Ann McMahon from Dublin is our 3rd player on the all time list with RILSA, Ann joined RILSA in the early 1990’s and showed great ability from the get go. Ann would rise up the National Rankings as she made progress in the early years reaching the semis of a number of events. In 1994 Ann made it to her first National Championship final against Julie Kelly from Wexford and would cause a big upset in taking the title away from Julie in a close match 3-2 putting a stop to the 3 times in a row Champion from Wexford. This event would catapult Ann into the mix of Irish female greats as her confidence soared and continued dedicated practice on the table would prove as the following seasons show. Ann reached the final again in 1996 but Julie came back fighting to win her 5th National title on that occasion.
It would take a few more years for Ann to reach the final again but in the meantime had great success on the National Ladies Tour with many wins and runners up spots. 1999 was her time to shine again as she took the National Title for the second time against her good friend Greta Browne 4-2. Ann would take the title in 2000 against Cathy Dunne and again for the 3rd year in a row against Margaret O’Driscoll in 2001, she reached the final again in 2002 but it would be Margaret O’Driscoll who would win on this occasion, however Ann was not finished yet as she came back in 2003 to win her 5th National Championship Title against Michelle Sherwin 3-2. Ann would get her name on the coveted Maureen Butler Cup when she won it in 2000.
Over the years Ann would go on to win a total of 15 National Ranking titles to add to her already 5 National Championship wins, a fantastic result for the Dublin woman.
Ann would also represent Ireland on 4 occasions at the Home Internationals and finish 3rd overall in 1997 with team mates Paula Darby and Greta Browne. In the European Championships Ann would represent Ireland on 3 occasions and reach the semis in 2002.
Ann would play in 5 World Championships where she did well on two occasions making it out of the group stages, however her biggest success would come in 2002 when she would reach the final of the World Seniors in Swindon UK. Having beaten a former World Champion, Mandy Fisher in the last 16 of the event and go through to the semis to meet Neeta Sanghvi from India with a 3-1 win to make the final against Jenny Poulter from the UK. This was a great result for her but was to lose out 3-0 to Jenny in a very close final indeed event though the score line didn’t reflect the match itself.
Ann would drop out of competition in 2005 and return to RILSA in 2015 with almost immediate success as she reached the semis of the Irish International Irish Open in Dublin. In 2016 Ann would win yet another National Ranking final against Sandra Bryan and would finish the season back in the top 16 at 13th place. 2016 would see Ann return to the Irish Open in Dublin where she would win her first International Championship title against Cathy Dunne in a great final.
On the National Rankings, Ann would finish 2nd in 1995 and make it to Irish number 1 in 1997, back to 2nd in 1998 and took back her number 1 spot in 1999. Ann would drop back to 2nd again in 2000 but kept going with great results to take the number 1 spot for the 3rd time in 2001. Ann would keep in the top 4 for another 2 seasons before bowing out of the top 16 in 2004 where she would take a break from the sport, until she came back in 2015 as mentioned above.
Overall Ann’s success is a testament to her commitment and dedication to practice and her results show that she is one of Ireland’s top female snooker players and rightly deserves her place at the top of our list. Not only is she recognised on our National Stage but at European and World stage also.
Ann has 16 International Caps for Ireland.
Congratulations to Ann on all her success with RILSA to date and we appreciate her continued support, commitment and dedication to female cue sports in Ireland
