In a fitting climax to a bumper weekend, the main event – the men’s singles title – went right down to a final frame decider. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and up stepped Letterkenny’s Gareth Kirwan, producing a nerveless total clearance to defeat fellow Cathedral Town cueist, Sean Devenney, 9 frames to 8, in a match that showcased peerless shot making and top class finishes.
Indeed, Gareth first won this event on its first ever staging, and he finally reached the Holy Grail once again on its tenth iteration. The difference now, however, is that the weekend has grown to become a massive attraction, with players from every nook and cranny of the county gathering in The Orchard Inn, Letterkenny, to compete for the titles on offer.
Friday evening hosted the Under-23 and Over-40 competitions. In the young players’ category, the final was contested by two superb prospects – both of whom have recently taken up competitive pool after having represented Ireland in snooker. And, in a weekend of unprecedented success for Letterkenny cueists, Sean Devenney defeated Ardara’s Ronan Whyte 7-3 with a powerhouse display. In the over-40s, the evergreen David Moore (also Letterkenny) came through a strong field to win back-to-back titles at this level, defeating his team-mate, Gareth (yet another final for him), on a scoreline of 7 frames to 5.
Saturday is always the big day of the weekend as it hosts the coveted team events. This year an incredible 27 teams and well over 100 players converged to battle it out for the A and B championships. In the B section, the impressive Marine Bar from Bundoran emerged victorious with a 9-4 victory over the battling newcomers from Carricks Bar in Gleneely.
Slugging it out in A final were The NorthWesties and The Donegal Demons. The Donegal town lads were contesting their third final in four years but they fell short against a very formidable Letterkenny team led by Michael O Hara and boasting a host of top snooker players, not least the incomparable Johnny Connors, who was making a very welcome return to competitive cue-sports.
On the Sunday over 60 players contested for the men’s title. Shaun Sharkey finally lost the title he has held for the past five championships in a highly anticipated first round clash, where Sean Devenney took out a magnificent finish to finally dislodge Shaun. The eventual victor and stand-out player on the day was, of course, Gareth, with Michael O Hara winning the plate event in fine style.
Current back-to-back All-Ireland Ladies’ Champion, Helena Melly, added yet another county ladies’ cup to her burgeoning trophy cabinet, despite a gallant effort from the ever-improving Tina Reaney in the final.
Organisation, facilities and services were second-to-none on a weekend that required a huge logistical effort. Many thanks to Barry Dempsey for the tables, Conor McGarvey for photography, and Barry Keane for live stream video on YouTube.
