Irish Snooker All-Irelands

[Pictured (l-r): Mark Winters (Proprietor, Savoy S.C.), Noel Barrett, Clive Gilmartin (Sin Bin Sports Bar),
Darren Flaherty, Martin Hopkins, Lee Jackson and Jason Devaney. (Absent from pic. is team member Sean Conroy).

Savoy's final bid for All-Ireland Glory

This weekend will mark the end of an era as the pinnacle of Mayo’s snooker players make a familiar journey to Killarney to represent the Savoy Century Snooker Club in the All-Ireland Club Championships.

This will be the final time the club represent the Savoy, at least in its current inception, as the club is scheduled for closure in the forthcoming weeks.

There is no denying the memories and anecdotes have been plentiful during the team’s endeavors and the team has always given their all not only doing the club and town proud but also snooker in general.

In the past 15 years there has only been one occasion when the Savoy has failed to come through the Connacht Qualifiers and has participated in the competition for the previous eleven years in succession.

Having dominated Connacht snooker for over a quarter of a century, producing numerous century breaks and an array of Connaught Champions during that time the team will once again be aiming to go all the way in Killarney.

The team consists of four players who have each represented the club on more than ten occasions, Noel Barrett, Darren Flaherty, Martin Hopkins and Lee Jackson. The other two players, who are still in their teens, are Jason Devaney and Sean Conroy who are playing for their second and third years in succession, respectively.

All team members have made numerous centuries and taken on professionals such as Jimmy White and Ken Doherty in exhibition matches.

Throughout the long-standing history of the club, a competitive and co-operative relationship has formed with North West S.C., Donegal. Both clubs have contested the final of the Connacht Club Championships on a number of occasions with very little to choose from between each club.

This season was business as usual for the clubs as they met in this Connacht Club Championships final which saw North West crowned champions taking the match 3-1. Both clubs are also the main contributors of players for Connacht’s team in the Inter-Provincial competitions and have had players represent Ireland in the Home Internationals (contested between Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Ireland).

The club championships have been held in the Gleneagle Hotel, Kllarney, since its inception in 1989 as the brainchild of Con O’Sullivan. At the time, the hotel itself had approximately 70 rooms, little did Con expect how both the competition and the hotel would evolve over the proceeding 18 years.

Many of the Irish players who have gone on to play professionally have been through the All-Irelands. Ken Doherty, Fergal O’Brien, Joe Swail and Michael Judge are just some of the plethora of professionals to have competed in the All-Irelands. The sheer raw talent showcased from even the younger players is a clear indication that many more professionals will come through the competition in the coming years before joining the Professional Tour.

There was once the illusion that clubs representing Connaught were simply there to ‘make up the numbers’ however after a number of high-quality performances and high-breaks that myth was quickly dispelled. In 2005, the Savoy gave its greatest showing in the All-Irelands reaching the Quarter-finals narrowly losing to the eventual winners, Parkside, who boasted three internationals, 3-2.

This year, the incentive for the club to do well along with the confidence derived from the high-standing in the national rankings of the players is at an all-time high. Every year, the club is one of the most supported regularly having 30 or so supporters travelling down to encourage and cheer on the team. Over 40 supporters are expected to trvael and cheer on the team.

Although this may be the final year the team participates as the Savoy, the club will always remain associated with the development and enhancement of the sport and players within Mayo. Mark Winters has been through the highs and lows, the joys of victory and the disappointment of defeat but looks back on the team’s and indeed his own involvement in the competition both as a player and team selector with nothing but fondness.

“The success of the club is largely due to the loyalty and leadership of the committed players that have played on Savoy teams over the last fifteen years” he opined.

Both the club and Mark would like to extend their gratitude to all those who have supported the team throughout the years and who will have be supporting them again this year. They would also like to thank Clive Gilmartin and Dennis Coen of the Sin Bin Sports Bar who have sponsored the team for the past two seasons.