The Irish Men’s Snooker team of Brendan O Donoghue & Ryan Cronin lost in the 2016 European Men Team Championships Final here in Vilnius, Lithuania tonight
The Irish pair had beaten their team mates Jason Devaney & Rodney Goggins earlier in the day in a seven frame thriller 4 frames to 3 and in the final they faced Team Malta of Alex Borg and Brian Cini.
The match was the best of 9 frame consisting on singles and scotch doubles to find the 2016 European Champions. The Irish pair gave it 100% but were beaten 5 frames to 3 by current Professional player Alex Borg and Brian Cini.
Frame 1: O Donoghue beat Brian Cini to go 1-0 up.
Frame 2: Cronin lost to Alex Borg to level match 1-1.
Doubles Frame: Cronin & O Donoghue beat Cini & Borg to go 2-1 up with a 52 break.
Frame 4: O Donoghue lost to Alex Borg to level match again at 2-2.
Frame 5: Cronin beat Brian Cini in a great frame to go 3-2 up.
Doubles Frame: Cronin & O Donoghue lost in the doubles to Cini & Borg to level the match again 3-3.
Frame 7: O Donoghue lost to Brian Cini in a tense affair to put the Maltese 4 frames to 3 and ahead for the first time.
Frame 8: Cronin lost a very close frame to Alex Borg to give them the title 5 frames to 3.
As National Coach I was so proud of our three teams here in Lithuania this week. We had three teams in the Q-Finals, Two in the Semis and one in the final which shows the strength in depth we have in Ireland.
It was great to see former juniors like Ryan Cronin and Jason Devaney join forces with experienced players like Brendan O Donoghue, Rodney Goggins, Michael Judge and Robert Murphy in flying our flag high at the highest International senior level.
Well done Boys, You were all superb!!!!!
