European 8 Ball Pool Championships: Northern Irish players taste success in Killarney

The tournament, which ran from Saturday, February 24 until Thursday, February 29, saw the Men’s 'C' side, made up of Wayne Lewis (Ballyclare), Oisin Wallace (Omagh), Conrad McCann (Ardboe), Nathan Moore (Brockagh) and Michael O'Hara (Letterkenny, Co Donegal), win their category.

Commenting on the success, the team’s captain, Wayne Lewis, said: “We faced 12 other teams from countries including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Belgium, Malta and Portugal.

"In our twelve round-robin group matches across the week, we won 10, only losing to England and Ireland on a narrow 9-6 scoreline in both matches.

"With the 10 out of twelve group wins, Northern Ireland finished third in the group and progressed to the semi-finals where we won 8-5 against Belgium.

"The final against Ireland was a tense affair, with the lead changing hands on multiple occasions before Omagh's Oisin Wallace sank the final black of the tournament to give NI an 8-7 victory and the title of Men’s C European Champions for the first time ever.”

The Men’s C triumph was not the only highlight of the week for Northern Irish players, as others progressed to the latter stages of the competition, following on from last year’s Men’s A World Championship run in 2023.

Wayne explained: “Winning the Men’s C category spells further success for the Northern Ireland pool playing family, after the Men’s A team won the World Championships in Morocco in 2023.

"Other local players involved in Killarney included Glengormley's Gee Crawley, who was part of the Northern Ireland team who got to the final of the Men’s B category, where they lost 8-5 to England.

"Jack Carson from Carrickfergus was part of the Northern Ireland Junior team (U18) and he also progressed to the quarter-final of the European U18 Championship, losing 6-2 to Ireland’s Cillian Smyth.

"Meanwhile, Ryan Scott (Ballyclare) was also involved as captain of the Northern Ireland Men’s D team, who didn't progress from the group stage.”