This week we took a break from league action to concentrate on the first round of the Kenney Cup Competition in the Ormskirk & District Amateur Snooker League.

This season saw a slight change again as both the first and second rounds are set-aside weeks and this time around we saw five preliminary matches to bring the number of teams down to sixteen. The second round of sixteen will be played on Tuesday 23rd October & 25th October 2018.

Defending Champions, Upholland Social, who won the trophy last season in such a tense and exciting final, were one of the lucky eleven teams to receive a bye into the last sixteen of the competition.

Out of the five matches to be played, just one of them was an all Division One affair. It saw Lathom & Burscough RBL (formerly Stanley Club A) go into battle with last season's Le Rose Cup runners-up, Scarisbrick NSC, and at the end of the evening it saw a 4-2 triumph for the Burscough lads.

The other match played on the Tuesday evening saw Red Lion Social Club B (formerly Maghull RBL B) take on last term's runaway Second Division Champions and Le Rose Cup winners, Aughton Institute D, and at the end of a titantic tussle it saw the Maghull outfit prevail 4-3 with new boy, Andy Murray, winning the deciding, seventh frame to see his side over the line.

The other three ties were contested on the Thursday night and, firstly, it saw Division Two's, Stanley Club C, come up against Aughton Institute A from the top flight who were the runners-up in this competition last time and are the reigning Division One Merit League Champions. This match also required a play-off frame to decide the outcome after a terrific, tense affair and it saw Stanley C's Mick Pickles become the hero for his team as they came through 4-3 to earn a place in the hat for the round two draw.

The other two encounters saw all Division Two affairs. Stanley Club B, winners of this competition on three consecutive occasions in recent seasons, clashed with Farmers Club and it saw a runaway 4-0 victory for the Farmers outfit to progress into the next round.

The other match played saw Skelmersdale Wardens B and Aughton Institute B go into battle and at the end of the evening it saw the Skelmersdale B lads prevail with a solid 4-2 win to progress into the last sixteen of the event. The match saw Aughton B's Jim Rudge in good nick with a nice break of 21 although it was quite enough to seal the frame success.

There was no 'Break of the Week' prize awarded this week as no break over 30 was compiled in any of the five contested matches.