Breaks

Jason Hewett 44 (Fairwater Cons)
Luke Haines 40 (Canton Libs)

Congratulations to Fairwater Cons who are the CDSA 2024-25 Premier League champions after a 4-1 win at home to Rumney British Legion in a nail-biting finish to an extraordinary title race full of twists and turns, as they pipped rivals Caerphilly A to the trophy.

Fairwater knew they had to match Caerphilly’s result at Mackintosh Snooker to guarantee a first title in three seasons, and they got off to a perfect start with Twm Sion Jones beating Ben Harding in the opening frame, before a 44 break from Jason Hewett against Ethan Chichester made it 2-0. However, a close third frame looked like being pivotal as Paul Chichester edged it on the blue versus Terry Garland to reduce the deficit. Fairwater knew a 3-2 win may not be enough as Caerphilly would clinch the title with a 5-0 victory, but Steve Flanagan won the next against Tony Parkin and when news came in that Caerphilly had only managed a 4-1 win, they knew they were champions and were able to enjoy Luke Pitman’s defeat of Andy McGill to round off the match to win the league by just two points.

Caerphilly A knew only a big win at Division One champions Mackintosh Snooker would give them an opportunity to deny their rivals, but Allan Jones lost the opening frame against Eassa Din to give them an uphill task. However, wins for Steffan Davies against Carlos Schiazza and Ian Denton over Mike Nessbert put them 2-1 ahead. Nural Khan’s defeat of Nathan Dunne gave them the win and a walkover for Ben Griffiths finished the match off to leave them with an excellent 17/18 league record, which is a league record for a team finishing as runners-up, but the news of the result at Fairwater meant they had to settle for second.

Taff’s Well finish in third place in the Premier League after winning 3-2 at home to neighbours Taff’s Well Warriors, but they had to come from behind as Handicap Singles finalist Nick Davies overturned a 40-point deficit to win on the colours against Jimmy Llewellyn, before Rhys Carpenter levelled the match after beating Jason Veal with a very good black down the side cushion with the rest. Glyn Jones put Taff’s Well ahead as a fine potting display saw him defeat Chris Johnson and Kevin Brown capped off a tremendous individual season to beat Simon Takata, but the Warriors ended their season strongly as Dave Richards’ excellent matchplay was too much for Rob Hayes in the final frame.

County Cons finished their league season with a 3-2 win at home to Canton Libs, but a 40 break from Luke Haines saw Canton take the opening frame against Dan Wardle. Suhayb Din made it 1-1 with victory over James Wigmore, before Ronnie Allen put Canton ahead after defeating Dave Earls. A close win for Darren Gill against Tony Chick levelled the match but a walkover for Mike Rathkey gave County the victory.

The League Cup has been one of the successes of the season as a series of very close matches saw a number of sides in contention for the final semi-final spot as Roath Cons faced Macky Misfits. The Misfits knew two frames would be enough and they duly obliged in the opening singles frames as Satinder Singh and Bill Bainton beat Andrew Champion and Rob Reid respectively. Lee Cornock reduced the deficit against Jacob Boyle, before he and Bainton lost the doubles frame against Cornock and Alan Wright, but the Misfits had done enough to finish third in the table and book an away semi to neighbours Mackintosh Snooker in two weeks’ time.