Tuesday, 13 February 2024 / Published in Billiards

Kehoe wins Pat O’Sullivan Memorial Title

The Pat O’Sullivan Memorial handicap tournament was played at Celbridge Snooker Club on Sunday, 11th of February 2024. After a day’s play, which saw many games decided on close margins, John Kehoe emerged the well deserved winner on the day, despite the significant handicap start he had to give his early round opponents.

Play got under way at 11.00am, the format for all rounds being 400 up, open draw, handicapped. Early round eliminations were Robert McCrum (Portmarnock), Annette Newman (Carlow), Aonghus McAnally (Portmarnock), veteran and long time practice partner of the late Pat O’Sullivan, Larry Drennan (Kilkenny) and welcome newcomers to the event, Kevin Christie (Malahide) and John Downey (Dungarvan).

The semi finalists in the top half of the draw were John Kehoe (Enniscorthy) and very welcome newcomer to the Billiards scene Dylan Rees (Dungarvan), John having had a good win in his quarter final match against Anthony O’Flaherty (Rathkeale) while Dylan had an equally good quarter final win against Anthony’s Rathkeale clubmate Jason Dowling. In the semi final, Dylan made good use of his snooker background, scoring freely on the red, punctuated with a mix of cannon and in-off play. Faced with a free scoring opponent, together with the handicap start he was giving him, John had to rely heavily on his own all round open game to counter Dylan’s effective scoring. This he did to good effect, drawing ever closer until, with barely a few minutes left on the clock, he overhauled the deficit to take the game by a mere 12 points.

The semi finalists in the bottom half of the draw were current Billiards Champion Wayne Doyle (Dun Laoghaire) and Joe Doheny (Borris-in-Ossory). Wayne progressed to the semi finals having survived a tough quarter final match with Northern Ireland ex professional snooker player Tommy Murphy, now resident in Straffan Co Kildare, while Joe came through his quarter final relatively unchallenged by Brendan Devlin (Celbridge). In the semi final, thanks to a series of well constructed half century breaks, Wayne quickly overcame a substantial part of the handicap start he was giving Joe resulting, from the point where scores were approximately level, in an intriguing game where both matched each other score for score, Wayne gradually easing ahead to claim his place in the final.

The Final turned out to be an enthralling game, John opening his account with some useful scoring while Wayne struggled to get going. A timely break of 54 saw John’s lead increase to 180, with little sign of any response from Wayne who continued to struggle against an uncharacteristic loss of form, all too frequently missing relatively straightforward shots. A slight change of tide, when John himself started missing, seemed to inspire Wayne to up his game, scoring the more freely of the two. As Wayne gradually whittled away at the deficit, an unexpected and very significant break of 81 brought him right back into the game. With the threat of losing his lead now looming large, John somehow kept his nerve, scoring effectively when needed to finish 22 points clear when time ran out. Our congratulations go to John on a well deserved victory to claim the Pat O’Sullivan title for 2024 and commiserations to Wayne whose efforts made for an absorbing and exciting Final.

As always, our thanks are due to Phil Martin for the excellent playing facilities and to the staff at Celbridge Snooker Club for their help on the day.

Results (all matches 400 up, handicapped, 90 minute time limit):

First round