ST JOHNS Mulgrave Street battled hard at the weekend to win the Munster Snooker Championships 2022.
After 40 years of trying the St Johns Club based in Mulgrave Street are Munster Snooker Champions for the very first time after a very hard-earned victory down at the Glen Eagle Hotel in Killarney last weekend.
The St Johns team, managed by Limerick snooker legend Morgan Hayes comprised of Albert Hogan (Adare), Kevin Mc Mahon (Ballinacurra Road), Tommy O Donoghue (Croom), Anthony Cronin (Janesboro), and Jason Keegan (Raheen).
The Championship competition comprised of 20 club teams from around Munster drawn into five groups of four teams. Each team of five players, play a best of 3 match against their respective opponents with the first to three from five matches winning each tie.
St Johns’ journey started last Friday and the team topped their group impressively with 3-0 wins over Thurles and Fermoy and a hard fought 3-2 win on the final pink by Albert Hogan to beat a tough Waterford side to qualify for the quarter finals and a clash with Cappaquin. After an excellent display the Limerick side produced a 3-0 win.
The Cue Club Killarney awaited in the semifinal.
That was a very tough match for the Limerick club against an experienced Killarney side but the ever so confident St Johns team pulled out the wins in two tight matches to win 3-1 with Anthony Cronin and Tommy O Donoghue playing superb snooker.
In the final they were paired with a highly fancied Crucible Club, that have several impressive young players including the current U21 Irish champion.
In an excellent final both teams played well leaving their all on the table. Crucible took an early lead winning on table one. St Johns levelled with a deserved win by Tommy O’ Donoghue who was arguably the player of the tournament. Jason Keegan followed up for St Johns with an impressive 2-0 win on table four.
This left two matches for St Johns to take control of their fate. Albert Hogan was level at one frame apiece and the team Captain Kevin McMahon was 1-0 up on his respective opponent.
McMahon got a chance for the match in the second frame and dispatched the final pink to secure the title with a 3-1 victory for St Johns, making history for the club.
The win is testament to the fine work being done by the St Johns House and Sporting Committees who have worked hard to put in new tables and improve playing conditions in recent years.
St Johns had four teams at this year’s Championships with the St Johns team of Frank Sarsfield, John Torpey, Mark Tuite, Thomas Hickey, Tom Constable and Mark Gleeson reaching the semifinal of the premier competition where they lost narrowly to All Ireland Champions Crucible of Cork.
St Johns were also represented in the championship section by Adam Rowan, Brian Murphy, Tom Treacy, Ray Cantwell, Adam Finnan and Shane Sexton who qualified for a quarter final playoff but lost narrowly to Cue Club Killarney.
The fourth St Johns team of Mark Reddan, Ronan Mc Mahon , Ryan O Callaghan, Ger Lynch and Jack O Brien had some good performances but lost out in the group stages.
The championship and premier teams qualified as Munster representatives for the All-Ireland Championships on again in Killarney next week. Best of luck to all!
The post St Johns Mulgrave Street Snooker Club are Munster Snooker Champions appeared first on Sporting Limerick.
