29/04/2026
Last weekend saw a record 43 players take part in the annual Christy Henry Memorial Cup & Shield Competitions🏆
Shield Report:
With some big names being eliminated from the Cup section, it turned into a very competitive Shield section.
Aaron Cafferkey, Aiden Kilbane, Diarmuid Cooney, Kieran McGinty, Martin P***k, Matthew Conway, Stuart Latimer & Tony McGing all progressed to the Quarter-Finals while players the likes of Ian Sheehy & Jack Kilbane made unexpected early exits.
The semi-finals then saw Martin take on Kieran & Matthew up against Tony but both Tony & Kieran had convincing wins to set up a showdown in the Final.
Hard luck to both Martin & Matthew who played some lovely pool throughout.
Tony got off to a cracking start winning the first 3 frames in the final but Kieran soon got into gear & won the next 4 frames to take the lead, Tony made it 4 a piece but Kieran dominated the next few to get over the finish line & be crowned the Shield Winner🏆 Commiserations to Tony who played some fantastic pool during the course of the day👏
Cup Report:
There were lots of stand out performances & surprise early exits in the Cup section on Friday evening & Saturday.
Despite losing in the semi-final to the eventual winner, Brandon McGing performed fantastic beating top players like Kieran McGinty, Ian Sheehy & Paul Gallagher.
David Ryder also had a great tournament beating 2 fellow Currane men in Rory Gallagher & JD O' Malley then defeating Cathal Mcloughlin in an epic semi-final tie (definitely one of the best matches of the comp) before just missing out on lifting the Cup.
Enda McHugh, Ger Ryan, John McGing & Paul Gallagher all made it to the Quarter-Final stage but the standout player of the competition was the winner Craig Cattigan.
He played some fantastic pool all day long beating Stuart Latimer, John McGing, Oisin Grealis, Blondie Kilbane & Brandon on route to the Final.
It was evenly matched between himself & David after the first few frames but towards the end Craig built up some momentum to get himself over the line to be crowned the winner with his father watching on from the sidelines 🏆
This was his first time entering the competition & it definitely won't be his last time after tasting victory.
The presentations were then made by Aiden to the losing semi-finalists, defeated finalists & winners of the Shield & Cup.
Overall this competition in memory of Christy Henry was a fantastic success with the record number of entries 👏
These competitions are only made possible with the help of many people so huge thanks go to the following people:
➡️Cathal, Una, Eileen, Mary & all the staff at Ostan Oilean Acla.
➡️Connacht Amusements for the tables & sponsorship.
➡️Michael, Kathleen & John Patten for the use of their table.
➡️Josie Mcloughlin for the use of his table.
➡️Kieran McGinty for his help levelling all the tables.
➡️Jack Kilbane for all his help doing the draws, uploading it all on Cuescore & organising the Friday session & Sat morning session.
➡️Ger Ryan for the streaming of the event & his commentary with Stuart, Craig, Martin & others on the mic.
➡️John Patten for transporting the tables to & from Alices with great help from Sean Gallagher, Martin P***k, Jack, Matthew Conway, Aiden, Krystoff Jablonski.
➡️Everyone who supported the 50/50 draw in aid of the Inishbiggle Festival & those who called in to watch some of the action on both days.
➡️All those who brushed & ironed the tables during the 2 days.
➡️To all the players who entered the competition.
➡️The Achill Pub Pool Committee.
➡️Ian Sheehy for creating this competition a few years ago & for all help with it & everything to do with with Achill Pool.
Apologies to anyone that's not mentioned.
This is the official end of the pool season in Achill & it is a lovely way of honouring & remembering Christy.
There are 8 or 9 lads heading off to the All-Irelands in Kilarney next month to play in team & single events, so the very best of luck to them🤞
More to follow on that in the next few weeks🎱🎱
