New Institute regain Munster club Snooker title
By Shane Brophy
New Institute Snooker Club are on course for a second provincial and All Ireland Club Championship double in the space of four years after winning the Munster title in Killarney last weekend.
The 'A' team of captain Mark Walsh, Tom Gleeson, Paudie Kelly, Brendan O'Donohue and Tony Seymour defeated Crucible club Cork 3-2 in the final on Sunday night.
It is a quick turnaround for the squad who head back down to the Kingdom today (Wednesday) for the All Ireland Championships where there are defending champions and going for a fourth success in all.
In the opening round of the Munster Championships, Nenagh were in strong form defeating Douglas SC, Hawks Nest Waterford and Youghal SC 3-0 in their respective matches with Brendan O'Donoghue managing a win in each of the three games.
New Institutes only defeat in the group stage came against Q Club Killarney, losing three matches to two with Paudie Kelly impressing.
However, New Institute had done enough to progress to the quarter finals where they defeated AOH from Cork 3-0 with O'Donoghue, Mark Walsh and Tony Seymour securing the wins with the other two matches unfinished.
In the semi-final, Limerick SC were their opponents with New Institute again successful without losing a match with O'Donoghue, Kelly and Walsh securing the wins to see them through to the final against great rivals Crucible from Cork who were going for a four-in-a-row.
It was a fantastic final which went all the way to the final match. Brendan O'Donoghue claimed the first point with a 3-2 win over Daniel O'Regan while Paudie Kelly got the better of Greg Casey 3-0. Crucible fought back with Aaron Hill claiming a 3-1 win over Tony Seymour while Tom Gleeson feel on a similar scoreline to David Cassidy.
It call came down to the final match between Mark Walsh and Ryan Cronin which went down to the colours in the fifth and final frame with Walsh emerging victorious to claim New Institutes first Munster title since 2016.
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