RAYMOND Fry won the opening ranking event of the 2024-25 NIBSA season at the Antrim Sports Club with a 5-4 win over Antrim club-mate Declan Lavery.
Lavery had taken a 2-0 lead, helped by a break of 54 in frame one, but a run of 57 had Fry on the board, followed by visits of 42 and 62 (clearance) to level at the interval.
Frame five was pivotal as Lavery took control with a 41 but Fry’s response was a 71 to the final blue to move ahead for the first time.
Frame six followed a similar pattern, with Lavery in first but breaking down on 37 and Fry punishing him with a clearance of 83 to move too within one of victory.
Lavery stopped the rot by winning frame seven and then produced the highest break of the contest, 94, to force a decider.
In a tense, sudden-death scenario it was Fry who produced some good safety play and compiled enough from three visits to edge over the line, wrapping up the frame on the final green.
Earlier in the day, in the semi-finals, Fry had also been forced to a decider by Ballycastle’s Sean Gray after losing a 3-0 lead, while Lavery beat number-one ranked Patrick Wallace from Dungannon 4-1.
