The Republic of Ireland Juniors were in fantastic form to beat the Welsh Juniors in the 2025 Junior International Celtic Challenge on Saturday the 5th of July in the Snooker & Billiards Ireland Academy of Excellence in Carlow.
This event features the best Under 14 and Under 16 players from the Republic of Ireland and Wales playing 4 matches of 3 frames each on the day to find the 2025 Champion. Our SBI juniors won all 4 sessions on the day to win back the title that had been won by Wales for the last four years 66 frames to 30.
Team Captain
Team Captains Aaron Donnelly and Liam Dunne was presented with the perpetual cup by TD Shane Mason in front of a large cheering crowd in the SBI HQ in Carlow. Aaron thanked SBI, Welsh Snooker, our Coaches and all his team mates on a superb day of Junior Snooker and he was delighted to captain this winning Irish Team.
Top Scorers
Joe Shannon, Aaron Donnelly and James Stewart O Reilly had an incredible day with all 4 wins from 4 matches and it was Joe Shannon who won the most frames winning 10.
National Coach
National Coach PJ Nolan said” he was delighted to see the players play with so much confidence and that all the hard work done by SBI in developing our Juniors is starting to achieve more and more success stories each season. He thanked Paul Keighery from Ballinasloe for all his help with the team and he feels this is only the start of the journey for this crop of young Juniors”
Session Scores
- Session 1: Republic of Ireland 13-11 Wales
- Session 2: Republic of Ireland 17-7 Wales
- Session 3: Republic of Ireland 20-4 Wales
- Session 4: Republic of Ireland 16-8 Wales
- Overall Score: Republic of Ireland 66 – 30 Wales
Training Camp
SBI had held a specific training day on the 28th of July with PJ prior to the event in the SBI HQ in Carlow where the players had coaching and technical and mental advice which helped them win the title today.
Live Streaming
This year four tables were live streamed via the SBI web site and you can view the matches now via the SBI you tube channel and SnookerON channel.
The TD on the day was Shane Mason and the action began at 10am with the final session at 4.30pm. The presentation of certificates to all the players was then made and the cup was presented to Team Ireland.
Ireland 14’s Team
- Liam Dunne (Team Captain), James Stewart O Reilly, Luke Mundy and Callum Behan
Ireland 16’s Team
- Aaron Donnelly (Team Captain), Dermot Kelly, Joe Shannon and Max Kennedy
SBI Coaches / Team Managers were PJ Nolan and Paul Keighery
Welsh 14’s Team
- Freddie Smith (Team captain), Rory Reardon, Jaiden Chung and Spencer Collings
Welsh 16’s Team
- Rio Chung (Team captain), Reuben Gingell, Jordan Wright and Aiden Collings
SBI Referees in Action this year were: Neil Shanahan, Steven Foster, Kevin Christie, Aonghus McAnally, Shane Corr and Pat Mooney are in action on the day.
SBI would like to congratulate our SBI Junior players on this fantastic victory and thank all the parents and guardians for their support to the junior game. We would also thank the Welsh Team for coming over and we hope they all enjoyed the event.
Finally, big thank you to our Referees and TD Shane Mason on making it a great day of Junior Snooker.
2025 FULL RESULTS
