Youghal C.Y.M.S. win the Cork U-17 Snooker Team Championships.
Report: Lee Walsh. | Pics: Youghalonline.com

A large crowd witnessed some fine displays at the Cork U-17 Snooker Team Championship which held in the Youghal C.Y.M.S. on the 9th and 10th of March. The tournament which consisted of 8 teams from Cork, came down to two local teams. Youghal ‘A’ were favourites from the start but they were up against tough opposition in Youghal ‘B’.

The ‘A’ team consisted of three Irish internationals Aaron Tobin, Kenny Wight and Captain Lee Walsh, the ‘B’ team members were, brothers Killian and Keane McCarthy and their captain Adam Fitzgerald. A great win for Kenny Wight who beat Adam Fitzgerald 2-0 and a great comeback from Aaron Tobin who beat Killian McCarthy 2-1 was enough to win it for the favourites. Keane McCarthy had just levelled his match at 1-1 against Lee Walsh before Aaron sealed the victory.

Congratulations to both Youghal ‘A’ and ‘B’ for providing an excellent final also well done to all other teams. Thanks to the Chairman of the Cork Billiards and Snooker Association Derek O’Neill and to Secretary Timmy Murphy for coming down from Cork to present the shield to the winning team. The society thanks Ray Phelan and Tommy Smith for having the tables in top condition. A big thanks to tournament director Brendan Cooney who ran the tournament very smoothly over the two days.

The Cork City Under-17 Snooker Championship was also held on the 10th of March with players from Douglas S.C and the Crucible in Cork competing. In the end it was Evan O’Leary from Douglas who beat Shane Hourihan from the Crucible in the final. Congratulations to Evan on a great performance and also to other players who travelled from Cork to play.

Congratulations to Aaron Tobin on reaching the final of the Cork Close snooker championship which was played on the 19th of February in Douglas S.C.. Aaron played brilliantly and had some great wins on his way to the final with victories over David Forde and also one of the hot favourites Shane O’Mahony. Aaron was unlucky to be beaten by Gary Bracken in the final.

Well done to Brendan Cooney on his latest performance in Masters snooker. Brendan reached the final of the Masters event 5 which was held in the Ivy Rooms Carlow on the 26th of February. On his way to the final he didn’t drop a single frame and had a great chance to win the final but was narrowly beaten 3-2 by Mark Tuite. Brendan is now 4th in the rankings and has an excellent chance of making the Irish team for this year. Brendan’s son Christopher has already qualified for the Under-19 team after some great performances in this year’s events. Kenny Wight is also in contention for a place on the Under-19 team. Congratulations to Christopher and best of luck to Kenny, and also to Brendan in the final Masters event on the 25th of March from all members of the society.

The Cork Snooker League recently came to a conclusion with The Crucible from Cork winning it out. Youghal ‘A’ did brilliantly to reach the semi-final of this annual event. The Youghal C.Y.M.S. teams will also be looking to take inspiration from the junior teams and go on to win this year’s Orme Shield which will be held on the 31st of March and concluded on the 1st of April. The top Youghal teams will be looking to fill the space on the wall of the society which was occupied by the shield for as long as most can remember.

The Christy Hennessy Memorial Snooker tournament is currently ongoing in the society and is in the semi-final stages, the final will be played in the coming weeks. Also The Jack Trihy Billiards tournament is being played and the quarter-finalists are encouraged to play their games in the next fortnight.

AS CORK SNOOKER takes its seasonal break, with the Cork Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) Cork snooker league resuming in mid January it is an opportunity to take a look at this seasons action so far in the thriving sport of ‘Rebel Snooker’ down south in Cork City and County.

After International representation in Malta and Canada for David Cassidy and Greg Casey of the Crucible Snooker Club, on return from Republic of Ireland duty the CBSA had their annual general meeting and all officers elected were as before with the exception of Derek O’Neill of Douglas Snooker Club who became the associations new Chairman.

O’Neill to his credit has been very active getting around to as many games as possible as well as attending both the under 14 and under 16 Cork snooker championships this year so far. The league were saddened to hear that last years champions Shooters from Blackpool would not be competing this season, as well as Fermoy CYMS , so Douglas Snooker Club to their credit entered a second side into the CBSA Cork snooker league.

