 3 Clinton Franey
Robert Murphy 3 1 Greg Casey
Nigel Power 3 1 Vincent Muldoon
Johnny Williams 3 1 Leonard Shanahan
Terry Parker 0 3 John Torpey
Robert Redmond 3 0 George Tierney
Colvin O'Brien 2 3 Jason Devaney
Q-Final
Colm Gilcreest 4 0 Clinton Franey
Robert Murphy 4 0 Nigel Power
Johnny Williams 4 2 John Torpey
Robert Redmond 4 2 Jason Devaney
Semi Finals
Colm Gilcreest 3 4 Robert Murphy
Johnny Williams 1 4 Robert Redmond
The Final
Robert Murphy 5 0 Robert Redmond
