Max Kennedy from Hot Shots SC Galway won the first Snooker & Billiards Ireland (SBI) Stars of the Future Tour Event of the season in the SBI HQ on Saturday the 30th of September.
In the final
14-year-old Max Kennedy from Hot Shots SC Galway beat Joe Shannon from Longford in a high quality final which was refereed by Shane Gorman 3 frames to 1 to claim the title.
SBI have Rebranded the U/14 & U/16 tours as the Stars of the Future Tour Combining the U/14 age group with the U/16 age groups into a one-day event. There was an excellent entry of 12 young stars of the future playing on the day from Dublin, Newbridge, Youghal, Longford, Galway, Killarney, Edenderry and Waterford.
The event began in group format plus a skills event with drills designed by our National Coach PJ Nolan. Joe Shannon won the skills event with Lorcán Ó Curraoin in second and Max Kennedy in third place on the day.
All the players received today a SBI booklet with the practice drills for the future SBI stars of future skills events. This is to help the players prepare for future events and the skills event today was excellent and will have bonus ranking points.
Semi Finals
In the Semi Finals Joe beat Lorcán Ó Curraoin from Edlington SC Galway in a great match with three close frames 3-0 and in the other semi-final Max beat Liam Dunne from Edenderry SC in another close match 3-0.
Plate Event
SBI also held a Stars of the Future Plate event for all the players who did not qualify from the group. The standard was excellent with Aaron Donnelly from Newbridge CYMS winning the event when he beat Oscar Elision Gibbons 2 frames to nil.
SBI would like to thank all the players and parents/ guardian for attending the event. We hope everyone enjoyed the great day of Junior Snooker. The players performed excellent and will only improve more during the season.
SBI would also like to thank Shane Gorman for refereeing all day and Tommy O Donoghue for attending to launch the tour.
Congratulations to Max on winning the SBI Stars of Future Ken Doherty Cup.
Full Results Below
See you all at event 2 on 28th October – Enter Now!
LATEST RANKINGS AFTER EVENT 1
Full Tour Info
Players should be aware that all entries are now through the on line system and you have to enter before the closing date.
Rebranding the Ranking Tournaments
- The Ken Doherty Cup
- The Irish Masters
- The Fergal O’Brien Cup
- The Irish Grand Prix
- The Rodney Goggins Cup
- The Brendan O’Donoghue Cup
You can now enter and pay for all the events for the season at the same time by clicking HERE and choosing which events you want to enter.
- 30th September – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 1 – KEN DOHERTY CUP – SBI HQ – WINNER MAX KENNEDY
- 28th October – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 2 – THE IRISH GRAND PRIX – SBI HQ
- 18th November – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 3 – THE RODNEY GOGGINS CUP – Crucible SC Cork
- 3rd February – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 4 – THE FERGAL O BRIEN CUP – SBI HQ
- 2nd March – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 5 – THE BRENDAN O DONOGHUE CUP – Hot Shots SC Galway
- 6th April – SBI STARS OF THE FUTURE EVENT 6 – THE IRISH MASTERS – Newbridge CYMS Co. Kildare
- 27th April – SBI UNDER 16 NATIONAL SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP – DERMOT DALTON CUP– SBI HQ
- 4th May – SBI UNDER 14 NATIONAL SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP – DERMOT DALTON CUP– SBI HQ
Important Notice for Junior players
Snooker & Billiards Ireland SBI were recently notified by EBSA of their intention to move the age qualification date for all junior events effective from next (2023-2024) season. This decision was subsequently adopted by IBSF meaning that we will have to accept this change and move to different qualification windows for all international junior events.
For the forthcoming season, instead of the player age at 31/12/23 being the age qualification cut-off date, both EBSA & IBSF have now moved this to (31/08/24), 2024 being the year that their relevant events are being held.
U-14’s: a player who’s 14th birthday is on or before 31st August 2024 will not be able to enter the SBI under 14s events in the 2023 /24 season.
U-16’s: a player who’s 16th birthday is on or before 31st August 2024 will not be able to enter the SBI under 16s events in the 2023 /24 season.
Please contact SBI on info@sbireland.ie , if you have questions or need help understanding the impact for you based on your date of birth.
Closing Dates
The closing date for all SBI Stars of Future events will 6pm on the Friday before the event. The draw for Groups will be made at 9.30am on the morning of the event in the venue by the TD.
Play will start at 10am at all events this season on the Stars of the Future Tour
Tournament Entry Fees
The cost of entry will be the following:
- Under 16 – €10.00
- Under 14 – €10.00
All players will need to register for the new season. SBI Registration runs from September to September each season.
Players will have to first pay SBI registration / membership or Renewal their membership and register for the new season. When you register, you will be asked to create a username and password. You will only be allowed to enter an event if log in and use this username and password.
You can reset your own password and there is also a support form on the system for members to complete and I.T. will follow up to resolve any major issues.
SBI Registration
- Under 18’s – €16.00
How it will work
There will be a U/14 group that will play a round robin format of 2 frames per match. 1pt for a 1-1 draw and 2pts for a 2-0 win.
There will be a U/16 group that will play the same format as above.
The top two from each group will come out and play each other in the semi-finals, best of 5 frames. The final will also be best of 5.
All other players will go into a plate competition in an open draw, best of 5 frames.
Venues
We will bring the tour to 3 different venues and 3 events will be held in Carlow, suggested venues are Hot Shots in Galway, Crucible SC in Cork & Newbridge CYMS for this year. The national championships for both age groups will be held in Carlow.
Celtic Challenge, Home Internationals & Europeans
Each age group will still have their own ranking points as above. I will also be doing a combined Stars of the Future ranking which will have all the players at this level included.
So a player will have an age group ranking and a Stars of the Future ranking.
Dress Code
- SBI POLO SHIRTS ARE ALLOWED
- Dark Shoes (no runners)
- Dark one coloured trousers (no jeans)
- One coloured shirt buttoned at the wrist
- Waistcoats must be worn for all matches in National Championships.
- National Waistcoats are not permissible
- Bowties are also required for the SBI Championships for all matches.
More Information
Tommy O Donoghue has agreed to take over the running of this tour, any questions, concerns, or clarifications, please reach out to him on odonoghue.tommy147@gmail.com
