Annette Newman Wins RILSA National 10 Red Championship at Sharkx Newbridge

The 2nd RILSA National 10 Red Snooker Championship was won by Annette Newman from Carlow at the RILSA Academy Sharkx Newbridge recently.

This is Annette’s 10 National RILSA Title making her the most successful female player in Ireland after Julie Kelly who dominated the 1990’s with 7 National Titles to her name.

In the quarter finals, Annette had a good 2 nil win over the ever improving Jennifer Earle from Dublin to take her into the semis while another Carlow native, Stephanie Morrison also made it to the quarters over Roisin Beale from Kildare to set up an all Carlow semi final with Annette.

In the other half of the draw we saw Christine Carr (Kildare) have a good 2 nil win over Meath woman, Margaret Browne to reach the semis.  Claire Mill from Dublin after 10 months out from competition bounced back to take a 2 nil win over Joanna Ward from Kildare to complete the semi final line up.

Annette proved too strong for Stephanie as she took the match 2 nil to reach the final for the second year of this event.  Claire took frame 1 against Christine comfortably however Christine fought hard in the second to take it to a black ball finish in which Claire doubled the black for frame and match and take her into her first ever RILSA final.

In the final the first frame was close up to the colours and Annette cleared from brown to black to take frame 1.  In frame 2 it was much closer with it going down to the black ball.  After a bout of play on the black, Annette was left with a pot on and took full advantage to pot black and take the win and title of National 10 Red Snooker Champion 2020.

What a season it is for Annette taking yet another National title as she is now the only woman to win all 3 National Snooker Titles along with the prestigious Maureen Butler Cup and both National Billiards Titles in the one season.

Congratulations to Annette on her win and to Claire on a fine performance.  Well done to all our players for their participation and support.  The report on the 10 Red Plate Competition will follow shortly.

On the National Rankings we now see Annette sitting comfortably in number 1 spot and is look good to hold number 1 for the 5th season in a row.  Claire’s run to the final moves her up from 76th place to provisionally 30th and if she stays within the top 32 this season she will qualify for the National Championship on 9th May.  Cathy Dunne remains in 2nd spot but other players are close on her heels to try and take this away.

Joanna Ward moves up from 15th to 10th while Margaret Browne is up from 8th to 6th.  Stephanie Morrison will be delighted with her move from 40th to 17 spot and is very much in contention to make the top 16 by the end of the season.  Young Jennifer Earle is now 3rd on the rankings, showing her commitment to the tour this season and is improving all the time.  Christine Carr moves from 5th to 4th.

Players moving down are Tina Keogh from 7th to 8th but Tina can maintain her top 8 place again this season as she has done for the past 4 seasons which is great achievement.  Michelle French has gone from 3rd to 5th while Paula Judge is down from 6th to 7th spot.

While there is still time for a number of our players to make progress on their rankings, they will have to get along to the Dublin Open on 15th February in D’Arcy McGees Spawell and Newbridge in March for the last ranking of the 2019/2020 season, the Kildare Open.

Thanks to Bernie and Paul of Sharkx for all their help and support and to Dave Earle for his help throughout the day refereeing.

TOP 32 PROVISIONAL RANKINGS AFTER 10 RED CHAMPIONSHIP 2020