I first became interested in snooker when I was ten. My father, Stephen, and
my brother, also called Stephen, both played snooker at the time. For my eleventh
Christmas, I got a snooker table from Santa Clause. I was able to fit it in my
bedroom and I was able to play it every day. I practiced constantly. My brother
and my father both gave me tips and tricks. I also used to go and watch my
father play snooker for Ireland through the Internet. Friends from my estate would
come up to my room to play against me but I would always beat them.When I went into secondary school in Moyle Park, I noticed that there was no
snooker table there. But I was always interested in sports, so I joined the
hurling team and was coached by Miss Jordan. I also played Gaelic with
Mr Roebuck and soccer with Mr Houlihan. I played for the under-14 soccer
team but we were beaten in our first inter-schools game. I continue to play
all three sports for the school.However, snooker is still my favourite sport. I have played in many
tournaments and I play in the Dublin Snooker Leagues every Tuesday and
Thursday. I played in the all-Ireland under-14 tournament until I grew beyond the
age group. Twice I played for the Dublin Snooker team in the inter-provincials
in Donegal and in the Dublin-Belfast challenge in the QE1 Snooker Club, Belfast.
My greatest achievement was playing in the all-Ireland Snooker
Championships in which 32 teams from all over Ireland competed against
each other. You put your team in numbers from one to five and then you play
against the other team one to five. There I played against some of the best players
in Ireland, including ex-professionals and semi-professionals. The tournament
went on for a full weekend from Friday to Sunday in January 2008. It took place
in the INEC at the Gleneagles Hotel in Killarney. Although our team did not
manage to get out of our group, I still managed to enjoy a couple of matches.
It was the best experience of my snooker career so far.As well as playing in the Dublin Leagues, I have the opportunity to play in national
under-19 tournaments all over Ireland and I intend to use this opportunity to qualify
for the Irish team who play all over the world. I played against Fergal O'Brien
and I have had the opportunity of playing snooker with him in his own house. I
have met many professional snooker players, including Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark
Williams and Ken Doherty, at snooker tournaments in the City West Hotel, Saggart.
My weekly league results are updated regularly on the Dublin Snooker Leagues
web sites. I will be playing in the Green Isle Hotel in Clondalkin on the 19th March
in an exhibition match with Steve Davis and Mark Selby. I hope to win!
