Tuesday, 27 October 2026 / Published in Billiards

Hughes Wins Paddy Murray Memorial

The Paddy Murray Memorial handicap billiards tournament took place at Edenderry Snooker Club on Sunday, 25th of October 2026. After a day’s play, which saw many interesting and closely contested games, the trophy went to Eugene Hughes (Carlow), a fitting reward for the consistently high standard of play he showed throughout the day.

Play started at 11.00am, all rounds being 1 hour, handicapped. Eliminations in the opening preliminary round were local players Liam Byrne, Sean Dunne, Michael Tyrell and Stephen Dunne.

The semi finalists in the top half of the draw were local player Paul McLoughlin and eventual winner Eugene Hughes, Paul having taken a close quarter final win over Jason Dowling (Rathkeale), while Eugene took an even closer win in his quarter final against Joe Doheny (Borris-in-Ossory). In the semi final Eugene quickly went about tackling the handicap start he was giving Paul, playing consistently from the start and taking command with a beautifully played break of 88 to claim his place in the final.

The semi finalists in the bottom half of the draw were Kilkenny veteran Larry Drennan and local player Willy Murrin, Larry taking a closely contested quarter final against local player James Kelly, overtaking James by a mere 9 points when time was called. By contrast, Willy had a comfortable quarter final win over Kilkenny player Richard Butler. In the semi final, Larry set about reducing the handicap deficit he was giving Willy, which proved no easy task as Willy scored consistently with attractive open, flowing billiards. Larry however, by calling on the wealth of experience he has at all levels of the game was able to counter Willy’s progress just sufficiently to take the match by a mere 11 points.

The Final was an entertaining high quality game between current title holder and multiple National Champion Eugene Hughes, who incidentally is one of only a very few players in the history of the game in Ireland to have held both the Billiards and the Snooker Championships in the same season and six times National Champion Larry Drennan. In the game, neither player showed any sign of dominance, both scoring freely when at the table. As the game progressed, the pressure was on Eugene as he was giving Larry a handicap start. From shortly before the half way point in the game, it became clear that it was a matter of whether Eugene could close the gap in scores or whether Larry, who was playing his usual high standard free flowing game could maintain his lead. As the game progressed to its final few minutes, Eugene drew level, leaving us intrigued as to which way the scores would go. In the event, it was Eugene who was ahead when time was called, allowing him to claim the 2025 Paddy Murray Memorial Title. Commiserations must go to Larry who gave a great performance throughout the day and for a giving a gritty, entertaining performance in the final.

Our congratulations must go to the Edenderry Club for the excellent playing conditions and to the tournament sponsors Croi Laighean Credit Union for their support and for the beautifully crafted event trophy. It stands as testament to the high regard they held for Paddy Murray and we look forward to continue contesting it on an annual basis.

It was a great pleasure to have Paddy’s brother Declan at the event to present the trophy on behalf of the Murray family in memory of the late Paddy.

The committee of Edenderry snooker club thanked Brendan Devlin for his help in performing the draw, sorting handicaps, which is always a difficult job and taking on the job of TD for the day.