All-Ireland Championships 2009

A total of 13 players took part in the 2nd All-Ireland Championships in Dunmurry - 11 from the North and 2 from the South.

It turned out to be a very competitive but sporting tournament. Northern Ireland's Kenny Beggs just about retained the Open title, beating Dublin's John Moore on shots in the Final. He then made it a double by defeating David Clegg in the Veteran Final. Mark McKane became the new Under-19 Champion, knocking out the holder, Peter Morrison, in the Semi-Final before beating Adam Scullion in the Final. Nicky Moore, the other Southern player, won the Plate with a Final victory over Alistair Morison.

The format consisted of two 4-player groups and one 5-player group. Top two players in Groups 1 & 2, plus top three in Group 3 qualified for Quarter-Finals. The remaining quarter-finalist was decided via a play-off between 3rd player in Groups 1 & 2.

Number 1 seed, Kenny Beggs, topped Group 1, as expected, with Peter Morrison qualifying in 2nd place and Eoin Adams finishing 3rd to make the play-off. It looked like Eoin would automatically qualify in 2nd place, after defeating Mark McKane 4-1 and drawing 1-1 with Kenny, which left him only requiring a draw with Peter in his final group match - but he made the mistake of playing for a draw and got caught out with a sucker punch when Peter scored the only goal of the game near the end.

Group 2 was very tight, with John Moore, Barry Spence and Alistair Morrison finishing on 6 points. They all beat Under-19 player, Adam Scullion, but took points of each other. The surprise result was Alistair's 1-0 victory over Number 2 seed, Barry. Despite that result, however, he only finished 3rd on goal-difference, leaving him to face Eoin Adams in the play-off.

Group 3 was the proverbial 'Group of Death', although there were 3 qualifying places available as this was the five-player group. Number 3 seed, and last year's runner-up, Davy Clegg, was fortunate to scrape through in 3rd place, behind the in-form Joe McRoberts and Stephen Rodgers. Davy just pipped Nicky Moore on goal-difference, due to a 3-0 victory in his opening match against John Hughes. Joe and Stephen drew with each other but took maximum points from their other opponents. Joe, playing for the first time this year, topped the group, thanks to his free-scoring play, including a 4-0 thumping of Davy.

In the play-off, Eoin Adams scored a golden-goal against Alistair Morrison to reach the Quarter-Finals, where he provided tough opposition for John Moore, eventually losing 2-3, this time being on the receiving end of a golden-goal. Barry Spence also required extra-time to beat Stephen Rodgers. Kenny Beggs defeated Davy Clegg in a repeat of last year's final and Joe McRoberts beat Peter Morrison 2-0.

Joe's good run ended in the Semi-Final, when John Moore came from behind to win 2-1. In the other Semi-Final, two first-half goals were enough for Kenny Beggs to overcome Barry Spence and thus set up a North v South Final.

John dominated the first half of the Final with some fine attacking play but Kenny gradually came into the game and took the lead midway through the 2nd half. This prompted John to attack again and he was rewarded with an equaliser to take the game into extra-time. Kenny had possession for the whole of the extra period but he couldn't break down John's solid defence, so a shoot-out was required. John missed all five shots, while Kenny scored only one to win the Championship by the narrowest of margins.