The second magical day of Irish Under 21 snooker was played this weekend on Sunday the 8th of October in the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow which included a fantastic century of 113 from RIBSA Elite Squad player Aaron Hill.
Second round of matches in the new qualification for the 2018 European Under 21 Championships were held along with an U-21 Open event for the lower ranked players.
This new system saw our top 10 ranked juniors playing against each other using the same format as International events along with an open tour in straight knock out format. The bottom three players on the International tour will be relegated while the top three from the open tour will be promoted to the International tour after Christmas.
- Qualification: 2018 European Under 21 Championship
The top two players from the International tour will be joined by the Number 1 ranked junior on the Senior rankings to qualify for the European U-21 Championships in February.
- The Players
The International Tour players are: 1 Ross Bulman, 2. Noel Landers, 3. Shane Bates, 4. Aaron Hill, 5. Stephen Bateman, 6. Aaron Holland, 7. Darragh Cusack, 8. Ronan Whyte, 9. Mark Gleeson and 10. Shane Hourihane.
- Hill leads after Day 2
Aaron Hill from Crucible SC in Cork leads the table after today with his four wins from his six matches and a fourteen plus frame difference. Second is Ross Bulman from Youghal CYMS also with four wins and an eight frame plus difference. Third is Mark Gleeson New Institute with three wins and a four frame plus difference.
National Coach PJ Nolan who was the TD on the day said ” the standard was very high on day 2 with breaks of 45, 62, 92, 65 and 113 by Aaron Hill, Ross Bulman 67, 57. Aaron Holland 51 and Noel Landers 50. Every match was very close and this event is making our players play great match-play snooker as every win and every frame is very important ”
- High Break
The highest break on the day was a fantastic 113 break by Aaron Hill.
CLICK SCORES INTERNATIONAL TOUR – DAY 2 – click U-21 tab
O Shaughnessy wins U-21 Open Event 2
RIBSA are holding open events on the same day for any underage player who is not in the International tour. The open events are designed is to build up the confidence of the players and again the young players put on a great show of great snooker.
- Semi Finals
In the Semi Finals Adam Bulman from Youghal CYMS faced Dylan Shaughnessy from the Crucible and it was the Crucible man who came out the winner 3-1. In the other semi-final it was a repeat of the U-18 final from the day earlier with Ryan McGuirk from R&R SC playing Aaron Smith from Potters SC Drogheda but this time the result went to Ryan with a 3 frames to nil victory.
- The final
In the final you had 18 year old Dylan who was playing in his second U-21 Open final in a row after he was beaten by Daniel Merrigan in event 1 final last month and 13 year old Ryan who was playing in his fourth RIBSA final in 8 days after he reached the U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-21 finals over the last two weekends.
The final between Dylan Shaughnessy from the Crucible and Ryan McGuirk from R&R SC was superb and the first frame was a long one with lots of safety but it was Dylan who won it on the black with a dramatic fluke to go one nil up. In frame two Dylan controlled the frame to go two nil up and one frame away from his first RIBSA title. In frame three Dylan led by 21 on brown but Ryan cleared to win on black to win. In frame four it was again Dylan who got in front and played superbly to win the vital frame and his first major title. Dylan now moves to Number 1 on the open U-21 rankings.
The High break was won by Daniel Merrigan from Roadstone SC with a 50 break with Sean King and Ryan McGuirk making 46 breaks.
CLICK FULL RESULTS – OPEN U-21 EVENT 2 – click u21 open 2 tab
- Thank you
RIBSA would like to thank all the players for making it another day of top class junior snooker, the Ivy Rooms for hosting the events and to Pat Mooney for being the Referee on the day.
RIBSA are looking forward to seeing everyone on day 3 on Sunday the 17th of December in Carlow where we will find out the players who have qualified for the U-21 Europeans, players who have kept their International Tour place or have been relegated and the Open tour players who have been promoted.
