The 2017-18 Island Pairs Championship came to a thrilling conclusion last Thursday with the final being held at Peel Legion Snooker Club.

After the biggest entry the tournament has seen for some years, it was Darryl Hill and Dollin Mercer against Paul Smyth and Sean Corkish.

The match was the best of five frames with the first two being individual, the third a doubles frame and the final two - if required - individual again.

Although neither team had lost any frames going into the final, very fittingly the match went to a deciding frame which was then decided on the final black.

The first frame was guaranteed to start the final in the best possible way with this season’s Champion of Champion finalists, Hill and Corkish, playing each other first.

But it was not to be a close frame as Hill who - having the made the Pairs final twice before, surprisingly didn’t have his name on this trophy yet - dominated the frame with a break of 41 which he followed with a 38 clearance to put himself and Mercer 1-0 up, taking the frame 86-20.

Smyth continued his good recent form levelling the match against Mercer by 70 points to 32, therefore at 1-1 attention turned to the doubles frame and, after doubling the players’ handicaps and halving them it was Hill and Mercer who received a minor start of seven points.

With some solid visits from both players, Hill and Mercer eased to the frame win by 78 points to 29 to edge ahead yet again.

Frame four saw Hill take on Smyth with the latter receiving a 21 start. Hill never really made up the initial deficit and with some more solid potting and by keeping things tight, it was Smyth who took the frame 75-45 to put the match score to 2-2 which meant it was coming down to one frame.

A mention there to Paul for winning both of his individual frames. In the decider, Mercer took on Corkish with the former receiving a 35 start.

In the early part of the frame, naturally both players were tense and missed some opportunities but it was Corkish who was scoring more and was beginning to close in on his opponent.

Mercer then found some composure and had a couple of important visits, one being a 16 break which gave himself a lead in the frame once again.

With five reds left, Mercer was leading by 45 points - four reds were in the open and the last was quite near the side cushion. Corkish cleared the three reds with colours and then dropped in perfectly behind the last red.

The only thing then was the brown was near the other side cushion near the green so Corkish planned to pot the last red, leave himself on the yellow so that he could in turn leave an angle on the green to edge the brown over the middle.

All of the above worked and as he nudged the brown over the middle pocket, the final looked over. However, he didn’t have the correct angle on the brown which was important as the pink was on the brown spot so he had to leave himself the wrong side of the blue to send the white down to bounce off the black cushion and back up the table.

Corkish potted the blue to take the break to 51 but left the white quite close to the jaws of the centre leaving a difficult pink for the title. After re-approaching the shot two or three times, he missed the pink and left it quite close to the yellow pocket with Mercer stepping up requiring both remaining balls.

The latter took his time and knocked in the pink and brought the white down nicely towards the black but he did leave himself slightly too high on the black.

Realising this was maybe his only shot at winning the title, he went for the cut and executed the shot perfectly, taking the title for himself and Hill 71-70 in the decider.

It was a fitting finish to a great pairs tournament and a great evening - well done to both teams and what an effort from Corkish in the end to just miss the last pink on 51 only to see Mercer hold himself together and play two good pressure shots to claim the win.

Thanks go to referees Steve Cowin and Don Humphries and thanks to the latter for preparing the table as well which played great all night. Thanks to Peel Legion for staging the final.

The match was the best of five frames with the first two being individual, the third a doubles frame and the final two - if required - individual again.

Although neither team had lost any frames going into the final, very fittingly the match went to a deciding frame which was then decided on the final black.

The first frame was guaranteed to start the final in the best possible way with this season’s Champion of Champion finalists, Hill and Corkish, playing each other first.

But it was not to be a close frame as Hill who - having the made the Pairs final twice before, surprisingly didn’t have his name on this trophy yet - dominated the frame with a break of 41 which he followed with a 38 clearance to put himself and Mercer 1-0 up, taking the frame 86-20.

Smyth continued his good recent form levelling the match against Mercer by 70 points to 32, therefore at 1-1 attention turned to the doubles frame and, after doubling the players’ handicaps and halving them it was Hill and Mercer who received a minor start of seven points.

With some solid visits from both players, Hill and Mercer eased to the frame win by 78 points to 29 to edge ahead yet again.

Frame four saw Hill take on Smyth with the latter receiving a 21 start. Hill never really made up the initial deficit and with some more solid potting and by keeping things tight, it was Smyth who took the frame 75-45 to put the match score to 2-2 which meant it was coming down to one frame.

A mention there to Paul for winning both of his individual frames. In the decider, Mercer took on Corkish with the former receiving a 35 start.

In the early part of the frame, naturally both players were tense and missed some opportunities but it was Corkish who was scoring more and was beginning to close in on his opponent.

Mercer then found some composure and had a couple of important visits, one being a 16 break which gave himself a lead in the frame once again.

With five reds left, Mercer was leading by 45 points - four reds were in the open and the last was quite near the side cushion. Corkish cleared the three reds with colours and then dropped in perfectly behind the last red.

The only thing then was the brown was near the other side cushion near the green so Corkish planned to pot the last red, leave himself on the yellow so that he could in turn leave an angle on the green to edge the brown over the middle.

All of the above worked and as he nudged the brown over the middle pocket, the final looked over. However, he didn’t have the correct angle on the brown which was important as the pink was on the brown spot so he had to leave himself the wrong side of the blue to send the white down to bounce off the black cushion and back up the table.

Corkish potted the blue to take the break to 51 but left the white quite close to the jaws of the centre leaving a difficult pink for the title. After re-approaching the shot two or three times, he missed the pink and left it quite close to the yellow pocket with Mercer stepping up requiring both remaining balls.

The latter took his time and knocked in the pink and brought the white down nicely towards the black but he did leave himself slightly too high on the black.

Realising this was maybe his only shot at winning the title, he went for the cut and executed the shot perfectly, taking the title for himself and Hill 71-70 in the decider.

It was a fitting finish to a great pairs tournament and a great evening - well done to both teams and what an effort from Corkish in the end to just miss the last pink on 51 only to see Mercer hold himself together and play two good pressure shots to claim the win.

Thanks go to referees Steve Cowin and Don Humphries and thanks to the latter for preparing the table as well which played great all night. Thanks to Peel Legion for staging the final.