Female Cue Sports Ireland were delighted to have four of our Referees attend and Officiate at the recent world Senior Tour Event Qualifier at the SBI Academy Carlow where the eventual winner will qualify to the Crucible in Sheffield during the WPBSA World Championships in May 2024

The event was hailed a great success by the Organisers SB Ireland and Promoter Jason Francis from World Seniors and that each of the referees played a vital role in ensuring the smooth running of the event along with making it the success it was for all involved

With top Professional and Amateur players from Ireland and England participating, it would certainly make for an exciting two days in Carlow.  Current tour player Fergal O’Brien was in contention right from the start along with a field of top players such as Michael Judge, Joe Delaney, Patrick Wallace and Rodney Goggins just to mention a few, played exceptional snooker throughout the weekend.

 

The initial rounds were played on the Saturday 24th February with Dave Earle and Annette Newman representing Female Cue Sports Ireland and the Referees Association, both did exceptional well during day one with Dave Earle selected to Referee the final of an SBI Ranking event between Brendan O’Donohue and Mark Tuite with Brendan taking the win 3-1.  Annette would officiate three matches throughout the day where she gained great experience and was thanked by the players in the professional manner she refereed and this applied to all of our referees who were delighted to be part of this event.

Day two saw Dave Earle, Joe Lyons and Stephanie Foley play their part in another successful day at the SBI Academy with all three referees taking on some very high profile matches with Dave officiating the Quarter final match between Fergal O’Brien and Neil Craycraft with Fergal making a fantastic break of 135 on his way to a 4-1 victory and a place in the semis.  Dave went on to do marker for the final between Fergal O’Brien and Michael Judge with Judge taking the win 4-2 in a great and hard fought match.

Joe Lyons officiated the last 16 match between Paddy Wallace and Gregory Cooke with Gregory making it through after a hard match with Paddy 4-3.  Stephanie Foley officiated a few matches and was marker for the Final of the Super Seniors between Gary Fitness and John McCarthy which Gary won 2-0, Stephanie and Annette who are only starting out as official referees did an exceptional job over the weekend and were thanked and praised by the players on their great work in refereeing all their matches.

We wish to thank SBI Referees Association and the Committee of SBI for their support of referees for the event and congratulate them on running a very successful event at their Academy

We at Female Cue Sports Ireland were delighted to be offered the opportunity to help out and we are proud of Dave, Joe, Annette and Stephanie on a job well done.

Michael Judge, Neil Shanahan (Referee for the Final) & Fergal O’Brien

Thanks to all of the referees of the SBI Referees Association who were very supportive and played a vital role in the overall success of the event and thanks to Neil Shanahan and Shane Mason in particular for all their help and support.

Congratulations to Michael Judge on his win and well done to Fergal O’Brien and a fine performance throughout the event.