O’Donoghue and Walsh at European Snooker Championships

New Institute Snooker Clubs Brendan O’Donoghue and Mark Walsh were part of a five-strong Ireland contingent at the European Amateur Snooker Championships held in Malta last week.

They were joined by Stephen Bateman from Kilkenny and Cork duo Ross Bulman and David Cassidy.

Mark Walsh produced a brilliant clearance to force a final frame decider against Marvin Nitschke from Poland in his first group match but lost 3-2. He lost to Eden Sharav from Israel before winning his remaining two matches against Melchior Galea from Malta and France’s Dimitri Vivier. However, he suffered heartbreak in a playoff for the knockout stages.

Ireland’s number 1 amateur Brendan O’Donoghue won all his group games before accounting for Ireland teammate Bateman 4-0 in the last 64, which included breaks of 101 and 83.

In the last 32, Brendan defeated Welshman Liam Davies 4-3 before accounting for number 2 seed Iuliun Bioko from Ukraine 4-0 in the last 16.

However, his impressive run was ended in the quarter finals where he lost 4-3 to Michael Columb from Scotland.

Poker Classic: New Institute Snooker Club will host a Poker Classic in Andy Flynn’s Gastropub Nenagh this Friday, 24th March, starting at 8.00pm sharp. €20 entry with €1000 pro-rata prize-money. For more information, contact Tony 0879604696.