Thursday, 29 October 2026 / Published in Club News

O’Donoghue Wins 2026 Nenagh Open

New Institute, Nenagh-man, Brendan O’Donoghue captured his third home Nenagh Open title, when he defeated Northern Ireland current International, Sean Gray 5-1 in the final. It was the Tipperary man’s second consecutive title in his home club, New Institute.

The event, which is a 13-year-old event, was a five-day event this year with 45 participants, split up with 15 groups of three players, with two players qualifying through the groups after the end of the first two days. The final three days were the knockout matches and a second chance tournament for the players that failed to qualify out through the group. Players from five countries (Rep of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, America and Bulgaria) travelled to the event. With 11 home players competing from Nenagh. Thank you to SBI (Snooker Billiards Ireland), the amateur game’s governing body for covering the junior players entry fee.

The seven times Irish Champion, hailing from St Patrick’s Terrace in Nenagh, was on form throughout, picking up the highest break prize with a 129 break, in closing out his semi-final win over Daniel Merrigan in the fifth frame. He also added two other centuries, 127 and 119. Eight centuries were made in total through the event. Opening up with his stellar defence, against Clayton Cregan (Dublin) and James Flaherty (Dublin) in the groups. Adding with victories in the knockouts, Sean King (Dublin) 4-0, Mark Gleeson (Tipperary) 4-2, Michael Judge (Dublin) 4-0, Daniel Merrigan (Dublin) 4-1 and Sean Gray (Ballycastle, Antrim) 5-1. Giving him the spoils of the Nenagh Open Glass, with the glass itself sponsored by Carey Glass. After 13 events there has only been four different winners of the event, Brendan O’Donoghue, David Hogan, Davy Morris and Aaron Hill. Truly the cream of the domestic game rising to the top.

An all Nenagh clash happened in the second chance final with Paudie Kelly defeating Dave Garrett 4-1, making a break of 88 in the contest, on the second last day of the event. Congratulations, Paudie Kelly.

The New Institute Snooker Club should be commended, with players approvingly applauding about the over all standard of the club, especially with the tournament getting played on new Lieberwin cloths.

AMC Cue Sports, promoted their fourth tournament in two years, their second in the Nenagh club, with the other two events being in Sacramento (March 2015) and Seattle (March 2026).

They have also run two successful tournaments in America, Sacramento (March 2025) & Seattle (March 2026). Without their professional team, they would have all these ideas but nowhere to go. Led by Andy McCloskey and Brendan O’Donoghue. A team that consists of Christian Younger, OX Billiards Channel owner. They gave great morning to night coverage of the event. Wexford snooker player Rodney Goggins was on hand doing commentary, with several players chipping in to lend a hand. Desislava Bozhilova, from Bulgaria, head referee and World Snooker referee, giving the tournament an added spice with the television star. A new Cue Action Score Board App was created by Christian Younger and Andrei Izrantcev. A great help this was, whilst viewers looked at the Ox Billiards Youtube stream. Thank you for that.

Thank you for this year’s sponsorship of the 2026 Nenagh Open. AMC Cue Sports and the players would like to thank the committee and all that are involved with the New Institute Snooker Club for the continuous support. There were always volunteers on hand for everything. Special thanks to the ref’s on hand, especially Desislava Bozhilova (who reffed the final) and Steven Foster. They would like to thank SBI (Snooker Billiards Ireland) for their support too and for travelling and dropping in. A truly magnificent event that was enjoyed by all. Congratulations, Brendan O’Donoghue.

AMC Cue Sports would like to thank the following sponsorships.