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sport@eastcorkjournal.ie East Cork Snooker Bulman Creates Snooker History With Four National Titles by DEREK KIELY HISTORIC is the only


word to describe what fif- teen year old Ross Bulman achieved in Carlow last weekend at the Ivy Rooms in the ‘Republic of Ireland Billiards and Snooker Asso- ciation (RIBSA) ‘National Irish Finals Weekend. It is so tough for any


sportsperson to win their national championships be it on a team or even tough- er in an individual sport like snooker, but to win four na- tional Irish titles in two days is quite remarkable. The


talented Youghal


man made history with the four wins and surpassed everything ever achieved be- fore in Irish amateur snook- er at its top event of the year. Bulman only dropped three frames out of a possible 28 frames during his two mag- ical days on the green baize of the ‘National Academy’. “I did know what was at


stake going into the fourth final, but it only spurred me on. Leading up to the week- end I thought that I might


win two of them and any- thing else after that would be a real bonus, but to win all four was fantastic and it means the World to me. I had been putting in three to four hours a day practice in the lead up to the finals, but my coach PJ Nolan (RIBSA National Coach) told me to bring it back to one hour a day the week before Carlow so I would be fresh going into the finals and that real- ly worked well and over the weekend I didn’t really miss anything easy and I was cue- ing really well” said Bulman. Bulman entered the are-


na on Saturday morning at 10 am to play his first final the U18 event and made a new personal best 128 clear- ance in his opening frame and 45 minutes later he was four frames to nil winner and had retained his U18 title for the third time. Bulman a huge fan of the


‘Rocket’ Ronnie O’Sullivan was in determined mood all day Saturday and by the close of business he had the U19 title in the bag too, he said “I was thrilled to bits, I


had two national titles un- der my belt as I headed off home to Youghal and com- ing up the next morning I knew any more wins would be a bonus and it worked out really well on Sunday with a win in the under 16’s and then my first win at under 21 was amazing. I want to try and retain three of those titles next year if I can, I won’t be able to play in the under 16’s, but I re- ally want to get myself into the knockout stages of the RIBSA ‘Seniors’ that would be great. I have qualified for the World Championships in July, but I won’t be going as we are going on a family holiday, but I will captain Ireland at the ‘Home Inter- nationals’ next month and the ‘Celtic Challenge; is in Carlow this year too and I am looking forward to that as well”.


Bulman who loves his


snooker and also follows Hurling closely too as he played for his home town in the past says that his family have been amazing in sup- porting him in his sport, he


added “My Mother (An- nette) my Father (Colin) my Brother (Adam) and my Grandfather (Mick) have been there for me every step of the way and I couldn’t have done anything with- out them. My Grandfather got myself and Adam into snooker when I was eight and he has been there for us all over the Country, whenever I needed to be at a tournament he has been there to look after me and Adam and I will always be grateful”.


Bulman has the dream


of becoming a professional snooker player and the way he is going at the moment it looks a certainty, Bulman said “You can get there ei- ther through the European or World U21’s and I hope I can get a chance that way, plus I would love to play in a ‘Professional Tour Cham- pionship’ (PTC) sometime next year, that would be great. I definitely want to be a professional player, but I know I have a long way to go, but I have plenty time and with the assistance of


East Cork Bowling


Midleton Indoor Bowls Club


The Semi-Finals of


the “Dolly Horgan” Cup and Plate compe- titions were played last Thursday night


and


after 2 hours of great games and outstand- ing bowls we are all set for the Grand Finals on Thursday night 18th May.


In the Cup we have Maureen O’Sulli- AGM


van and Pat McEntee against John O’Driscoll and Mick McCarthy. In the Plate Margaret McCarthy and Con O’Sullivan take on Ann Coll and Mary O’Reil- ly. The unlucky losers in the Semi-Finals were Tadgh and John with Peter and Bill in the Cup. The Plate losers


Our A.G.M. takes


place on Tuesday 23rd May at 8pm and all club members are requested to turn up on the night. On last Tuesday night


we had the final games in our Ladies versus Gent’s challenge com- petition and at the end of some outstanding games and “very un-


were David and J.P. also Malcolm and Patricia. We had a full turn out of club members at the Semi-Finals and every game went down to the wire. Hard luck to each of the losers and best of luck to all the final- ists on Thursday night. Games start at 8pm.


lucky shots” the Ladies team recorded a very tight win on the score of 5 and a half points to 3 and a half points over a devastated gent’s selection. Many thanks to all our members who played in the games dur- ing the year and the lads who wore dresses and the lassies who wore the trousers to even up the numbers on each night. Our Captain Peter


O’Reilly presented The Perpetual Trophy to the Ladies team amidst great


excitement and


heart break to the men. Looking forward to next year”. Well done to Kath-


leen O’Reilly who reached


the quarter


final of the Crosshav- en Cup Competition loosing by just 1 shot to Geraldine Keane cred Heart.


Sa- Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: sport@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie eastcorkjournal @eastcorkjournal / #eastcorkjournal


PJ Nolan I think I have a small chance of doing that because he has been bril- liant with me, very strict, but very fair and always has the best interest of the player at heart”. What can you say about


this young lad, he is polite, dedicated, honest and fo- cused on his snooker future, but most importantly he is a ‘Big Game’ player who has so much ability he could win the senior championship next year and go one better than a certain Ken Doherty


who won it at 17 years of age. Ross concluded by saying


“It has been brilliant over the past few days, the sup- port I have got has been fan- tastic and I have to thank, my family, my coach, my club and my friends who have supported me through thick and thin” Ross Bulman (2014 –


2017) International:(2015)


EBSA U18 European Championships Poland, Semi Final.


(2016) Captain of Win- ning side versus Wales


in


Celtic Challenge National: (2015) U14,


U16, U18 (2016) U16, U18 (2017) U16, U18, U19, U21. Regional: (2014) Mem-


ber of Winning team in Championship Section Munster Championships Killarney. County:(2014) U14, U16


(2015) U16, U19 (2017) U16, U19. High Breaks:Competition 128, Practice 141


Thursday, 18th


May 2017


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