Brendan O’Donoghue has won the DBSL Premier Snooker Cup after a 4-2 victory over Robert Murphy at Fairview Snooker Club on Sunday.
O’Donoghue has now won back-to-back tournaments on the Irish amateur calendar this season, following his triumph in the Presidents Cup last month in Carlow.
The former professional, who was also the runner-up to Scott Donaldson in the European Amateur Championship in 2012, moves to the top of the rankings for the 2018/19 domestic campaign in Ireland.
O’Donoghue lost only one frame – to Rodney Goggins in the quarter-finals – as he eased his way through the early rounds and into the last four.
Things got tougher for the three-time national champion but the 36 year-old managed to evade the challenge of young Aaron Hill in a decider, 4-3.
Murphy, meanwhile, reached his first final in more than a year as he took advantage of a kinder draw in which he didn’t meet any top ranked player until his clash with O’Donoghue.
Murphy whitewashed his first three opponents before beating Ian Smith 4-1 in the semi-finals.
Despite establishing a 2-0 advantage over O’Donoghue, the final proved to be a step too far for Murphy as he lost the final four frames on the trot.
The tournament was missing reigning national champion Michael Judge and Greg Casey, who are on international duty at the 6 Red World Cup in Qatar.
The Premier Snooker Cup also provided plenty of early casualties for the high-profile names with Davy Morris losing in the last 16 and TJ Dowling crashing out in the last 32.
There are two ranking events remaining this season before the 2019 Irish National Championship takes place in April and May.
