The New Institute Snooker Club, Nenagh played host to the 2014 Nenagh Open last weekend, which was sponsored by The Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh ( part of The Great National Hotel Group). There were a total of twenty nine entries for the event. This was the second ever staging of the event and the defending champion, from 2013 was David Hogan. The line up included numerous former Irish No.1’s, former professional players and past European champions. The top seed was defending champion, David Hogan, while the second and third seeds were lasts years Irish No.1, Robert Murphy and former professional, Michael Judge, respectively.
REPORT BY NIALL FARRELL
One of the earliest games to get underway was Colvin O’Brien against The New Institute’s Andy McCloskey. This was a very even affair, with neither player quite able to put their opponent away. As a result of this both players found themselves locked together at 3-3, facing a deciding frame in order to advance to the last 16. In the end it was Andy who got the rub of the green to win on the pink ball and set up a last 16 tie with fifth seed, John Sutton.
Northern Ireland’s Joe Meara was also one of the early starters on Saturday morning. He took on home favourite, John Donnellan. Although John played to an extremely high standard on the day, it was not to be enough, as Joe’s experience came through as he won 4-0.
Meanwhile Nenagh’s Patsy Farrell took on Dylan Rees in an entertaining first round encounter, in what was an all Masters affair. This was a very topsy turvy tie, with both players playing well, which resulted in the game coming down to a final frame decider. Unfortunately for the home crowd it was the visiting player that went on to win this match, as Rees won the final frame on the brown ball to win 4-3
Round of 32 Results:
(1) David Hogan 4-1 Daniel O’Regan
Bernard Casey 2-4 Tony Seymour
Joe Meara 4-0 John Donnellan
Tom O’Driscoll 0-4 Greg Casey(8)
(5) John Sutton v Bye
Andy McCloskey 4-3 Colvin O’Brien
Martin Kelly 4-0 Freddie Chute
Tom Forde 0-4 Rodney Goggins(4)
(3) Michael Judge 4-0 Conor Byrne
Patsy Farrell 3-4 Dylan Rees
Billy Kelly 0-4 James Bateman
Bye v Brendan ODonoghue(6)
(7) TJ Dowling 4-1 Shane Gorman
Jason Burns 0-4 Ger Delaney
Jake Byrne 1-4 Stephen Bateman
Bye v Robert Murphy(2)
There were a number of upsets at the round of 16 stage. Firstly, former professional Mick Judge found himself on the end of a 4-3 reverse against Dylan Rees. Rees took control of this match in the opening stages, with Judge clearly not firing to his best. Despite this Judge fought determinedly and ensured that the game would go to a deciding frame. The final frame was close, before Judge went in off the brown and allowed Rees to seal victory and set up a Sunday morning quarter final, against Nenagh’s, Brendan O’Donoghue.
Meanwhile there was another shock result running concurrent to the Judge and Rees game, as Ger Delaney upset seventh seed, TJ Dowling, also on a 4-3 scoreline. This game was point for point for long periods and it was hardly a surprise to see another deciding frame required. In the deciding frame it was the Tipperary man, who defeated his Dublin opponent, by keeping his composure to see out the frame and claim victory.
These results saw two of the country’s top senior snooker players from last season, make exits to their opponents from the masters division, in what surely is a massive boost to Irish masters snooker.
Round of 16 Results
(1) David Hogan 4-1 Tony Seymour
Joe Meara 1-4 Greg Casey (8)
(5) John Sutton 4-0 Andy McCloskey
Martin Kelly 0-4 Rodney Goggins(4)
(3) Michael Judge 3-4 Dylan Rees
James Bateman 1-4 Brendan O ‘ Donoghue (6)
(7) Tj Dowling 3-4 Ger Delaney
Stephen Bateman 0-4 Robert Murphy(2)
There was one quarter final played on Saturday evening. That was the clash of the top seed, David Hogan and eighth seed, Greg Casey. As was the trend of the day, this was a very close encounter, with both players sharing the opening two frames,leaving the score at 1-1. Greg went on to win the third frame, before drama unfolded in the fourth. With the frame coming down to a black ball decider, David’s attempt at potting the black was agonisingly close, only to angle off centre and allow Greg to try and gain a two frame advantage. However, with the black just above centre of the right middle pocket and the white ball close to the black spot, a thin cut was required. Unfortunately for Greg, his attempt missed the black altogether, resulting in David pulling level at 2-2. The fifth frame came down to the colours. However, Greg went on to miss the green, before David came to the table to steal the frame. It was a similar story in the sixth, as Greg tried to hold for the blue, only for the brown to pull up, allowing David to clinch the frame and a 4-2 victory.
The remaining three quarter finals took place on Sunday morning at 9.30am. Number two seed, Robert Murphy proved too strong for Ger Delaney, as he ran out a 4-0. However, with a bit more luck on the morning, Ger could easily have reduced the deficit to 3-2 and the result could have been entirely different.
The game between Brendan O’Donoghue and Mick Judge’s conqueror, Dylan Rees ,was a scrappy encounter. Neither player appeared to be performing to their level from the day previous, as the opening stages were quite tentative. However, Brendan slowly but surely began to gain the upper hand, to claim a 4-0, thus preventing Rees’ hopes of another giant killing.
The final quarter final saw fifth seed, John Sutton take on fourth seed, Rodney Goggins. This on paper looked to be the most even of the quarter final line ups. However despite this, Rodney brought his A game to the table and wrapped up a 4-1 victory and earn a semi final against top seed, David Hogan.
Quarter Final Results:
(1) David Hogan 4-2 Greg Casey(8)
(5) John Sutton1-4 Rodney Goggins(5)
Dylan Rees 0-4 Brendan O ‘ Donoghue(6)
Ger Delaney 0-4 Robert Murphy(2)
In the semi final stages Nenagh’s, Brendan O’Donoghue took on Q Club Wicklow’s, Robert Murphy. In the opening two frames Brendan was in total control, only for Robert to rally in both and take a commanding 2-0 lead. This was a crucial occurrence in the match, as Brendan was always playing catch up for the rest of the game . Murphy quashed any hopes of a comeback from Brendan, as he rattled off the next two frames and wrap up a comprehensive 4-0 victory.
The other semi final saw David Hogan face Rodney Goggins. Rodney quickly asserted himself in this match, producing a scintillating 88 break in the opening frame and take a one frame lead. David responded in the second frame with a 56 break to level proceedings. David dominated from there on, eventually wrapping up a 4-1 win.
Semi final results:
(1) David Hogan 4-1 Rodney Goggins(5)
(6) Brendan O’Donoghue 0-4 Robert Murphy(2)
The final between David and Robert took place on one of the newly refurbished tables in The New Institute. Both players appeared to be enjoying the table, with top quality snooker on display. The opening two frames came down to black ball finishes, with Murphy taking the opener before Hogan won the second. Murphy won the third frame on the pink, before Hogan levelled at 2-2 as the players broke for the mid session interval. However, after the resumption of the game, Hogan quickly found his potting rhythm to go 4-2 ahead, before a 110 break in frame seven sealed a 5-2 victory for the defending champion.
The committee of The New Institute Snooker Club would like to thank the management of The Abbey Court Hotel for their kind sponsorship of the event and also Tony Seymour, Gardening Services for sponsoring the high break prize, which was won by Brendan O’Donoghue with a 113 break.
