All-Ireland Success for New Institute Snooker Club
By Shane Brophy
New Institute Snooker Club Nenagh won their fourth premier All Ireland Club Championship in Killarney last weekend.
The 'A' team, made up of Mark Walsh (Captain), Brendan O’Donoghue, Paudie Kelly, Tony Seymour, Mark Gleeson and Patsy Farrell defeated Crucible Club Cork by 3 matches to 1 in the final.
Crucible were victors over Nenagh at the semi-final stage at the Munster Championships the previous week, so it was a great turnaround to overcome them in the All Ireland final.
In the opening round of the group stages, newly crowned Munster champions Youghal CYMS, conquered New Institute 3 matches to 2 in a very tight tie which was won on the final black. This meant the team had to win their remaining games to progress in their group.
The Nenagh team finished in strong form defeating Blackstaff ‘D’ (Northern Ireland) and Pool Knight Shack (Dublin) leaving them second in their group and into a last 16 round to play Potters SC from Drogheda.
Starting early on Saturday morning, the team got the last sixteen match off to another flying start winning 3-0 with wins from Tony Seymour, Paudie Kelly and Brendan O’Donoghue.
From this into the quarter finals to play Blackstaff ‘A’ who topped their respective group. Another fantastic quarter final performance where the team won 3-1 with wins from Mark Walsh, Tony Seymour and a professional performance from Brendan O’Donoghue on table 1, defeating Northern Ireland’s no. 2 ranked player Colin Anderson 3-0 with three 50-plus breaks.
The semi-final saw New Institute face up against defending champions Kilkenny Shed. In a very close battle, Mark Gleeson and Paudie Kelly got vital wins on the board and the stage was set for Irish champion Brendan O’Donoghue who clawed back a 2-0 deficit to make a fantastic clearance to force a re-spotted black which he went on to clinch the win.
In the final, Crucible SC were their opponents. It began at 1.00am but it was a fantastic final which saw New Institute win the first frames on all five tables. Mark Walsh claimed the first win with a 3-0 victory over Ryan Cronin. Tony Seymour wasn’t long behind with a 3-0 win over Daniel O’Regan. Crucible fought back with Noel Landers claiming a hard earned 3-1 win over Mark Gleeson.
With two tables left it was down to Brendan O’Donoghue or Paudie Kelly to try and get the match won. Kelly, who led 2-0, was in control and looking good for the win but it was Brendan O’Donoghue who potted the all-important championship ball which saw the Nenagh team claim the title.
This is the third time since 2016 that the club have won the All Ireland Championship title, and four titles overall, the other coming in 2008.
In addition to winning the All-Ireland Snooker Championships, Brendan O’Donoghue was awarded Player of the Tournament for the first time to join his fellow teammates Mark Walsh, Paudie Kelly, Tom Gleeson and Patsy Farrell who had won this accolade in previous years.
A special mention to Patsy Farrell (no. 1 in the national over 55s rankings) on his 40th year participating in the Munster and All Ireland Championships. This is Patsy’s second All Ireland, having been part of the 2008 success, to go along with his six Munster crowns.
The New Institute ‘B’ team, of Mark Coonan (player manager), Martin Kelly, Noel Gleeson, Darren Delaney, Andy McCloskey, Damien Shoer and Dave Garrett also saw their very successful All-Ireland Championships run come to an end late on Sunday evening, losing out in the semi-final stage of the championship division after a very tight game coming down to the pink ball, after finishing runners-up the week previous at the Munster Snooker Championships.
Great performance from the team on both weekends. A credit to them and their manager extraordinaire, Mark Coonan who had nothing but praise from his teammates in his ability to bring them together as a team and performing their best game.