Rodney Goggins retains National Billiards Championship, Points format.

Wexford’s Rodney Goggins, no stranger to championship snooker and always in the top bracket in the Snooker Rankings, has stamped his authority on the Billiards scene by retaining his National Billiards (points format) Championship title.

Rodney claimed his place in the Final with an impressive Semi final win over 4 times national champion and current No 1 in the Billiard rankings, Aidan Murray. His opponent in the Final, Wayne Doyle made equally impressive progress to the Final with a fine Semi final win against a very experienced and 6 times national champion Larry Drennan.

The Final, which was scheduled to start at 2:00pm, didn’t get under way until 5:15pm, resulting in difficult circumstances for both players, Rodney having endured a marathon six-and-a-half hour Final in the short format game, which started at 10:00am and Wayne having a three-and-a-quarter hour wait from 2:00pm. 

In the Final, to be played in 650up points format, both players made a slow start, each taking 15 visits to reach the first 100 point mark. From here, Wayne was first to show, gaining a 100 point lead with breaks of 37 and 78 and then matching Rodney’s scores for the next 12 visits. A missed pot red, when Wayne seemed to be taking command, provided Rodney with an opportunity which he used to good effect, significantly reducing the deficit with a 71 break, followed shortly afterwards with consecutive visits of 60, 74 and 52, without significant response from Wayne. With tables now reversed, Rodney holding a 100 point lead and needing 150 points for game, scored the better of the two when at the table, eventually taking the game by almost 200 points at the end of the match. When presented with the trophy, Rodney complimented Wayne on his performance during the game, congratulating him on attaining his place in his first championship Final and predicted that it was only a matter of time for him to be the one to lift the title.

As always, our thanks to Jim and Marian Leacy and the staff at the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club for their help during the Championships and indeed throughout the season.

Full Championship Results (Points format):

Pre-Quarters, 500 up, no time limit

Ross Doyle  470  –  500  John Kehoe

Robert McCrum  185  –  500  Timmy Murphy

Rodney Goggins  500  –  234  Joe Doheny

Liam O’Brien  500  –  439  Brendan Devlin

Aonghus McAnally  353  –  500  Victor O’Gorman (Brk: 54)

Quarters, 500 up, no time limit

Aidan Murray  500  –  376  John Kehoe

Timmy Murphy  125  –  500  Rodney Goggins (Brk: 62, 62, 132, 109)

Wayne Doyle (Brk: 98)  500  –  267  Liam O’Brien

Victor O’Gorman  322  –  413  Larry Drennan

Semi finals, 600 up, no time limit

Aidan Murray (Brk: 83)  320  –  600  Rodney Goggins (Bk: 71, 76, 72)

Wayne Doyle (Brk: 80, 53)  600  –  477  Larry Drennan (Brk: 62, 62)

Final, 650 up, no time limit

Rodney Goggins (Brk:  71, 60, 74, 52, 56)  650  –  457  Wayne Doyle (Brk:  78)