Finland Goes Through Into Round Two in Billiards

Finland Goes Through Into Round Two in BilliardsThe Finland billiards team looked good as they eased their way into the second round of the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool billiard tournament at the expense of Ireland ’s Tommy Donlon and Paddy McLaughlin on Thursday afternoon. In the end the class and top-level experience of the Scandinavian duo, consisting of 2001 World Pool Champion Mika Immonen and former Euro Tour event winner Markus Juva, told against the plucky Irish opposition. “I’m very pleased with the result,” said Immonen after the match. “Ireland made a few break and runs but also a few decisional errors and I think their lack of experience was the reason they lost.”Who do you think will win? Discuss World Cup of Pool here.
Things started bad for Team Ireland as a miss by Donlon on the 2 ball allowed the Finns to take the rack against the head and a confident break and run by the Finns increased their lead to two. The Irish got their confidence up in the third game as McLaughlin executed a text-book break and from there they cleared to get to 2-1. However, Finland responded well themselves with a great break shot from Juva and from there the rest of the rack was elementary. In the next, Donlon fired home a powerful break shot but saw the 1 ball hidden up table so was forced to push out. A less-than-tight safety from Immonen allowed Donlon to play an excellent cross table bank on the 1 ball and leave perfect position for the 2 ball. But the run broke down with a 5/8 combination that saw the 8 drop but the 5 stay tight on the top rail and the Irish were forced to play safe. Finland got the better of the exchange as Immonen left Donlon with a very difficult escape. The clock though, ran out to leave ball in hand for Finland and they cleared to go into a 4-1 lead. There was further safety play in the next game and once again Finland proved stronger at the critical point to go to 5-1. The Irish though are renowned for their fighting qualities and Donlon and McLaughlin won the next two to give the Finns something to think about at 5-3 down. But the seventh seeds responded well to take the next two and put themselves in a very strong position at 6-3. The Irish hung in to take the next but Immonen and Juva soon reached the hill, but Donlon and McLaughlin again kept there hopes alive as they took the next game to make the score 8-5. Ireland got to the table in the next as both teams exchanged safeties. It was McLaughlin though who cracked first though as he failed to make a rail to give Finland cue ball in hand. From there they made no mistakes to close out a tidy 9-5 win and move into tomorrow night’s second round. Juva was delighted to get their first match out of the way. He said: “The TV table played very well but, at the start, I felt a bit nervous. “I live in Philadelphia so I was a bit jet lagged but yesterday I practiced hard and felt more confident as the game approached. “I’m a slow player but the 45 second shot clock was perfect for me so I settled a bit. As long as Mika can play his game I think we can win. He’s very calm and stroking well and that’s helping me to play world-class pool.”

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