Early games in the league belonged to Youghal CYMS who were unbeaten home or away, and the return of Aaron Tobin to the side certainly gave Brendan Cooney’s team a fantastic option.

It took a while for the Crucible to get going, but right up until the Christmas break last Thursday Jimmy Hussey’s talented side remain unbeaten with an exciting eight frames to seven frames black ball victory against Youghal CYMS in the Market House, gaining a valuable three away points.

The CBSA Cork snooker league is certainly dominated by both Youghal and the Crucible this year, where both sides have qualified comfortably for the league semi finals, but who will join these two sides is the burning question.

Three sides are now in a position to fill those remaining two spots, the AOH, Douglas ‘A’ and Youghal CYMS ‘B’, with the Morrison’s Island men of the AOH looking definite qualifiers and a battle between Youghal and Douglas to be played out in late January for the other spot. Whoever qualifies will be very hard pushed to make it through to the 2012 final, it really looks likely to be Youghal CYMS ‘A’ and last years runners up, the Crucible in the decider.

At under age level within CBSA this year there were two championships played, the Cork under 14 snooker championship was held at Fermoy CYMS and was eventually won by Youghal CYMS player Noel Landers, who won the event without dropping a frame en-route to victory.

The Cork under 16 snooker championships were held at Youghal CYMS and this was certainly a one man show, with Youghal CYMS player Aaron Tobin breezing his way through the field to secure the Cork county title.

The under age structure at Youghal CYMS is incredible and the standard of players coming through is frightening, from as young as ten years of age upwards are very capable players indeed.

2011 saw the return of top class professional snooker back in the Province for the first time in decades as ‘World Snookers’ Players Tour Championship 8 (PTC8) arrived in Killarney last October and Nine CBSA players entered into the event. The standard was very high and all but one Cork player Ryan Cronin made it through the qualifiying stages to play in the last 128 main event.

Ryan a well known player from the Crucible was unlucky in his match against Stephen Maguire in the main event, but put together a great run in the Amateur Cup, making it as far as the semi finals.

All credit to the Cork players who played in the top class professional tournament and if the PTC returns back to Killarney again next year, I am sure plenty of the ‘Rebel Cue-men’ will enter into the event.

Now Cork Snooker is in its break it will give the players and indeed their clubs time to think ahead to January where as well as league resumption the Munster Snooker Club Championship will start on Friday the 20th of January at the Gleneagle Hotel and there are seven Cork sides involved in the tournament and hopes are high for Cork success next year.

Previous championship winners in 2000 Youghal CYMS ‘A’ will be travelling to Killarney for a consecutive 25th year, which in itself is a fantastic achievement.

Youghal have every chance too, if things go their way , but the Cork favourites going into the event will certainly be the Crucible with Internationals Greg Casey, David Cassidy, Ryan Cronin, Daniel O’Regan and the newly acquired Garry O’Sullivan the Crucible look like potentially the team who could go all the way.

Next year also sees the National under 21 and under 19 championship finals in Cork, when they will be played in Douglas Snooker Club in March. The south side club will also host the Cork Close championships on the 19th of February and one other significant date in Cork for the new year is the 8th of January when the Cork under 19 snooker championships will be held at the Crucible snooker club.

So plenty of top quality snooker to look forward to in 2012, but for now from everyone involved in the game a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful new year. For all Cork snooker information check out www.corkbilliardsandsnookerassociation.com or for all snooker enquiries go to www.ribsa.ie

 

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YOUGHAL GAA Club and St Coleman’s Boxing Club come together for a worthy cause on the 18th of March at Club Aras at Magners Hill for a charity boxing night in aid of the Youghal Branch of St Vincent De Paul.

The Youghal Intermediate Footballers are very much part of the night and fitness trainer and Intermediate player Ken Dempsey said “It’s been a real pleasure training with the lads over the Winter months and to spice things up we had some boxing training in some of our sessions and after speaking to Kevin Walsh at St Coleman’s Boxing Club in Shanagarry we decided to have the night for this great cause and as the night draws closer, some of the lads are getting a little nervous now, but we are all looking forward to it and I hope we get a great crowd to support the St Vincent De Paul”.

