Irish Teams for European Championships Confirmed

Josh Boileau heads a strong Irish team who will head to the European Championships in Poland next February.

The 20 year-old captured his maiden Senior ranking event title last Sunday and, in doing so, surged to the top of the Irish rankings to guarantee his place in the Men’s Championship in Wroclaw.

Boileau has also qualified for the Under-21 Championship as a result of his triumph in the first ranking event of that age category back in October.

The Kildare cueist notably finished runner-up in the 2014 European Under-21s, where he lost to England’s Oliver Lines 6-1 in the final.

Boileau will be looking to go one better in either tournament to collect his first piece of international silverware, thus potentially earning an invitation to play on the professional Main Tour.

Joining him in the Under-21s will be fellow ranking event winners this season in Adam Fitzgerald and Aaron Tobin, as well ranked no.2 Newbridge CYMS’s youngster Charlie Sweeney.

In the Men’s Championship, Boileau will lead a quality quintet including Brendan O’Donoghue, Jason Devaney, Michael Judge and Ryan Cronin.

SnookerHQ contributor Jonathan Williams missed out on a trip to the continent by a seemingly narrow margin to Cronin despite having the same amount of ranking points as the Crucible competitor – in addition to boasting a semi-final appearance this season to Cronin’s best of a last eight run in a ranking event.

Still, it’s a very talented line-up overall and one that will hopefully produce some more positive results at the business end of proceedings.

The group of players who will contest the Under-18 Championship was also determined, with Ross Bulman, Fergal Quinn, Darragh Cusack and Noel Landers set to fly to Poland early next year.

The Championships take place from February 7th to 20th and the best of luck to all the Irishmen taking part.