Cathy Dunne from Dublin is our 4th player on the all time list with RILSA, Cathy joined RILSA in 1997 and made an impact on the circuit from the start as she proved a force to participate against. In 2000 Cathy made it to her first National Championship final against Ann McMahon where she lost on this occasion. In 1999, Cathy would represent Ireland at the Home Internationals. Again in 2002 along with Margaret O’Driscoll they finished 4th at the Home Internationals. Cathy’s first big win would come in 2004 with the All Ireland Title on her home ground in Celbridge, defeating Cathy Pegg from Northern Ireland, later in 2004 she would take her first National Championship title.
Since returning to RILSA events after a number of years away, she would continue where she left off by collecting a total of 8 National Ranking titles and runner up in 7 other ranking events, a fantastic achievement for her. Cathy has reached the last 3 finals of the National Championship and it’s only a matter of time when she will add another to her list. Her National ranking history is second to none after she made it to number 1 in 2004 and has reached number 2 place on 4 occasions, all the while keeping within the top 12 at least over the years in RILSA.
She would add the coveted Maureen Butler Cup to her achievements in 2016 with a win over Laura Alves in the final and reach the final again in 2018 just to lose out to Paula Judge.
International Irish Open
Cathy did well at our Inaugural International Irish Snooker Open in 2015 winning the Challenge Cup event over Laura Alves representing Brazil. In 2016 she would reach the final of the International Irish Open main event, in an all Irish final against Ann McMahon but was to lose out to Ann on this occasion. 2017 Cathy would reach the semis of the main event and the quarters of the main event in 2018. Her time came in 2019 when she reached the final of the International Irish Open main event for the second time and once again it was an all Irish final against Annette Newman. Cathy played some of her best snooker against Annette on this occasion and took the International Irish Open title which was a great result. It showed Cathy’s dedication to keep going and never give up.
Cathy represented Ireland at the 2016 World Ladies Snooker Championships in Leeds UK and was to reach the last 32 of the main event but was more successful in the World Senior event reaching the Quarter Finals, a great result on the World stage. Cathy along with Annette Newman and Paula Judge were runners up to England in the Ladies Home Nations event at Joey’s Dublin in 2018.
Cathy has 11 International Caps for Ireland. She is a recipient of the Griffith Pin award for event attendances.
Cathy has a total of 26 Medals, 11 Gold, 11 Silver and 4 Bronze for Snooker which is a fantastic achievement for her.
Congratulations to Cathy on all her success with RILSA to date and we appreciate her continued support, commitment and dedication to female cue sports in Ireland
