The 2025 Swanky Bar Pool Tournament ended in dramatic fashion last night when Tom Ward and Cyril Flynn faced off. Both men were looking to win the coveted trophy for a 2nd time. Tom and Cyril performed very well in the games leading into last night’s final.
Before the main course, Denny Hanrahan and James Enright faced each other in a competitive and fast paced 3rd/4th place play off where Denny Hanrahan saw off the strong challenge of James to seal an impressive win to secure 3rd spot.
The Final itself was evenly contested by both Tom and Cyril with Tom going into a 1-0 lead then Cyril brought it back to 1-1, then Cyril edged in front to make it 2-1, both players struggling to get into a smooth rhythm but still producing some lovely exciting pool.
Tom Ward took inspiration from the likes of Scott Mc Tominay, Kieran Tierney, Lawrence Shankland who all scored for Scotland in there impressive World Cup qualifier win over Denmark back in November to secure a World Cup spot for the first time since 1998.
He got the game back to 2-2 before Cyril snuck back in front to make it 3-2 then Tom fired back levelling this contest up at 3-3. Both men probably sensed that there were chances for both to take the game by the scruff of the neck and take charge.
Cyril was first to strike for home getting back in front to make it 4-3 before Tom who just didn’t quit brought it back to 4-4. Then what followed had to be seen to be believed.
Cyril went for broke and cleared the table to set himself up to take the second last frame before a cruel stroke of luck befell him when he potted the black only for the white ball to continue it course and follow the black to hand Tom Ward the advantage.
The last frame of the evening followed a similar vein and saw both men trying to take full control playing some very good pool only for another cruel slice of misfortune to happen to Cyril Flynn where he again put himself in postion to take the title only for lady luck to run out on him and he again potted the black only for the white to again follow the black into the pocket and that sealed Tom Ward’s second title.
Both men played some very solid pool and were well matched throughout only for those two bits of misfortune it could well have been Cyril Flynn winning a 2nd Swanky Bar Pool title. As it was it was Tom Ward who was crowned the 2025 champion.
Well done to all 4 players on the evening, huge congrats also goes to MC John O Dowd, DJ Shicco for the tunes and for keeping the evening running smoothly. To JP who refereed the final. Not forgetting Ger Keane who was on the camera. Well done to Sophie and the crew behind the bar who kept the crowd watered through the proceedings.