England picked up the trophy for the 23rd occasion in it’s 25 year history with a solid performance over the two days, accumulating 55 points from a possible 72.
Holding a 14 point lead going into day two, England didn’t have it all their own way.
After a 4-2 loss to Austria in the morning session, however strong sessions afterwards extended their lead and ensured the trophy remained in their possession for another year.
Full time scores (day one in brackets)
England
55
(32)
Northern Ireland
40
(18)
Republic of Ireland
36
(18)
Austria
13
(4)
For England both Rob Hall and Nathan Mann had 100 percent records picking up all 10 points possible from their matches.
This was closely followed by Mark Hirst, with 7 from 8, Chris Mitchell with 7 from 8, Chris Taylor with 8 from 10 and Terry Azor with 6 from 8.
Over the weekend there were 14 century breaks with 7 from Rob Hall, 3 from Christian Kirk, 2 from Mark Hirst, and 1 from Nathan Mann and Chris Taylor.
Anthony O’Flaherty from the ROI made a series of 80 plus breaks and pushed Mitchell and Mann close in their matches.
Full results can be seen via the link at the top of this page!
A big thank you goes to Landywood Snooker Club and Paul Lloyd and his fantastic staff.
Next up on the international calendar will be England’s visit to Newtownards in February in the pursuit to retain the Friendly Cup.
The Players from all 4 competing nations.
The Northern Ireland team
L-R Korbin Lowe, Paul Lindsay, Kenny Campbell, Christian Kirk, Keith McCready, Alaistair McDonald, Chris Johnston, Dom Haillgan
The Republic of Ireland Team
L-R Lloyd Myers, Anthony O’Flaherty, John Kehoe, Larry Drennan, Jason Dowling, Aidan Murray
The Austrian Team
L-R Josef Wimmer, Christian Plescko, CW Steiner, Patrick Steigmeir, Martin Schmidt, Tomasz Janzo
The English Team
L-R Nathan Mann, Mark Hirst, Chris Taylor, Rob Hall, Darren Kell, Chris Mitchell, Dean Manders and Terry Azor