Ireland has tonight been crowned the Home Internationals champions for the fourth time at Pontins, Prestatyn in North Wales.
A very strong Irish team, consisting of Rodney Goggins, Brendan O’Donoghue, Greg Casey, Johnny Williams and Robert Redmond, crossed the Irish Sea in an attempt to win back the Prince of Wales title the country last claimed in 2001.
All of the quintet played a major role but the star player was Nenagh’s O’Donoghue who proved to be unstoppable as he won all of his matches over the course of the weekend.
The boys got off to the best of starts on Saturday when they overcame Isle of Man 10-2 in convincing fashion and consolidated their position with a hard-fought 7-5 victory over Scotland on Sunday.
Contrasting scorelines over the two Welsh teams could have proved costly as they first lost to the Wales B team 7-5 but returned to winning ways late yesterday evening with an 8-4 defeat of the host nation’s A outfit.
This morning’s tight 7-5 success over arch-rivals England meant that if the latter failed to win their final game against Wales, the trophy would be in the hands of the green army – and that’s exactly what happened.
Congratulations to the boys and it is a much-needed and welcomed boost for amateur snooker in this country – which has taken a fair few hits in recent years.
Later this week the Under 16s and Under-19 events take place, with the Irish Under-19 team in particular boasting a highly competitive side.
Stay tuned for another article later in the week also for a full insight from ‘The Sniper’ Johnny Williams into how this weekend went for the Irish boys but, until then, I’m sure they’ll be enjoying a few scoops in celebration.
Well done boys.
