Open 3-Man Tournament at New Institute Snooker Club

Last weekend saw us host our annual 3-man team event in New Institute Snooker Club, Nenagh.

The event that has drawn in some of the finest players from all over the island such as Davie Morris, Rodney Goggins and current professional Aaron Hill whose Cork Crucible team won the tournament last year. Aaron couldn't defeat the title this year as he was playing in the World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield.

This year saw seven teams participating with four of the seven being New Institute teams, joined by Cork Crucible, Cavan C.M.Y.S and Graigue Snooker Club.

After day 1, the New Institute ‘A’ and ‘C’ teams had made it to the semi-finals. The upset of the day saw Cavan get a brilliant win over a very strong New Institute ‘B’ team made up of Mark Gleeson, Noel Gleeson & Tony Seymour.

They would need a favour from their own clubmates on the ‘D’ team on Sunday, and with a great performance, David Lynch, Liam Kelly & Terance Doyle got the victory.

All that was left was New Institute ‘B’ v Crucible to decide the group and they dusted off the upset the day before with an impressive win against the holders which put both sides straight through to the semi-finals.

The New Institute ‘B’ team would meet the ‘C’ team in one semi-final with the ‘A’ team played defending champions Crucible in the other. The B team would come out on top with the ‘C’ team made up of Martin Kelly, Tom Forde & Ollie Cleere just losing out in making a final. Paudie Kelly subbed in for Tony Seymour on the ‘B’ team.

The ‘A’ team made up of Brendan O’Donoghue, Mark Walsh & Tom Gleeson would face Crucible in what was a tight affair.

There was one frame in it all the way to the very end. It finished 6-all which would mean there would be a one-frame playoff between one player from each team. Tom Gleeson took on Greg Casey and after a long battle got the win to make it an all Nenagh final. It would be Brendan O’Donoghue v Noel Gleeson, Tom Gleeson v Tony Seymour and Mark Walsh v Mark Gleeson to crown new 3-man team champions.

Another very close match that came down to the last frame between Brendan & Noel with Noel leading 3-0 but Brendan took the fourth frame to make it an overall score of 7-5 and the ‘A’ team are the new Mulqueen 3-man Team champions for the first time.

New Institute Snooker Club would like to thank Brendan O’Donoghue for organising the teams and scheduling; David Lynch as Tournament Director; Tipperary County Council for their continued support towards this tournament,a and last but definitely not least the cup sponsor Joe Mulqueen for what really is a beauty of a trophy.