O’Donoghue claims ranking win on home baize

Snooker & Billiards (SBI) held the third Amateur event of the season last weekend in New Institute Snooker Club in Nenagh.

There were 36 entries, and after a great first day of play we were down to the last eight. There were a couple of upsets, but the most notable shock of the tournament was Ross Bulman being beaten in the first round by Brendan O’Brien which opened up the final quarter of the draw.

Quarter Finals: Ryan Cronin 3-4 Philip Browne; James Fennessy 0-4 Rodney Goggins; Brendan O’Donoghue 4-0 Mark Tuite; Aman Goel 3-4 Brendan O’Brien

In the first semi-final, Philip Browne from Dublin took the opening three frames against Rodney Goggins, including a magnificent 115 break in the second frame. However, Goggins came back to 3-all to force a decider which was very tight, but it was Goggins who came out on top.

In the second semi-final, it was local man Brendan O’Donoghue who took an early lead taking the opening two frames. He took the next two frames to take the match 4-0 with breaks of 77, 66 and 90.

In the final, Brendan O’Donoghue took an early lead taking the opening two frames before Rodney Goggins took frame three. Brendan took frame four to regain his two-frame lead and move one away from victory. Goggins took frame five to pull back within one frame of Brendan, but O’Donoghue claimed a 4-2 by winning the penultimate frame.

SBI would like to thank New Institute Snooker Club for their hospitality over the weekend, and would also like to thank Shane Mason T.D., and referees Stephen Foster and Conor Doyle for all their help.

We would also like to thank the players who played in this event and look forward to seeing you all again at the next event in the New Year.