New Institute's strength in depth
New Institute Snooker Clubs 'A' team might have captured most of the headlines in recent week with their success at the All Ireland Club Championships but it wasn't just that team that had the flag flying for the Nenagh club.
When the club entered the Munster Club Championships from 16-20, they sent no fewer than four teams and while the 'A' side of Mark Walsh, Brendan O'Donoghue, Tom Gleeson, Tony Seymour and Mark Gleeson fell short in the premier section final, the 'B' team won the provincial final in the Championship section.
24 teams took part in the competition with the New Institute 'B' team of Patsy Farrell (captain), Martin Kelly, Darren Delaney, Mark Coonan, Noel Gleeson and Jake Byrne playing nine games over four days on route to the title.
They got off to a losing start in their group but rebounded with wins over Fermoy and Youghal 'C' to progress to a quarter-final playoff where they defeated both Shooters of Cork and Fermoy once more to reach the quarter finals where they defeated Youghal 'C' once more, and then took out another Cork side in Crucible 'B' 3-2 in the semi-final with Mark Coonan potting a terrific pink to win the decisive match.
The 'C' team of Billy Kelly, Michael Healy, Tom Forde, Jason Burns, Jake Byrne and Kevin Boweman won just one of their three games and failed to make the knockout stages but the 'D' team did with Ray Lynch, Dave Garrett, Jake McMahon, Richie Donnelly, Damian Long and Karl Dunne. They then played neighbours Templemore in a layoff where they won 3-2 with Richie Donnelly winning the deciding match, before they exited at the quarter final stage to Youghal 'B' who went onto reach the final where they were defeated by New Institute 'B' 3-0 in the final with Darren Delaney, Patsy Farrell and Noel Gleeson winning their matches with Kelly and Coonan's matches halted.
With Patsy Farrell and Mark Coonan involved, they became the first players in the province to win won the Premier and Championship section since the second tier competition was established.
Darren Delaney, also a senior hurler with Toomevara, enjoyed a tremendous Munster championships, getting to the final of the individual Flyer competition, losing to up and coming Aaron Hill from Cork. Delaney carried his form into the All Ireland Championships a week later where he posted the highest break of any of the New Institute players on the 'A' & 'B' team with 93.
In the championship section of the All Ireland Championships a week later, New Institute 'B' lost their opening game to West Club Belfast but rebounded to beat Ballina and Darcy McGee's from Dublin to progress to the knockout stages where they defeated Mitchell's of Belfast 3-1, advancing to the quarter finals where they bowed out 3-2 to Darcy McGee's 'B', with Martin Kelly narrowly losing the deciding game.