Last updated 10:20, Friday, 07 March 2008

AS THIS this season's West Cumbria Individual Snooker Championship enters the final stages the Intrim Trophy semi-final ties took centre stage.

An all-premiership contest saw this season’s county individuals semi-finalist Peter O'Hagan of Workington take on ex-county champion Mike Dawson of Workington.

With Dawson having home advantage he ground out the opening frame of the evening with a black-ball decider.

The second frame followed a similar pattern and also went down to a black-ball finish also to Dawson for a 2-0 lead.

O'Hagan had to change his approach now or the match was going to slip away. He duly did so and compiled a frame winning clearance of 77 to turn the tide.

Now in full flow O'Hagan made a 43 break in the fourth frame to pull the match back to 2-2. The deciding frame became a cagey affair with O'Hagan taking the final blue and pink to leave Dawson needing the black to force a re-spotted black.

After some tactical play it was O'Hagan who sunk the black to book his place in the final.

In the other semi-final it was Copeland cueists Stuart Shepherd from division one and premiership player Vito Shipley.

Shipley got off to a good start taking the opening frame although there was strong resistance from Shepherd eventually, though he went down by 60-41.

The second frame was the best of the match as Shepherd compiled a break of 30 and Shipley a 46 break to take the frame 60-55.

At 2-0 up Shipley maintained the pressure and eventually finished the match off 3-0 by winning the final frame 59-29 and will now meet O'Hagan in the final on presentation night.

In the league championship it's been another busy few weeks for the first division as players continue to catch up on cancelled and rearranged fixtures.

Workington's Alan Stephenson had wins over Cleator Moor’s Alex Chiesa and Paul Hoad of Cockermouth but lost to Paul Killingley of Cockermouth.

Whitehaven's Stuart Shepherd had a wins over Maryport’s Craig Denwood, Seaton’s Shaun Moore and Killingley but lost against Hoad. Hoad was also beaten by Chiesa.

Killingley defeated Workington's Stuart Ryan while Workington's David Chapman had wins over Moore and Whitehaven's Ryan Henry.

Maryport youngster Ryan Ismay consolidated his position in the top half of the table with a win over Denwood.

In the premier Robert Sim of Whitehaven and Maryport's Mike Park were up against each other and Sim was the winner.

Workington's Mark Tunstall had a useful 4-1 victory over Maryport's Simon Holm who also lost to Steven O’Hagan. Peter O'Hagan also beat Tunstall.

The county individual snooker semi-finals were drawn last weekend with all four players coming from West Cumbria and three of the four participating in the West Cumbria Individual Snooker Championships, which is a great advert for the relatively young league in the area.

The first semi-final sees Workington's Peter O'Hagan take on Maryport's Mike Park on March 19 in the Workington Legion Club.

The following night sees Seaton's Kevin Basnett meet Whitehaven's Robert Sim for the second semi at the same venue.