No red carpet for Richard McHugh

Four months after he picked up his first ever Austrian Snooker League Grand Prix trophy at this club, Richard McHugh last weekend returned to Köö 7 in Vienna, home to the 15Reds. No real surprise that he drove back to his hometown of Innsbruck on Sunday evening with yet another ASL Grand Prix trophy in his luggage. He has now won three ranking titles in Austrian snooker and further stretched his unbeaten streak, though he had to pull out of January's event due to family reasons. Sounds like the usual story, but there was something a little bit different this time: McHugh had to work really hard for the title. He met Bernhard Müllner in the final, and Austria's national champion refused to roll the red carpet for the Irishman. Far from that, Müllner became the first player to win more than one frame against him. He won three _ but still that would not prove to be enough.

McHugh had solid victories over Christian Pleschko, Alexander Trinkl [though Trinkl went 1-0 up, but ultimately lost 1-3] and Sebastian Hainzl, before he met Garry Balter in the quarter-finals. Balter, last year's No. 1 and winner of January's ASL Grand Prix, recorded the highest break of the tournament with a terrific 108, but lost 3-1 as he could not stop the Irishman on his way to another success. McHugh entered the final by beating Ebrahim Baghi, 4-1; the same player he defeated 5-1 in October's final to win his first title.

In the other half of the draw, Müllner had an even more impressive run of results, dropping just one single frame in four matches. He whitewashed Manuel Urban and Felix Pleschek in the round-robin stage and last month's runner-up Clausdieter Franschitz in the quarter-finals, and beat youngstar Paul Schopf 3-1 in the last 16. In the semi-finals, Müllner eliminated Hans Nirnberger, who went on to lose the small final to Baghi, 2-4, despite a best break of 76.

...The top three of February's ASL Grand Prix: Ebrahim Baghi, Richard McHugh, Bernhard Müllner...

So, it was a McHugh vs. Müllner clash again, a repeat of November's ASL Grand Prix final in Innbruck. The Irishman hammered Bernie 5-0 that time, but what a different story it would be now. The first frame saw both players suffering a couple of unexpected misses. McHugh got ahead thanks to a 27, but Müllner hit back with a 31. It came down to the colours, where Müllner potted a brilliant green along the side cushion into a blind pocket while nudging the brown into a pottable position, 1-0. The second frame was a scrappy one, with enduring safety play and some more missed pots by both players. McHugh look set to draw level as he got 26 up with only 25 on the table. Müllner knocked in the green, still searching for a snooker. McHugh unintentionally offered him a big help as he went in-off after potting the brown. Müllner then made a cool 22 clearance to go 2-0 up.

Things even got better for the Viennese player in a tight third frame. As in the previous two, McHugh had been in the lead early on. But Müllner just refused to give the Irishman any chances of extending that lead. On the contrary, he snatched the frame again on the colours, including a fortunate pink that crossed the table twice before dropping into a middle pocket, 3-0. This considerable lead for Müllner could be called no less than a real sensation, considering that no Austrian player had ever been able to win more than one frame against McHugh.

The Irishman found himself with his back to the wall. But the match was not over yet, of course. In the last frame before the interval, McHugh finally settled down with a nice 47. Müllner missed an excellent chance of getting the snooker he required as he should have left the cueball tight behind the black, but he firmly overhit the shot to let McHugh off the hook. The Irishman reduced his deficit to 3-1. "This table is incredibly slow. It is like playing on a carpet," McHugh told Maximumbreak at the interval. "I just got a match table installed in Innsbruck which is very, very quick. But here, you have to hammer your shots in if you want to get some kind of position. It is very hard to judge. That's why there are no big breaks."

That fourth frame should become a turning point in the match. Müllner was not as sharp anymore as in the beginning, and McHugh started to score from the opportunities he got. The Irishman still did not score heavily, but he compiled useful breaks between 20 and 30 regularly to win frame five and six, and level the match at 3-3. Müllner did not throw the towel, but further lost control of the match as McHugh stepped up a gear. He had a 50 _ the highest break of the final _ and a 27 to go 4-3 up, and produced a match-winning clearance up to the pink of 43 to wrap up the victory, 5-3.

"I could have won two of the first three frames, so I did not panic getting 3-0 behind," McHugh said. "After returning from Ireland, I went back to the practice table just two weeks ago. So I am happy with my performance here."

Müllner was not devastated after losing 3-5 from 3-0 up. "Beyond doubt, Richard is the better player of the two of us. Probably you could beat him once in a short round-robin meeting, but it is virtually impossible to do so in a best-of-9 match."

Müllner rolled in a 125 break in practice last week. "That was great, as my last century had been quite some time ago. I felt well going into this tournament, but I was exhausted towards the end, so inevitably my concentration slipped a bit away then."

Though he lost the final to his main rival, Müllner still has his nose in front on top of the ASL Rankings. But there are two more ASL Grand Prix events left this season, the first in March in Salzburg. And at least since Sunday's final, McHugh knows too well how to come back from behind.

5. ASL GRAND PRIX 2006/07

[Vienna, 17/02 - 18/02]

Results:

quarter-finals:
Richard McHugh - Garry Balter 3-1
Ebrahim Baghi - Felix Pleschek 3-2
Bernhard Müllner - Clausdieter Franschitz 3-0
Hans Nirnberger - John Dangerfield 3-0

semi-finals:
McHugh - Baghi 4-1
Müllner - Nirnberger 4-2

final:
McHugh - Müllner 5-3

Break list:

- 108 Garry Balter
- 86 Richard McHugh
- 81 Bernhard Müllner
- 80 McHugh
- 76 Hans Nirnberger
- 65 Balter
- 64 Felix Pleschek
- 60 Nirnberger

Click here for full tournament results.

© text & picture: Eric Willemsen [Vienna]