NUI Maynooth Snooker & Pool Club

Snooker Intervarsities

NUI Maynooth Snooker and Pool Club entered the Snooker Intervarsities in Galway on the 4th & 5th Dec 2009. Maynooth had won the Individual and Team Competitions the previous two years when they were held in the Spawell in Dublin, and were hoping to achieve three in a row this year.

Last year NUI Maynooth Snooker team had accomplished the first Grand slam in Intervarsity history when they won the Team Cup, the Plate, and the individual Competitions.

This Year saw a Change to the A Team, First year mature students Robert Donohue, Daniel Bolton & Eamon Rellis were selected along side Johnny Williams (Snooker Scholarship), & Chris Hayden. The Club also sent a B team comprising of Conor Xiu, Kevin Shuai, Dan Gallagher, Brian Mulanney and Darren Doyle.

Snooker Manager Gregory White attended the Event with Two past Student Players and now external members, Peter Dunne and Mark Loonam.

The First day of the Event saw NUI Maynooth Play in a Group comprised of Three Teams with the first Two Teams qualifying for the Quarter Finals on day two. Maynooth Played very well during both matches, winning both and qualifying for the quarters with some ease.

The Individuals were also played on the first day, Johnny Williams started in the first round with a tough match going 1-0 down in a best of three. He managed to win the next two frames, but only when reaching the colours. However Johnny managed to up his game for the rest of the day and led the A Team to qualify for the quarters in the team event and reached the Final of the Individuals, which were played on day two.

The Second day saw a Quarter Final Match against the DCU A Team. It was the first team to win six frames, each player in a five man team playing two frames. A sudden death frame is used in the case of a draw. Maynooth started very strong winning both their first two matches of the quarter final 2-0 & 2-0 to lead 4-0. DCU pulled a frame back, but Maynooth proved too strong winning the next two frames and the match 6-1

The semi Final was next against the Queens University B Team from Belfast. The Semi –Final went the same way as the Quarter final with Maynooth proving too strong and running out 6-1 winners again.

The Final of the Individual event saw the current Individual Champion Johnny Williams trying to retain his title against Gary Menary from Queens University and a previous winner himself. Johnny Williams was playing with a lot of confidence in the first frame and managed to win it quite easily. This gave Johnny the psychological edge in a five frame match and Johnny had no trouble winning the next two frames and ran out a 3-0 winner.

The Final of the Team competition finished off the day with old rivals Queens A and Maynooth A going head to head. The final comprised of each player playing a best of three against their opponent. The winners would be the first to win three matches. Johnny Williams won his match 2-0 and our first point on the board. Chris Hayden was out played in his match and lost 2-1.

This tied the match at 1-1. Next up were Daniel Bolton and Eamon Rellis. Both Eamon & Daniel were at 1-1 against their opposition and the matches looked like they could go either way.

Daniel Bolton was left with three reds and the colours in his final frame, Daniel Bolton managed to up a few gears in his game and made a break of 47 to secure his match.

Eamon Rellis was playing some really good safety and potting some every important balls in his final frame. The frame came down to the brown, Blue, Pink and Black. The tension was really high but Eamon managed to keep his composure to pot two terrific shots on the Blue and Pink to win his match and the team title for NUI Maynooth Snooker Team.

Maynooth Snooker Team Have now managed to win three Individual and Team Intervarsity Titles in a row.