Margaret O’Driscoll Wins the last Ranking Event of the 2021-2022 Season in Celbridge

Margaret O’Driscoll won the last ranking event of the 2021-2022 RILSA Tour season at the Celbridge Snooker Club Kildare making it 4 wins in a row for the Kerry woman.

In the last 16 round of the event, young Jennifer Earle from Dublin continued making good progress on tour by taking a 2 nil win over Stephanie Foley from Carlow to advance to the Quarters.  Tina Keogh from Offaly had to dig deep against newcomer Grushenka Arnold from Dublin with the match level at 1-1 it was Tina who held firm to see off a good challenge from Grushenka to take the frame needed to make it into the Quarters.

Margaret O’Driscoll from Kerry was in fine form against Christine Carr from Kildare and in no time took the two frames needed to advance, with a 32 break in the second.  Joanna Ward from Kildare upped her game on the day by taking a good win over Louise Maher who kept with Joanna all the way but Joanna won the final frame to seal a 2-1 result to complete the Quarter final line up.

Annette Newman from Carlow was in good form against Jennifer Earle with a couple of 20+ breaks to take the win 2 frames to nil for a place in the semis.  Claire Mill from Dublin saw off a good challenge from Tina Keogh to take the win 2 frames to nil, with a break of 22 in frame 2, to meet Annette in the semis.

In the bottom half of the draw Margaret O’Driscoll kept up her good form against Sandra Bryan from Wexford to win 2 frames to nil with breaks of 30 and 31 along the way for a place in the semis while on the other table Cathy Dunne from Dublin had to call on all of her experience to see off a good challenge by Joanna Ward to eventually see out the win 2 frames to 1 to meet Margaret in the semis

Annette had chances in her match against Claire who kept close all the way in both frames but Claire took the 1st on the colours and the second on a pink ball finish, very close indeed but Annette was the first to congratulate her win and wish her the best in the final.  Margaret continued her form against Cathy but not without a good effort from Cathy to try level the match after losing the first frame but it was not to be with Margaret taking the colours in the second frame to seal her place in the final against Claire

In the final Margaret was in fine form and Claire tried to keep in touch with her but it was not to be on the day and Margaret won the two frames needed to take the win and title at the Celbridge Snooker Club.

As it was our final event of the season, Margaret’s win would see her return to the top 16 in 11th place after a number of years away from the tour having been number 1 in 2002 she is certainly going to be a force on tour for the 2022-2023 season which commences in May 2022.  Claire Mill is now 3rd on the National rankings her highest ever ranking and well deserved for her consistent play during the season.  Cathy Dunne is back to number 2 spot after going out of the top 8 last season at 9th place having held number 2 in 2020 however Cathy was number 1 back in 2004 and has held 2nd spot on 3 other occasions in the past so a very strong player indeed.

Annette Newman has regained her number 1 spot after dropping just to 2nd last season after Louise Jordan took the number 1 place on the National Rankings for 2021 after a great season however Annette is delighted to be back in 1st place after her record of holding the Irish number 1 for 5 seasons in a row, just shows her dedication to female cue sports like her counterparts mentioned above.  Sandra Bryan retained her number 4 place on tour and has been number 1 in 2015 along with 2nd place for two seasons in a row again one of our strong players on tour.

These 4 players are our top Amateur’s on tour and their results and consistency are a testament to their dedication to female cue sports.

While we praise these players we are very aware of the many players who are making great progress and advancing all the time and its only a matter of time when we will see them cause upsets on our National rankings in the season’s ahead.

Christine Carr a former number 3 player is only just out of the top 4 at 5th spot at the end of the season, Christine is one of our most dedicated players on tour, never missed and event since joining in 2014 she along with Annette Newman hold this record for attending events, a fantastic achievement and what dedication indeed.  Stephanie Foley remains in the top 8 after just dropping from 5th last season to 6th spot this season another great result for her on tour.  Jennifer Earle is back into the top 8 after dropping to 11th place last season and is now 7th on tour, great progress for the Dublin youngster.  Tina Keogh was down to 10th spot last season and is back at 8th place on tour having been in the top 8 for 6 season in a row with 7th spot on 4 occasions, another show of consistency and dedication from the Offaly woman.

Newcomers to the top 32 this season are Louise Maher from Kilkenny 20th, Michelle Morris from Donegal 21st, Grushenka Arnold from Dublin 22nd, Elizabeth Lynch from Offaly 23rd, Christine Henderson from Donegal 25th, Elizabeth Killeen from Galway 26th, Laura Hughes from Limerick 27th and Nafeesa Naz from Dublin 28th.  We welcome all our new members during the last season and congratulate all who made it onto our National Ranking list and we are looking forward to seeing them all in the new season along with the many new members who have yet to enter our events hopefully during the new season.

Congratulations to Margaret on her win and well done to Claire on a fine performance throughout.  Thanks to all our players for their participation and support.  Thanks to Dave Earle who officiated throughout the day and refereed the final.

A special thanks to Phil Martin, Joan, Jo, James and Liam for all their help and support along with providing great facilities on the day.

A full report on the National Ranking list to follow soon.

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