74


sport@eastcorkjournal.ie


East Cork Snooker Anthony’s Academy Is Starting To Reap Rewards


ACADEMY Snook-


er is so much part of the game these days and rightly so as we see the incredible


development


of the younger players in the game at the top level and the fantastic improve- ments from players of all levels and that is key to the success of an all-inclusive environment game.


within the In Cork over the past


three years there has been an academy in place at Shooters snooker club in Blackpool where for- mer professional snooker player Anthony O’Con- nor has run the ‘Shooters Academy’ and the growth of young Cork cue-men coming through the doors on Saturday afternoons is increasing every year, O’Connor said “It was Derek O’Connor and John Paul Crowley who initially came up with the idea and were will- ing to give it a go and get me involved and back in 2014 we imagined


couldn’t have how well it


would go and now three years down the line it is


getting even better and now under Ger Quinlan at Shooters snooker club we are having tremendous Saturday afternoons from 4pn until 6pm where the youngest talent in Cork are


beginning to show


improvement at all levels, which is what we are all about”. It is obvious that the passion for Snooker in Cork is alive and well and with success stories like Ross Bulman, Aaron Hill, Noel Landers and Sean Walsh who dominate un- der age snooker Nation- ally, through the Province of Munster and domesti- cally in Cork, plus recent top class International performances proves that Cork snooker is getting it right which is something O’Connor speaks pas- sionately, he added “Look at the great work Brendan Cooney has done


in


Youghal with Ross (Bulman) and Noel (Landers), look at how the Crucible snooker club and the


Hussey family


have helped develop Aar- on (Hill) and how Doug- las snooker club with Chris O’Brien and Karl Busteed have


Sean (Walsh) and that


supported will


tell you the potential of the younger players here in Cork and I want the academy grow to wel- come, coach and encour- age the next lot of young snooker players from all over Cork City and Coun- ty and then Munster, Why not? Ger Quinlan gener- ously supports the acad- emy and the players only pay €4 for the two hour session which is obviously subsidised, but to expand and further develop the academy and the under- age game here in Cork we seriously need a seri- ous sponsor or a group of sponsors to progress”. O’Connor himself it is like to


knows what


play at the top level of the game and says that it isn’t all about the elite level of the game “Look every player wants to win and every player wants to do


their best and we all know that it is a tough game at times, but the academy is about including all players and that means players at all different levels, there has to be a place for every- one if we want the game to grow. I am delighted to see the lads however good they are


coming in and getting involved


Thursday, 21st


December 2017


in snooker. It gives them something to look forward to, it keeps them of the streets and it helps them to understand etiquette, sportsmanship, the rules and what is required and that has to be a good thing surely. We see great im- provements in their play, their bridge, their stanc- es and their cue actions and if they practice hard enough anything is pos- sible. We are very proud


of our underage snooker success in Cork and peo- ple like the ‘Cork Billiards and Snooker Association’ are doing fantastic work supporting, developing and managing the game in Cork and when you look around the Country you won’t like


it. PJ Nolan at


see anything the


RIBSA snooker academy is working very well with the elite players at the top end of the game and for


us to continue to produce top class talent to go on to International snooker we must continue to support and grow our own acade- my here on Leeside. With sponsorship I believe that it can only get better and I think that it is only a matter of time before we see one of our younger players take home some European silverware and that would be very much deserved”.


• Anthony O’Connor with his Academy Stars at Shooters SC. Tony Murphy Of The CBSA Talks To The East Cork Journal The East Cork


Journal snooker caught up with the PRO and Secretary of the ‘Cork Billiards and Snook- er Association’ (CBSA) Tony Murphy to find out as the year comes to an end his thoughts on Cork snooker going into 2018. “I think Cork snook-


er is stronger this year than it was last year, plus we have the support of Tomás Singleton which


is great for Cork snook- er going forward and we ask ourselves regularly why is Cork snooker go- ing so well and I can’t put my finger on that to be honest, but we have a full calendar of tourna- ments, plus the leagues that run until March and maybe the fact that the players are playing competitively week


in,


week out is helping the high interest in snooker in Cork”.


Snooker has problems in all of the remaining 31 Counties in Ireland attracting younger play- ers into the


game in


this technological age full of distractions away from sport, but Murphy doesn’t see that happen- ing on Leeside he said “Anthony O’Connor is doing fantastic work with the


Academy at


Shooters, we saw it last week at the U16 Coun- ty


championships how Bulman To Represent Ireland In Bulgaria


by JORDAN MCCARTHY


Ross Bulman of Youghal CYMS


will


compete at the European Under 18 and Under 21 Championships in Bul- garia next year. Ross secured his place


in Bulgaria at the final qualifying events held at the Ivy Rooms in Carlow last weekend – with victo- ry in the u18 qualifier and a runner-up finish in the u21 equivalent. The Eu- ropean Championships start on February 2nd run until February 9th


and . Ross, from Youghal,


made it to the last 32 of the IBSF World Snook- er Championships in Qatar last month. Still just 16, he has built up a highly-impressive CV in snooker, with nine na- tional titles to his name at underage level.


many very young players are taking a cue in their hand and starting to play the game. Karl Busteed and myself are always in touch with the clubs, get- ting their views on how we can improve Cork snooker, so we get


to


know their players too”. With Killarney just on


the horizon in January Murphy believes that it is the most important team event


of the year, he added “Killarney is huge


for Cork snooker. The league came to an end two weeks ago and now everyone’s focus turns to Killarney and the Mun- ster snooker club cham- pionships, it’s definitely the best weekend on the calendar. We always do well


at Killarney,


Hill and Noel Landers all doing well at Interna- tional level, that all adds to our plyers and teams doing well at the Glene- agle.


Finally Murphy had last


year was exceptional with the Crucible win- ning both sections and when you have regular leagues and our players like Ross Bulman, Aaron


this to say “We are look- ing to the future in Cork snooker, we want strong- er players and stronger leagues which will mean stronger clubs, we


always trying to improve and we will work at our AGM to expand the top


PLEASE SEND IN YOUR CLUB NOTES AND LONG PUCK PHOTOS TO sport@eastcorkjournal.ie BEFORE TUESDAY NOON


are


division which has to be protected and I have no doubt that it is only a matter of time before we see an IBSF or an EBSA title from a Cork player, finally I want to thank all our spon- sors and supporters for their great help, happy Christmas one and all. For all the latest news on Cork snooker check out


https://www.face-


book.com/CorkSnook- er/


Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: sport@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie


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@eastcorkjournal / #eastcorkjournal


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