Stevie Dempsey advanced to the last 16 of the 2022 Vinny.co.uk Champions League after winning all three of his matches and topping Group 6 on Monday night at the Players Pool & Snooker Lounge.

The Irishman returned to the scene of his Professional Grand Slam triumph from last month and he continued his fantastic run of form by coming through arguably the most difficult group to predict in this year’s competition so far.

The night in Newcastle-under-Lyme began with professional Arfan Dad coming back from two frames down to draw 2-2 with highly-rated qualifier Andy Blurton.

Dempsey, who was the seed for the evening, then opened his account with an entertaining 3-2 win over fellow professional Chris Day, producing a classy break finish in the fifth frame against the clock to pocket maximum points.

Champion of Champions Shootout finalist Day stayed out in the arena - and like Dad did - recovered from two down to share the points with Blurton.

The only winner of the night so far, Dempsey strengthened his position further as he defeated Dad 4-2 - eliminating both his opponent and Day from the qualification stakes. In a quality match, Dad then ousted Day 3-2 to collect valuable ranking points.

The final tie saw Dempsey face Blurton. Ultimate Pool's number 14 ranked professional needed to avoid defeat to progress without requiring a 6-reds shootout, but he went better than that, maintaining his 100% record with a 3-1 win.

Dempsey becomes the third seed so far to make it into the second phase of the live FreeSports televised event where the champion will bank £10,000.