The event was launched in Club Aras the home of Eochaill Cumann Lúthchleas Gael by Mayor of Youghal Town Council Mary Linehan Foley who praised both Youghal GAA Club and everyone else involved in the ‘Charity Boxing Night’ in a bid to raise funds for the St Vincent De Paul and said “The work that St Vincent De Paul do is fantastic and the money that goes in all goes straight back into the Youghal Community which is brilliant and I want to praise Youghal GAA, The Cara Ambulance Service, St Coleman’s Boxing Club and John Long Buses (Sponsors) for their great work for this very worthy cause”.

The doors open at 7pm on the 18th of March and on the bill in conjunction with St Coleman’s Boxing Club will be Pa O’Shea (World Military Silver Medallist) and James Murray (Waterford Senior Hurler) and Adam Curley All Ireland Champion, plus members of Youghal GAA and St Coleman’s Boxing Club in what should be a very entertaining night.

Dave Kilgannon the Chairman of Eochaill Cumann Lúthchleas said “We are delighted at Youghal GAA Club to have nights like these, because not only will it be a great night of boxing, but also because it is really for a great cause. Nights like these are very important to the Community and I along with many people have a huge amount of admiration for the work the St Vincent De Paul do and we are delighted to be able to host a night like this. We at Eochaill want to contribute all we can to the community of Youghal and as a club want to continue to be part of the fabric of the Town of Youghal”

So as the bell rings for round one on March the 18th the hope is that everyone will come along to support this very worthy fundraiser.

John Power President of the Youghal Branch of the St Vincent De Paul outlined the work that they were doing to help people in these difficult times and thanked all involved.

The night will be an official boxing night, with medical testing, official referee’s and timing.

Over 100 people deemed who brought honour to themselves, their families and their affiliated clubs or institutions had their successes honoured at Youghal Town Council’s inaugural Annual Achievement Awards last Saturday night (Feb 12th).
By Christy Parker / Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com

The ceremony, at the Mall Arts Centre, marked a new direction from the local authority, aimed at limiting the allocation of civic receptions which had, rightly or wrongly, become seen by much of the public as a proliferate way of paying tribute to the town’s more noted achievers. Presumably, unique and incredibly high achievements (oh, say an Oscar award or an Olympic gold medal sort of thing…) will remain in contention for a full-blown civic reception.

Meanwhile last Saturday’s occasion recognised accomplishments throughout 2010 but will henceforth be held on a six monthly basis, with the next ceremony in June.

The honoured-to-be and, their families and friends mingled together over light refreshments in the centre’s reception area prior to convening in the upstairs auditorium at 8 p.m. In turn, each recipient was summoned to the stage by Mayor Mary Linehan Foley and Deputy Mayor Eoin Coyne, where every individual received a signed certificate recognising their success. Local man David Joyce was also on stage to assist the process, which took approximately 40 minutes.

The vast majority of awards recognised sporting successes, but this may –or may not -alter with increased public awareness. As the mayor explained, the system rotates simply on a nomination bases. “All that needs to be done is someone to nominate to the town council or an individual councillor whoever they consider worthy of an award and we’ll take it from there,” she tressed from the stage.

Recipients of the Annual Achievement Awards 2010 were as follows (details provided by organisers):

Cycling:

Team Youghal:

Cycled 1,350 miles in the 2009 and 2010 Race Around Ireland competitions for the Emer Casey Foundation, cycling non-stop in relay for over 100 hours. They team, who will also cycle over 3,00 miles in the Race Across America next June are Ger Flanagan, Tommy Roche, Christy McCarthy, Kieran Groeger, Eoin Whyte, Michael McCarthy, Brian Fitzgerald, John Twomey, Aonghus O’Broin, Peter Roche, Peter Cody, Jim Healy, Claude McCarthy, Ray Flanagan, Tom Fitzgerald, Robert Heffernan, John Hennessy and Maurice Flanagan.

