The first stage of the Irish Championship came to a close last night. Defending champion Noel Mitchell beat Roman Pszonka in the last game of the Top 8 league. It was not enough however, to grant him a place in the final. Roman and James Hutchinson will compete for the Irish title in a repeat of the 2012 match, whilst Noel takes 3rd spot. Tiberiu Gociu and Thomas Shanahan have a tiebreak match to play to see who takes 4th place.