THE eight quarter-finalists have been determined for the second ranking event on the NIBSA calendar, which is being played at the Blackstaff Snooker Club in Belfast.
Eighty-five players have battled it out over the last two weekends and there has been no shortage of surprises, with Northern Ireland champion Darren Dornan the only one of the top four on the ranking list still standing.
Number one Patrick Wallace was the first big name to fall in the first quarter, losing 3-2 to Newry’s Kieran McMahon, who followed up with 3-0 wins over Conor Morgan and Paul Lindsay to reach the last eight.
Eamon Ferris from Drumaness will be his opponent next Monday (November 11). He had a fine 3-1 win over Declan Hughes sandwiched between 3-0 victories over Paul Canavan and Paul Sweeney.
Dungannon man Wallace did have the consolation of the only century break of the day, a run of 111.
Another Drumaness player, Shea Valentine, and Fergal Quinn will also meet next Monday after they emerged from quarter two.
Valentine squeezed past Sean McAnoy (3-2) after accounting for Jonathan Edmunds (3-0) and Barry McClements (3-1). McClements had earlier taken the scalp of number four seed Declan Lavery (3-2).
Coalisland man Quinn, ranked number five, accounted for Joel Connolly in his last-16 match (3-0), the Belfast teenager failing to sustain his form from earlier in the day which saw him record breaks of 138 and 102 in wins over Giles Kee (3-1) and Paul Speers (3-0).
Loughinisland man Dornan made it three quarter-finalists from the Drumaness club, and he will face Ballymena’s Colin Anderson on Sunday (November 10) after wins over Conor McWilliams (3-0), Paul McKendry (3-1) and Maurice McCusker (3-1). He also recorded the highest break of the day (111).
Anderson accounted for Gregory Cooke (3-1), Lee Corr (3-1) and sixth-ranked Brian Milne, with a top break of 85 on the day.
Anto Heaney, from the host club, and Northern Ireland Championship runner-up Ryan McQuillan from Antrim make up the remaining last-eight pairing this Sunday.
Heaney had wins over Mark Jackson, Connell Doherty and Danny Boyle to progress, with his club-mate Doherty pushing him to a deciding frame after knocking out number two-ranked Raymond Fry from Antrim.
McQuillan kept the flag flying for the Antrim men as he beat Peter Doherty (3-1) and Stephen Brady (3-2) to progress.
Quarter-finals (best of seven frames)
Sunday, November 10 (11am)
Colin Anderson v Darren Dornan
Ryan McQuillan v Anto Heaney
Monday, November 11 (7pm)
Kieran McMahon v Eamon Ferris
Fergal Quinn v Shea Valentine.
Semi-finals will follow the quarter-finals on both days with the the final taking place on Saturday, November 16 at 11am.
