Coone back from dead
CONOR COONE completed a remarkable comeback in St. Patrick’s snooker club (Gorey) last Friday night when recovering from two-nil down to defeat Jordan Synnott in the final of the prestigious Mylie Doyle snooker tournament.
The result was all the more impressive considering his opponent was the defending champion, having won the event last year and claimed the European Under-23 pool championships a week previously.
The reigning champion started the final in fine fettle when taking advantage of a fluked red by firing in a quickfire break of 20 before putting his opponent in trouble when placing Conor in a snooker behind the yellow.
The underdog failed to escape and Synnott got back to the table and with the balls at his mercy knocked in a 24 before miscuing. This left his opponent with an opportunity which Conor failed to take advantage of when breaking down on just nine.
Frame two began in similar fashion as Conor was struggling to settle and his opponent was punishing every missed opportunity. Jordan was flying at this stage and were it not for an unfortunate cannon when splitting the pack of reds on a break of 32, he was likely to win the frame in one visit.
The scoreboard was changing fast and with Synnott in full control and looking very confident, a whitewash appeared very much on the cards. However, whilst still playing well below his best, Conor dug in and managed to win a very scrappy third frame by taking advantage of his opponent’s failure to pot the match-winning black when on a break of 29 to reduce his arrears to 2-1.
That missed black appeared to really rattle Jordan as the fluency and confidence with which he started the match appeared to disappear, and his frustration was beginning to show when he missed a straight black off the spot with the balls at his mercy.
Every time Jordan missed, his opponent’s confidence was increasing and Conor continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over before a well-timed break of 24 secured the fourth frame which left the scoreline delicately posed at 2-2.
The early exchanges in the deciding frame were full of tension with both players creating and wasting good scoring opportunities. Coone appeared the more composed player although when he missed a mid-distance red on a break of 24, he must have feared the worst.
However, Synnott broke down when missing his second black off the spot in as many frames after potting a brilliant long red to get in. This resulted in a lengthy safety battle before the comeback victory became almost inevitable when Conor fluked a long red and placed his opponent in a snooker.
Jordan managed to escape from the snooker but left his opponent a long distance red that Conor potted superbly which left the reigning champion at the snookers required stage.
Conor’s experience was really telling at this stage and with the help of some shrewd tactical play he managed to close out a superb victory which his solid matchplay snooker deserved, whilst Jordan was left to rue that missed black he had to win.