Margaret O’Driscoll from Kerry retained her RILSA National Amateur Snooker Championship Title at the RILSA Academy Sharkx Newbridge recently and in doing so extends her record to 9 National Snooker Championship titles, a fantastic achievement for her
As the event was a qualifier via the National RILSA Rankings with the top 16 making the cut on the day. Lynda Curley from Offaly and making it in at 16th spot had to play well to overcome the current number 1, Annette Newman from Carlow. The first frame went to a re spot black with Lynda potting it to go ahead, frame 2 saw the match take the same route very close indeed again going to a black ball finish with Lynda potting it for match and a place in the Quarters. Margaret Browne from Meath went through over Valerie Maloney from Laois to meet Lynda in the Quarters
Margaret O’Driscoll from Kerry went through to the Quarters over Tina Keogh from Offaly and Joanna Ward from Kildare had to dig deep against Veronica Hallahan from Dublin to see her through to meet Margaret O’Driscoll with a 2-1 win. At the other end of the draw Claire Mill from Dublin went through over Jennifer Earle from Dublin and Jackie Trulock also through over Sandra Bryan from Wexford to meet Claire in the Quarters. Cathy Dunne from Dublin saw off a challenge from Christine Carr from Kildare to take the match 2 frames to nil for a Quarter Final place and Qianhui Ye from Wicklow went through over Stephanie Foley from Carlow to meet Cathy in the Quarters and complete the Quarter Final line up
Lynda had to dig deep against Margaret Browne to level at 1-1 and it was a close finish in the 3rd with Lynda making it through to the Semis with a pink ball finish. Margaret O’Driscoll upped her game against Joanna making two 32 breaks on her way to a 2 nil win and a meeting with Lynda in the semis
The other end of the draw saw Claire play solid snooker against Jackie to advance tom the semis with a 2 nil win and Cathy saw off Qianhui with a comfortable 2 frames to nil to meet Claire in the semis
Margaret was playing good snooker and while a frame up had to hold Lynda off towards the end of frame 2 making it a close finish on the pink ball to see her through to the final once more. Cathy and Claire were neck in neck for the most part with the match level at 1-1, however Cathy held firm to take the 3rd frame to meet Margaret in the final
The final itself saw Margaret take the first frame and frame 2 could have gone to Cathy with a number of chances but Margaret took in on the colours for the win and her 9th Championship win breaking her record that she made in 2024
Congratulations to Margaret on her win and well done to Cathy on her runner up place. Congratulations to all the ladies who qualified and participated, well done to you all
Thanks to our referees Stephanie Foley, Martin Foley and Dave Earle who refereed the final and thanks to Annette for marking the final. Thanks to Bernie, Paul and staff of Sharkx for all their help and support
