Northern Ireland defeated Malta 7-3 in the final to create history and become the inaugural winners of the WEPF World Team Shootout on the Emerald Isle.

An exciting addition to the WEPF programme, the World Team Shootout combines the fast, unpredictable nature of shootout pool and the pressures of representing your country in a high-profile team environment.

In front of the live television cameras, Northern Ireland were involved in the first match of the day in the preliminary round, but they were also the last team standing come late evening at The Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney.

As one of the non-seeds, they began their campaign with a 7-2 victory over a dangerous France outfit which included recent World Masters finalist Yannick Beaufils. Later in the same session, they returned to sweep aside Scotland 8-0 in the quarter-finals.

In the evening, they faced England in a blockbuster semi-final match-up that will live long in the memory. The Northern Irish went 3-1 ahead before reigning World Team Champions England flexed their muscles with a beautiful four frame burst to take control at 5-3 up.

However, Declan Brennan won a dramatic ninth frame, before newly crowned World Masters Champion Ronan McCarthy kept his cool once again under the pressure – this time with time running out – to compose a classy finish and force a 6-red shootout.

In the shootout, English pairing Karl Sutton & Giuseppe D'Imperio – who earlier in the day ousted Australia in a 6-reds finish – could only register a target of 36.76 seconds, a time that Brennan & Callum Singleton comfortably bettered in response.

Malta made their way to the title match following a 6-1 victory over Wales in the last eight and a gutsy 4-3 success against hosts Ireland in the semi-finals to deny an all-Irish final. Earlier in the night, Ireland pipped Belgium via a 6-red shootout in front of raucous home support.

In the final, Gary Carr put Malta ahead before Northern Ireland took the lead after frame wins for McCarthy and Singleton.

Ultimate Pool Professional Lydan Debono levelled up the scores at 2-2, but the Northern Irish were strong in the middle chapter of the match as Gary Clarke, Ronan Fay, Gerard Heaney and Brennan all won in consecutive frames to establish a 6-2 advantage.

Debono claimed his second frame of the match to stop that streak and tease an outside chance of an unlikely comeback, but those hopes were all but gone when Singleton pushed the gap back to four with little time remaining on the clock.

Fittingly, it was the legendary McCarthy who was at the table when the match-clock expired and the team were confirmed as champions.