The Republic of Ireland National Under 14 and Under 16 Snooker teams played the 2024 Celtic Challenge in the Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli, Wales on Saturday the 29th June.
This year saw four Irish players making their international debut and it is a new area of Irish Junior Snooker with players from Longford, Galway, Cork, Newbridge, Limerick, Laois, Cavan, Dublin, Kerry and Edenderry playing this year and this fantastic junior event.
The team for 2024 was Joe Shannon Team Captain, Lorcán Ó Curraoin, Max Kennedy, Aaron Donnelly, Oscar Ellison Gibbons, James Stewart O Reilly, Cathal Horgan, Liam Dunne, Scott Cooke, Cormac Crowe, Aaron Horan and Luke Mundy.
All the players played great and I hope this motivates everyone to practice and compete more at a higher age group next season in our SBI National events as getting experience of playing better players is what makes good International players.
This annual event features the best Irish and Welsh Junior players. This year saw six players on each team play two frames against each other over six sessions of play.
After a fantastic display of Snooker that saw the Welsh juniors win all six sessions with an overall total 97 points to 47 to retain the title.
Leon Cosker and Gordan Pantall from the Welsh Billiards & Snooker Association presented the Welsh team captain Sion Stuart with the Perpetual Cup. They also present medals to all the Irish & Welsh players.
Congratulations to a fantastic talented Welsh Team who played awesome snooker and won so many tight frames on the day to become the 2024 Champions.
The SBI Delegate was Tony Thorpe and he thanked everyone for an excellent event and is already looking forward to welcoming everyone to Ireland in 2025.
Match Stats
- First Session Wales beat Ireland 14 – 10
- Second Session Wales beat Ireland 19 – 5
- Third Session Wales beat Ireland 17 – 7
- Fourth Session Wales beat Ireland 15-9
- Fifth Session Wales beat Ireland 14-10
- Sixth Session Wales beat Ireland 18-6
Overall Match Score 97-47
Individual Stats
Cathal Horgan from Youghal CYMS had the best individual Irish stats on the day winning 8 out of a possible 12 in a incredible performance. Aaron Donnelly from Newbridge CYMS had 6 out of 12 while Joe Shannon, Luke Mundy and Max Kennedy all had 5 out of 12. Full results below.
In the overall team stats, the Irish Under 14’s lost 46-26 and the U-16’s lost 55-21 on the day.
Thank You
National Coach PJ Nolan said ‘’ Well done to all the Irish juniors for being so professional from the first to the last frame. Congratulations to each player for flying the flag with passion and pride today. Ireland are developing a good junior team who I believe will win this Celtic Challenge in the coming years but the training for our Irish players starts in September guys so come on Team Ireland ‘
Well done Team Ireland!!!
