Ryan Cronin won the Snooker & Billiards Ireland (SBI) 5th Amateur event on the SBI Amateur Tour on Saturday & Sunday the 25th & 26th of March in the Crucible SC in Cork City. In the final Ryan beat Philip Browne from Dublin 4 frames to 2 to claim his first ranking title after coming so close many times.
Iit was with great pleasure that we welcomed the country’s top players to the 5th ranking event of the season in the Crucible club in Cork. While the entry was small, (30 players) It more than made up for it in quality. Notable last 32 matches included Noel landers versus Mark Walsh where Mark raced into a 2-0 lead only for Noel to peg him back to win 3-2. Stephen Bateman against Johnny Farrell in the last 16 was a terrific match. Stephen went 2-0 up only for Johnny to fight back to level at 2-2 and force a decider. This went to the final black and Stephen went full tilt to cross the black to the middle to seal the match.
Other great last 16 matches included the No.1 seed Ross Bulman being pegged back by Patrick Brady to 2 all but Ross took the final frame to advance. Philip Browne also got the better of Greg Casey by a similar score line and Noel landers triumphed over Paul McGrane also on a 3-2 score line. In the quarter finals Philip Browne beat Ross Bulman by 4 frames to 1, Stephen Bateman beat Noel landers 4 frames to 1,Brendan O Donoghue beat Sean Walsh by 4 frames to 1 and Ryan Cronin beat Ritchie Flynn 4 frames to zero.
Semi-final line up.
- Philip Browne v Stephen Bateman.
- Brendan O Donoghue v Ryan Cronin.
2 great semi-finals saw Philip and Ryan come through to contest the final. While both players had reached finals before, none had won one so a highly tense final was anticipated.
First blood in the final went to Philip but Ryan hit back to lead by 2 frames to 1. Again Philip hit back to go 2 all but Ryan found an extra gear to pull away to win by 4 frames to 2. So a first win for Ryan and I am sure now that he has the monkey of his back many more will follow. Commiserations to Philip, he played exceptionally well throughout the weekend and I am sure his time will come.
It was great to see such large crowds all weekend especially for the final which was watched by approximately 60 people.
Many thanks to the Corkery family for making the club available for the weekend, Maurice Walsh for all his hard work, PJ and Jay for their help with the streaming and to Jim Casey and Aaron hill for their help all weekend.
We would also like to wish Aaron, Ross Ken, Fergal and Michael the best of luck next week in the World championship qualifiers.
- High break 101, Brendan O Donoghue.
SBI would like to thank all players who entered this event. We would also like to thank TD David Joyce and referee Maurice Walsh for officiating at the event. Finally, a big and to the Davy and the Crucible SC for all the hard work in making the playing conditions so good for the players.
SBI would like to remind all players that all entries close at 1pm on the Thursday prior to the next event which is the 2023 National Amateur Championships in the SBI HQ in Carlow on Saturday / Sunday 22nd & 23rd of April.
The top half will be played on the Saturday and the bottom half on the Sunday. All matches are the best of 7 frames to find the 16 qualifiers.
Finals weekend will be played on the 29th & 30th of April to find the 2023 Irish Amateur Champion.
Well Done Ryan