Soccer:

Youghal United AFC: Set a new Guinness Book of Records 5-a-side record of 33 ½ hours in June 2010. The team are:Martin Coen, Christohpe Colin, Kevin Gallogley, Leon Geary, Peter Geary, Barry Goggin, Pierce Hennessy, Stuart Hickey, Anthony Kelly, David Kenneally, Gavin O’Leary, Aiden Ryan, Diarmuid Shuel, Finbarr Walsh, Sammy Revins, Dick Sheehan, Emmer Perry, Ken Dempsey, Jamie Lawton, Sally O’Sullivan, Brian Wade and T. Kennedy.

Boxing:

Adam Curley: Won All-Ireland, Munster and county titles, most recently the 48kg weight division.

Pa O’Shea, 21: Won a silver medal in the World Military Boxing Championship at Camp Lejune, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Iron Man:

Thomas Curran and Conor Coleman: The two Irish army corporals competed in the Iron Man marathon in Nice, France in 2010. This feat included a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and a 26 mile run, all of which the completed in 12 hrs and 50 mins.

Snooker:

Aaron Tobin, Kenny Wight and Lee Walsh: Contested the Home Nation Championships and represented Ireland in the Celtic Tournament in 2010.

Raquetball:

Cian McCarthy’s: Attained 3rd place in the All-Ireland and Munster Championships. Keith Gallogley contested in the Irish Open and Siobhán Downing and Ian Cronin were Munster Championships.

Athletics:

Lee Curley: U-15 pole vault star & County, Munster and All-Ireland champion.

Diarmuid Clancy: All-Ireland Gold u-12 in High Jump and broke Munster record.

Nikita Savage -Junior Indoor and Outdoor All-Ireland u-19 pole vault champion; also, 3rd in the Celtic Cup International tournament whilst representing Ireland.

Special Olympics:

Amanda Crotty: took gold in the International Paralympic games in Tunisia; also won two gold medals in the All-Ireland, 800 m and 1500 m.

Patrick Plante and Patricia Royanye excelled in the Munster Special Olympic golf competition, with silver and bronze medals.

Sandra Egan was also a basketball medal winner in the Munster Special Olympics.

GAA:

Bill Cooper and John Grace: Munster Intermediate hurling champions and All-Ireland finalists.

Youghal Camogie Club: County champions. .

Rugby:

Dave O’Callaghan and John Quill: both members of the Munster Full Academy. Dave won u-20 Six Nations Ireland and World Cup honours in Argentina.

Aaron Daly: Participated in Munster trials having played as a scrum half with Youghal, South Munster and Munster Youths teams.

Academia:

Lana Murphy, Amber Walsh and Kate Clerkin: exalted participation in the Millipore 2010, Scifest 2010 and BT Young Scientist 2010 science competitions.

Aisling Ní Cholmáin, Aisling Ní Shiochrú and Adam Dalton: Also excelled at the Millipore 2009, BT Young Scientist 2010 and World Expo. Technology 2010 science competitions.

Blathnaid Ní Chléirigh, Caoimhe Hynes, Megan Burke and Rihanna Cooney: brought honour to their town in their participation in the Scifest 2010 and BT Young Scientist 2010 science competitions.

The new format of honouring achievement was roundly supported on the night. Ireland under-15 pole vault champion Lee Curley endorsed it as a night that helps to facilitate recognition of sporting achievements amongst exponents of lesser known sports. Veteran snooker star Brendan Cooney was of similar mind, adding that the occasion brings together representatives of many community organisations under the one roof. “It’s great for minority sports,” he echoed and is “a fantastic idea.”

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All-Ireland U-14 and U-16 snooker champion Aaron Tobin from Youghal C.Y.M.S.
It was a great weekend of snooker for 14 year old Aaron Tobin from Youghal C.Y.M.S. in Ivy Rooms, Carlow. Aaron retained his U-14 Irish Championship Title beating Christoper Duffy 3-1. Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com Email: news@youghalonline.com

The following day, Arron completed a super double by winning the U-16 Irish Title 3-2 on the final black beating Josh Boileau. Congratulations to Aaron on acheiving this historic double and bringing the two All-Ireland titles to Youghal C.Y.M.S.

Aaron who is a 2nd year student at Pobalscoil Na Troinóide, Youghal, was delighted on his fantastic win and said that all the hours practice he put into the game during the winter months at Youghal C.Y.M.S. paid off.