Longford snooker star Joe Shannon wins two National championship titles

Joe Shannon ended a fantastic season in style winning under 16 & 21 National championship titles in Carlow.

The Championships took place at finals weekend in the Centre of Excellence in Carlow from the 5th - 7th of June where the very best of Irish snooker from amateur to super seniors won the chance to compete at their respective finals.

In his first final on Saturday Joe won out 3-1 to take the under 16 title and also got the high break prize with an impressive 75 along the way.

His next final was an early start on Sunday morning for the under 18 title and he was narrowly defeated 3-2 on the pink ball.

Joe put all that behind him and with a quick turn around in the u-21 final against James Stewart O Reilly and was in control of proceedings throughout, keeping the scoreboard ticking over and winning on a scoreline of 3-1 to lift another title.

The future bodes well for Joe and after a year of hard work and many sacrifices. He not alone has won these championships but he also took victory in the inaugural junior 900 in the Iconic Goffs in Kildare along with many other titles during the year.

Joe now gets to captain the Irish team competing in the Celtic challenge in July and also the Home internationals in Leeds in August.

What makes this story even better is the fact that this young man did all this while doing his junior cert exams in St Mel’s College and will start Transition Year next term which should give him more time to dedicate to his beloved sport.