O’Donoghue Regains Irish Snooker Title

Nenagh cueist Brendan O’Donoghue won his second Republic of Ireland National Snooker Championship during the 2015 national finals weekend held at the Ivy Rooms in Carlow.

O’Donoghue dropped only five frames throughout the entire tournament on his way to reclaiming the trophy he first lifted 12 years previously.

He won his opening three rounds 4-0 before victories over Colm Gilcreest 5-1 in the quarter-finals, Michael Judge 6-2 in the semi-finals and first-time finalist Robert Murphy 7-2 in the title match.

During his defeat of former world number 24 Judge, O’Donoghue constructed a break of 142 – the highest of this year’s championship.

More Champions Crowned in Carlow

Elsewhere during the Republic of Ireland Billiards and Snooker Association’s (RIBSA) annual festival, former professional Gilcreest – from Kildare – retained the masters championship after ousting John Farrell 5-4 in the final.

In the junior categories, the star of the show was Youghal’s 13-year-old Ross Bulman who scored an impressive trio of titles – the first national accolades of his career.

Bulman defeated Aaron Goldrick 4-2 in the final of the under-14s, Ronan White 4-2 in the under-16s and club mate Noel Landers 4-1 in the under-18s.

Dublin’s Andrew Doherty saw off Adam Fitzgerald to triumph in the under-19 championship, although Fitzgerald did taste success in the under-21 category when he narrowly defeated Landers who lost his second final of the weekend to another club mate.

With the score 3-3 and in the deciding frame, Landers sportingly declared a foul on himself that no-one else saw.

In the youngest category, Jamie Lee Gardiner defeated Adam Quinn 3-0 to become the under-12 champion.

Event date: June 2015