SNOOKER: Swail wins McNamee Trophy without losing a frame

Defending champion Joe Swail annihilated all before him as he retained the Starplan Barry McNamee Memorial Trophy at the Pot Black Club in Cookstown.

The Belfast man’s dominance was such that he became the first player to ever win the tournament without losing a single frame throughout.

In clinching his third win in the event, he improved his already impressive record to eight final appearances in the event’s thirteen years.

Once again, Swail also won the highest break prize, the sixth time he done so, with a magnificent total clearance of 130 in his semi-final whitewash of Dubliner Joe Delaney.

As he did last year, he made three centuries during the day’s play, the others being a 119 clearance in beating Joe Meara in the quarters, and 125 in the first frame of the final.

Tournament host Patrick Wallace was his opponent in the title decider, but the former professional from Dungannon had no answer to further breaks of 60 and 76 as he was restricted to just a single point in the match.

Wallace’s semi-final victim was last year’s finalist Michael Judge, whom he beat 3-1.

Once again, the tournament was well supported by the players, who were extremely complimentary about the conditions in the Cookstown club and the competition looks set to continue for another few years at least.