Rodney Goggins collected his third trophy of the Irish season after narrowly beating Brendan O’Donoghue 4-3 to win the RIBSA Grand Prix in Carlow.
The 147 Wexford club player gained a modicum of revenge over O’Donoghue, having lost to him by the same scoreline in the final of the Irish Open in November.
With the triumph, Goggins extends his advantage at the top of the Irish rankings and, with just one event to go, appears certain to go into the National Championship as the number one seed.
In the six tournaments so far, Goggins has only failed to reach the final once – in The President’s Cup when he was beaten in a semi-final decider by Michael Judge.
Despite having won two of the events himself so far during this campaign, ex-pro Judge was a non-entrant and so slips back into third in the rankings behind Nenagh’s O’Donoghue.
John Sutton compiled the highest break, a 114, before losing to Goggins in the semi-final while O’Donoghue edged out Robert Murphy in the other last four encounter.
The full draw can be viewed here.