Masterclass night from snooker legend Jimmy White
Last Wednesday night week, May 11th, turned out to be the night of all nights when snooker legend Jimmy ‘The Whirlwind’ White graced the green baize of the table in Miko’s Bar.
The evening got underway at Clongibbon House with a meet and greet one hour session at 7pm. ‘The Whirlwind’ entered the room to loud cheering and rapturous applause by 30 snooker and pool enthusiasts and of course Jimmy White fans. He went around the room meeting pretty much all in attendance and posed for photographs with everyone. Speaking of photos, a very big thank you to TheAvondhu and their photographer Sean Burke for coming along and taking some great pictures in both The Clongibbon and the main venue, where most of the night’s photos were taken. Also a big thank you to Pat Tangney and his staff for giving us The Clon for the meet and greet, for providing the finger food and for looking after our guest with an overnight stay.
The main event got up and running at 8pm, when once again Jimmy White was introduced to those in attendance. By this time the crowd had doubled to 60 people which was the limited amount of seats available so that everyone had an excellent view of proceedings. He was greeted with deafening cheers and applause as he took centre stage.
In total he played 15 players on the night which resulted in somewhere between 35 and 40 games of pool, with each match being the best of 3 games. With some decent players going head to head with the maestro, it was always going to be the case that one or two might be successful. Five of the players were some of the guys who were part of the past but successful Miko’s Bar A pool team, with John O’Beirne, Alan Murphy, Seamus Kilmartin, Darren Dingivan and Kevin McGrath all stepping up to the plate. Others to take to the table on the night were either in-form players or successful competition players, such as the Rice brothers Maurice and Andy, along with Mike Darcy, Kevin Crowley and Dave O’Mahoney. However, I think it would be safe to say that one of the players that most impressed Jimmy White was young man Jim Roche. The local lad received not only 4 or 5 butt of the cue floor taps to acknowledge some of his shots but also some shot advice over their 3 frames.
Throughout the evening though it was the skill of ‘The Whirlwind’ that was on show, leaving everyone present either gobsmacked or constantly clapping at what they were seeing. He left players with 5, 6 or 7 balls on the table, as well as 2 or 3 cushion black ball finishes. On two occasions, early in the evening and again late in the evening, he removed the white ball from the green baize with just the black ball remaining on the table. He proceeded to put the white on the top rail of the pool table and then power cued the white ball back onto the green baize hitting the black at a 45 degree angle, driving it straight into the left hand corner pocket. To do this after numerous attempts would be amazing, but to perform this identical shot twice at least 2 hours apart and both times drive the black ball into the same pocket is nothing more than mind blowing. Having complete his final match he received a standing ovation from the crowded bar which he once more acknowledged.
The night ended with an auction and raffle (on earlier tickets sold). Some lovely framed and signed photographs of Jimmy White, along with some much sought after items were won in the raffle while the highlight of the auction was a beautiful case which was not only signed by three times world champion Jimmy White, but also 1997 world snooker champion Ken Doherty and 2018 world snooker champion Mark William. Local man and fellow pool player on the night Dave Murphy’s excellent big of €300 grabbed him a fantastic snooker memento.
That should have brought the long night to a close but due to a swarm of autograph hunters looking to get items signed, the guest of honour wasn’t slipping away that easily. Being the gentleman he is he stayed on and signed all of his opponents snooker cues, along with numerous polo shirts, t-shirts and photos belonging to the 60-strong crowd.
As he left Miko’s he once again received a standing ovation from a very happy bunch of people, who he turned around to and acknowledge before leaving. A great night was had by all which was duly confirmed the following day with numerous thank you calls received by proprietor John O’Beirne. As for this PRO, on reading this report it will be quite obvious that I am a fan of Jimmy White and also a fan of his friend, the late Alex Higgins, the people’s champions.
We have now had two great legends grace the table locally, first there was six times world snooker champion Steve Davis a few years back and now the great Jimmy White. Could there be a third snooker legend coming to Mitchelstown in the not too distant future? Watch this space …
SPRING POOL CLASSIC
Due to last week’s visit by snooker legend Jimmy White and the report on his time in Mitchelstown, we have decided to leave the spring pool classic semi-final/ final reports until a later date. Both the pool classic final and the B competition final were played last Saturday night. Hopefully both reports and photos will appear in next week’s TheAvondhu.
Miko’s Bar – the home of competition pool.