Brendan O’Donoghue has won the third ranking event of the Irish campaign after claiming the Presidents Cup on Sunday in Carlow.
In the final, O’Donoghue beat defending champion Rodney Goggins to record his first triumph of the 2018/19 season.
The Tipperary native beat fellow former professional David Morris in the last four, with the pair now battling it out at the top of the rankings at the midway point of this term.
Goggins overcame Michael Judge in the other semi-final clash in what was a repeat of their dramatic National Championship encounter in May, which the latter edged in a thriller 7-5.
Cork teenager Aaron Hill, who captured the Hickson’s Centra Open in October, was a 3-2 loser in the quarter-finals to eventual runner-up Goggins.
It’s been a good few weeks for Goggins after the player known as “Revenue” emerged from a recent World Seniors Tour qualifier to book his place in January’s Irish Seniors Masters at Goffs.
But it’s Brendan O’Donoghue, who plied his trade on the Main Tour for one season a decade ago, who will have left the Ivy Rooms the happier competitor on this occasion.
The 2017 national champion compiled the highest break of the weekend too with a nice run of 116.
Unable to build on the success of the last ranking event that boasted an entry list of 75 players, this tournament attracted less than 60 runners.
This Irish season is the first in several years where the ranking events are being staged in various clubs around the country as opposed to always at the Ivy Rooms.
The Northwest Snooker Club in Letterkenny and County Kildare’s Celbridge staged the opening two events.
The remaining tournaments will be held in Fairview SC, Newbridge CYMS, and Potters SC, before the blue riband National Championship is contested in April and May.
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