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Western Open |
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The West of Ireland Open in association with The Galway Snooker Association took place in Caesar's Palace Snooker Club last Sunday. The tournament which was the first of two this season was a huge success and attracted a quality field with most of the top players in the
country present, even main tour professional Rodney Goggins in the line up.
The open draw format threw up some interesting matches from the start and some potential banana skins for some of the top players.
Right from the first frame of the day, the high scoring started with Martin Divilly breaking down on 85 with four reds left. Rodney Goggins made the first century, but unfortunately missed a black on 100 with a 142 on. That break was
equaled later by Vincent Muldoon to tie the high break prize of €100.
Keith McGibney was most impressive in his opening matches, accounting for Ray Scullion and Trevor Hayes respectively. While John Torpey, Leonard Shanahan and Daithi Whelan also played well to win their opening matches. The local players from Galway gave a good account of Hogan in the last 16. After having a 63 break in the second frame, Hugh O' Donnell took Rodney Goggins to a decider before Goggins made a great 100 break in the decider.
The first of the big names to fall was on form Jason Waters who won the intermediate ranking event only a week previous. He led Connacht No. 1 Martin Divilly 2-0 before Divilly clawed the lead back with two 50 clearance breaks, going on to win the match 3-2.
Other players to make it through to the final 16 were Brendan O' Donoghue, Vincent Muldoon and Leonard Shanahan. Colm Gilcreest beat Keith McGibney 3-0 and the fancied David Hogan overcame John Torpey 3-1. In the bottom half of the draw, Brendan O' Donoghue was pushed all the way by Leonard Shanahan before coming through 3-2 and Vincent Muldoon also had to dig deep to see off a determined Daithi Whelan, also finishing 3-2. In the Semi-finals David Hogan easily beat Colm
Gilcreest who had just battled to beat Rodney Goggins 3-2. Vincent Muldoon narrowly beat Brendan O'Donoghue 3-2. Brendan played some brilliant snooker to lead 2-0 including a 92 break in the second frame where he missed a pink. In the third frame O' Donoghue was clearing up the colours but missed a tricky brown leaving Muldoon to take full advantage and keep the match alive. Muldoon showed his class and fought back to take the match, one of the best of the day, 3-2.
The final saw Hogan take a 2-0 lead before Muldoon clawed it back to 2-2. The next two frames were shared to give yet another deciding frame in a day of so many deciders. Hogan had a 46 break in the final frame to take an early lead but the pot on the last red, which was a match ball, was for most people watching the shot of the day - a fantastic long red down the rail which even left Muldoon's mouth open with disbelief. Hogan cleared to finish the match and got a deserving round of applause from the 20 plus crowd who stayed to watch the final. Congrats to David Hogan who had to beat top names like Frank Sarsfield, John Torpey, Colm
Gilcreest and Vincent Muldoon to become the first West of Ireland Snooker Open Champion.
Due to the success of this first West of Ireland Open, we have decided to run one more this season which will take place in Masters Snooker Club in Shannon, on Sunday, the 11th of May. The competition will run under the same format as the first one, limited to 48 entries on a first come first served basis. Te second tournament will have an open draw for the top 16 spots to play the 16 seeds. Posters for the event are attached and can be printed to advertise in you local snooker club. So get you entry in early to avoid disappointment. To enter please contact: Leonard Shanahan (086) 8095819 or Benny Fahy (087)9701105.
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To join RIBSA for the coming season just contact the office for more details or just join at the first event. |
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