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User:Steveflan/Irish Professional Championship

< User:Steveflan
This page is about the snooker tournament. For the golf tournament, see Irish PGA Championship.
Not to be confused with Irish Masters or Irish Open (snooker).

Irish Professional Championship
Tournament information
VenueVarious
Established1952
FormatNon-ranking event
Final year2007
Final championRepublic of Ireland Ken Doherty

The Irish Professional Championship was an invitational professional snooker tournament for Irish and Northern Irish snooker players.

History

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The Irish Professional Championship was inaugurated on 6 November 1952 when the Eire and Northern Ireland Billiards Association announced that Jackie Rea had been unanimously declared as the professional snooker champion of Ireland.[1]

The event was then held on a challenge basis, with the champion choosing his challenger. Due to the lack of professional players within Ireland, Rea was only challenged for the title on two occasions.

The first challenge[2] came from, Jack Bates, who was a professional billiards player. Rea and Bates met in a 73 frame match held at the RAOB Hall in Belfast in 1956, with Rea winning by 37 frames to 26[3].

Due to there being no other Irish professional snooker players, it was not until 1972 that Rea's second challenge came from Alex Higgins in a 55 frame match held at different venues across Ireland. Higgins won the match 28-12 to become the new Irish Professional Champion.

Higgins defended the title four times in a row, before losing the title to Dennis Taylor. Taylor defended the title in the following two years. During this time the tournament was sponsored in 1978 by Benson & Hedges and in 1979 by Smithwicks Brewery.[4]

In 1982 the tournament was converted to a knock-out tournament. Eight players took part, and was, again, sponsored by Smithwicks Brewery. Higgins and Taylor won nine titles between them, and their run of success in the championship was interrupted only by Jack McLaughlin, in 1988. After the 1983 event Smithwicks ended their sponsorship, and Strongbow took over for the 1985 and 1986 events and Matchroom sponsoring the 1987 event. After the 1989 event the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association withdrew their backing to national championships in form of £1,000 per player, and the event was discontinued.[4]

In 1992 the event was revived with sponsorship by Murphy's and, for the first time, was held in Republic of Ireland. 34 players competed at the event. When Joe Swail and Jason Prince contested the 1992 final, it was the first time in over 20 years it featured neither Higgins or Taylor. In 1993, Ken Doherty became the first, and to date only, player from the Republic of Ireland to hold the title. The event was revived in 2005, with Joe Swail winning the title for a second time, before Ken Doherty won the final two events held in 2006 and 2007.[4]

Winners

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Year Winner Runner-up Final score Venue Season
Challenge matches
1952   Jackie Rea n/a
1956   Jackie Rea   Jack Bates 37–26   Belfast
1972   Alex Higgins   Jackie Rea 28–12     various 1971/72
1978   Alex Higgins   Dennis Taylor 21–7   Belfast 1977/78
1978   Alex Higgins   Patsy Fagan 21–13   Belfast
1979   Alex Higgins   Patsy Fagan 21–12   Belfast 1978/79
1980   Dennis Taylor   Alex Higgins 21–15   Belfast 1979/80
1981   Dennis Taylor   Patsy Fagan 22–21   Coleraine 1980/81
Knockout tournaments
1982   Dennis Taylor   Alex Higgins 16–13   Coleraine 1981/82
1983   Alex Higgins   Dennis Taylor 16–11   Belfast 1982/83
1985   Dennis Taylor   Alex Higgins 10–5   Belfast 1984/85
1986   Dennis Taylor   Alex Higgins 10–7   Belfast 1985/86
1987   Dennis Taylor   Joe O'Boye 9–2   Antrim 1986/87
1988   Jack McLaughlin   Dennis Taylor 9–4   Antrim 1987/88
1989   Alex Higgins   Jack McLaughlin 9–7   Antrim 1988/89
1992   Joe Swail   Jason Prince 9–1   Cork 1991/92
1993   Ken Doherty   Stephen Murphy 9–2   Cork 1992/93
2005[5]   Joe Swail   Ken Doherty 9–7   Templeogue 2005/06
2006[6]   Ken Doherty   Michael Judge 9–4   Templeogue 2006/07
2007[7]   Ken Doherty   Fergal O'Brien 9–2   Dublin 2007/08


Player Summary

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Name Country Winner Runner-up Finals
Alex Higgins   Northern Ireland 6 4 10
Dennis Taylor   Northern Ireland 6 3 9
Ken Doherty   Ireland 3 1 4
Joe Swail   Northern Ireland 2 0 2
Jackie Rea [8]   Northern Ireland 1 1 2
Jack McLaughlin   Northern Ireland 1 1 2
Patsy Fagan   Ireland 0 3 3
Jack Bates   Northern Ireland 0 1 1
Joe O'Boye   Ireland 0 1 1
Jason Prince   Northern Ireland 0 1 1
Stephen Murphy   Ireland 0 1 1
Michael Judge   Ireland 0 1 1
Fergal O'Brien   Ireland 0 1 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rea Irish snooker champion". Belfast Telegraph. 6 November 1952. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Billiards cup ties tonight". Belfast Telegraph. 1 December 1956. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Rea makes certain". Belfast Telegraph. 8 December 1956. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ a b c Turner, Chris. "Irish Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  5. ^ "2005 Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  6. ^ "2006 Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 23 October 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  7. ^ "2007 VC Poker Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  8. ^ Jackie Rea was inaugurated as the first Irish Professional Champion without playing a match.
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