O’Donoghue retains Nenagh Open Snooker crown

By Thomas Conway

Defending champion Brendan O’Donoghue delivered a calm and professional performance to defeat Northern Ireland’s Sean Gray and claim back-to-back Nenagh Open Snooker titles at New Institute on Bank Holiday Monday evening.

It provided the fitting conclusion to the five-day tournament which attracted 45 players from right around the country, and abroad, to the Friar Street venue.

As the dust settled on Monday evening, the general consensus among all those present was that the competition had been another resounding success, and that organisers had successfully built on the foundation established here last year.

The brainchild of Portroe native Andy McCloskey and Nenagh man O’Donoghue, both of whom wanted to transform the Nenagh Open into an elite-grade amateur tournament that would raise the profile of the club and the town, their vision has largely been fulfilled.

“This was our fourth competition. We’ve done two in America and two here in Ireland, in Nenagh. And we’re learning each time,” O’Donoghue said, not long after his 5-1 victory over Gray.

“It went very smoothly, everything went well and to be honest, we’re delighted. But we’ve got great help here. We’ve got great people in the club and great sponsors around the town. Good players as well.”

It was a testament to O’Donoghue’s snooker ability and general stamina that he emerged as the last man standing. He looked as hyper-focused as ever at the table during Monday’s final, despite what must have been an exhausting few days for the player/organiser.

He did admit to feeling “a certain pressure” heading into Monday’s decider, remarking that he didn’t want to let down his clubmates, who had turned out in force to support him. In the end, however, he dominated Gray, whom he had defeated in last year’s quarter-final.

Addressing the crowd in his victory speech, O’Donoghue paid tribute to New Institute Club and the people at its heart.

“The club means a lot to me, but everybody here means more to me,” he said.

With an overall prize pot of €16,400 and a myriad of players from four different countries, this year’s tournament was a step-up in scale.

O’Donoghue noted that the competition clashed with Q-School, and that the international dimension would have been greater if that wasn’t the case. However, he said that, as always, the Irish guys “turned up in their droves” and that the town of Nenagh benefited on a broader level.

He paid effusive tribute to the competition’s sponsors, as did joint-host Andy McCloskey, with both emphasising that the event just would not be possible without such local support.

O’Donoghue also referenced the camaraderie that exists between the players, describing the wider snooker community as “a large family” and thanking all the competitors for their participation.

The tournament – which is accredited by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) as well as Snooker & Billiards Ireland (SBI) – was also broadcast by the OX Billiards YouTube channel, providing an additional layer of media exposure.

Earlier on Monday, fourth seed O’Donoghue had beaten Daniel Merrigan while Gray, who was seeded 11th, had overcome Darragh Gallagher in their respective semi-finals.

The presence of internationally-renowned Bulgarian referee Desislava Bozhilova was an additional boost to the profile of the tournament, and provided another indicator of the Nenagh Open’s rising status.

In terms of the future of the competition, Brendan O’Donoghue made no secret of the team’s desire to expand further, although he did note that there are obstacles that may have to be overcome.

“The ambition will be to make the tournament bigger,” he said. But to make it bigger, to get it to 64 players, it might have to start on a Wednesday, and I don’t know if that is financially viable for people,” he said.

Given that they have come this far, you suspect that they will find a way to make it work.