Mackintosh Sports’ Ronnie Allen and Alan Hurley are the Cardiff Open Pairs champions after a closely-fought 3-2 win against Taff’s Well’s Kevin Brown and Tom Cross.

The 2018 winners dominated the early proceedings with Hurley registering breaks of 48 and 33 to seal the first frame, and then a 33 clearance was enough to wrap at the second to make them strong favourites to regain their title.

However, solid matchplay by Brown and Cross managed to get them back into the match by winning the next frame on the blue, and this seemed to change the momentum of the match as the Taff’s Well pairing grew stronger in the next to win on the colours.

The deciding frame was a tense affair lasting almost an hour as a combination of excellent safety play and the position of the balls meant neither team could build up a clear lead. However, Brown and Cross did breakaway with a handful of reds left building up a 25-point lead as they sought to win their second Open Pairs title.

Allen and Hurley managed to stay in it to the colours though and with only the blue, pink and black left on the table they trailed by 4 points. Both sides at attempts to pot the blue and with the pink hanging over the middle pocket victory was in sight, but Hurley delivered the decisive blow with an excellent blue to the yellow pocket. The pink followed putting them seven points clear and then a cut black into the middle pocket to give the Mackintosh pair victory in a tightly-contested match.