The Manx snooker season came to a fitting close with Darryl Hill and Tom Miller producing an Island Championship final to remember last weekend.

Both had eased through to the final a couple of days earlier with 5-2 and 5-0 results against Calum Gardner and Jamie Wilson respectively.

Last season’s winner John Kennish had succumbed to Hill in a deciding frame at the quarter-final stage and Hill was looking to match his haul of six titles.

The first three frames of the best-of-11 final were the scrappiest of the match, Miller losing the first with a foul on a deciding black, missing the ball completely when aiming for the thinnest of safety shots.

The next two were shared, leaving Hill 2-1 ahead. The big breaks then started to flow, Miller with 31 and 48 to take frame four but Hill replied with runs of 50 and 46 to go back ahead. An excellent 50 clearance from Miller made it three apiece.

The sequence of Hill going a frame ahead and Miller levelling continued as Hill in frame seven made the highest break of the final with a 58, but Miller hit back once again with 37 and 22 to go 4-4.

So effectively the final was now a best-of-three. Somehow a long red from Miller didn’t drop into a corner and hung over the pocket, so a grateful Hill finished the frame with a 30 break to go one from victory.

A decider looked likely as Miller opened with 33 in frame 10 and was surprised that a pink to middle didn’t drop when looking well set.

Hill countered immediately with 39, this ending with an even easier miss on the penultimate red with the finish line in sight, luckily leaving both safe.

Miller didn’t get a chance of another pot as, even though Hill missed an easy final yellow with the rest, he soon got another chance which he cued beautifully from distance, landing on frame and match ball green so perfectly that Miller immediately offered his hand to confirm a 6-4 win for Hill.

Frame scores (Hill first): 56-47, 30-60, 70-32, 0-79, 96-16, 45-75, 80-9, 7-73, 82-34 and 60-37.

Congratulations go to Hill who ironically defeated Miller to claim his first island title in 2010. He has reached eight finals in all and afterwards said it was the best he’d been involved in. The birthday boy and ex-professional was very happy, feeling he hadn’t won as many championships as he should have over the years.

Miller’s quest for a third title goes on, having won in 1998 and 2007, but he was happy enough with his performance, especially as he isn’t the biggest fan of the Star table.

He has been in excellent form this season and to still be at the top of his game after all this time is a fine achievement - just a couple of balls dropping his way and it could easily have been a different result.

A recording of the final is available on Isle of Man Billiards and Snooker Association’s Facebook page.

Thanks go to referee Dave Kelly who did a double shift on the day, officiating in the Championship Challenge finale before the island final - eight and a half hours in total! Also thanks to scorer Jane Hill, Cue Zone and to co-commentator Peter ‘JV’ Crellin.

The next scheduled Manx snooker will be at the Home Internationals due to take place in Leeds in August.

One final thanks to all the kind contributions to the snooker reports throughout the season.