A proposal to build a snooker venue was put to the local clergy at the time and after protracted discussions, the parish (administered since 1937 by Canon McMullin) agreed to construct it on the grounds made available with the demolition of the cottages at the bottom of Water St. and Church St. Patsy Meehan remembers playing and attending fairs on the site of the new club. John Hanna, Packie Hanna and Jack Keeney recall playing around the foundations of the Water Street venue when it was being built.

George T. Gallagher of Gallagher & Harvey was hired as the contractor and work began around 1950/51, although the exact date is uncertain. Michael McGroary of the Diamond (who lived where Melody Maker now operates) made the pelmets, while Vincent Meehan had the painting contract. Neil Gillespie of Malin Rd., Moville was commissioned on November 14, 1951 by Mr. Gallagher to supply the oak front door and frame, plus five other doors. In his written order he mentioned that he wanted the above as soon as possible as "the job is ready for them". This suggests that the clubrooms were completed sometime in the winter of 1951. My thanks to Patricia McCalliog for locating this information from her father's records. It has provided the club with its only written record from the fifties and solves the puzzle as to when the club was built. Sadly, no other records have been found, either in the parish records or the diocesan archive.

A fundraising campaign was launched with dinner-dances being organised. Michael McIntyre remembers organising dances in the Market Hall on the Diamond, usually once a month or so and this was the club's sole fundraising activity in the early days. The club would soon be self-financing. He recalls Canon McMullin telling the committee to go away and decide what they wanted and they did; a second storey on the building which could host fundraising functions was mooted but rejected on the grounds that it would cost too much. The clubrooms were opened and blessed one Sunday after Mass in 1952 by Canon McMullin and Fr. Deeney but unfortunately the exact date is unknown. The curate Fr. Deeney played snooker, although Canon McMullin did not.

Canon McMullin's idea was that the boys of the town would play snooker while table tennis (which had a separate committee) would be available to both girls & boys. The patrons included members of football teams, scouts, F.C.A., Gardaí and men from businesses in the town. The snooker room had a specially reinforced floor and was designed to accommodate three tables. An age limit of 16 was enforced. Younger boys were allowed in but not to play, just to watch and hold their tongue. Older members recall darts being played in the smaller room. Badminton was a later addition to the clubrooms and it also had a good membership.

Many of the members of the snooker club also played table tennis. John Hanna's father played both table tennis and tennis and even won the table tennis County Championship. Other notable players were Hugh Travers, Seamus Friel & Donal Gallagher. Chris Meehan remembers getting the table-tennis team organised again in 1955/6 with Brian Gallagher, Charlie Timony, Paddy Kelly, Packie Hanna, Donal Gallagher and Mickey Cooney, to name but a few. Mickey arranged for a team from Ballyshannon to play in Donegal and the visitors won well. Ballybofey came too and also won. Packie Hanna played table tennis in Strabane and in other venues. Mixed doubles tournaments were played and Eileen Boyle still has the trophy she won with Paddy Kelly in 1957.

Canon McMullin died on Wednesday, October 27, 1954 and such was the esteem in which the man was held that his funeral made the front page of the Donegal Democrat. The fact that the club is still going strong fifty years after its foundation is a fitting tribute to the man.

There was a set procedure regarding the waiting for tables to become available. It was 3d a game when John Hanna started in the fifties. Patsy Meehan recalls a slate on the wall where you put your initials when there was a queue. Later Johnny McHugh would write your name in a book and you waited until your turn came. In recent times the player signed his name and crossed it out when he got to play. The present system is akin to the original one in that the caretaker writes the names and has total control over the book. Doubles was played if the club was busy. Other games like Golf, Skittles and Lives were also useful in cutting the queue.

In the early days you had to pay prior to the game and if you had no money, you needed a good excuse in order to be allowed to play. Ten shillings was the annual membership fee in the early fifties with clocks in operation. You had thirty minutes to play at 3d per session. It was 4d a game when Packie Hanna started, which was also the price of the front seats at the pictures; he remembers cowboy pictures on Market Days being very popular! The annual membership fee was half a crown in the mid-fifties and £1 per family. On reopening in 1975 this had risen to £5 and slowly, it rose with inflation.

Players' styles changed over the years, especially with the advent of televised coverage in the seventies. Older players were marvellous workers of a cueball, relying on side and topspin to get into position. Seeing professionals using extreme screwback on shots probably led to amateurs trying to replicate this, resulting in tips wearing out quicker as more power was required. The impact of televised snooker was considerable with players like Alex Higgins demonstrating a dynamic form of snooker, which was alien to what had gone before. Whether the overall standard improved consequently is a moot point. It is certain that higher breaks were recorded in the club in the past twenty years than had been the case previously. Niall Keenan and Charlie Murphy's centuries are evidence of that. However, the whacking mentality still pervades and it is refreshing to see young Johnny Connors of Letterkenny stroking the ball around the table with a minimum of force and yet compiling big breaks.

The older members would probably have featured in county finals had the tournament been around pre-1975. Current senior members still recall memorable shots played over thirty years ago and the styles of the competitors then. Capt. Andrews played the cueball between two balls positioned closely together in the centre of the table and when it returned from the top cushion, it returned through these balls. This sounds easy but is actually quite a feat requiring a true stroke. Aidan McGaley (from Kerry) played for 3 years or so in the seventies and was a former Munster champion. Peter Meehan was very good at billiards, both in the Shamrock and in the Clubrooms. Other players who impressed their peers included Harry Diver, Mickey Meehan, Paddy Kelly, Packie Hanna, John Hanna, Sean Gallagher, Jackie McMullin, Phil Timony, Guard John McGettigan, Patsy McIntyre, Sean & Jim Gallagher, Jack Keeney, Jim Durnion, Joe and Snowy (Gerard) Brown, Danny Kennedy, Jim "toil no more" Doherty, Eddie Dillon, Tommy O'Donnell, Michael Neary, Sean McCauley, Patsy Furey, Alfie Simms and the Meehan brothers Chris, Mickey and Hughie. Several of these players are sadly no longer with us but their styles of play influenced those who came after.

The club has undergone major changes over the past fifty years, and not just on the tables front. As stated earlier, the club had three tables in the right side of the clubrooms and this situation lasted throughout the fifties. Membership was buoyant and the fundraising measures were successful. The last Canon McMullin Cup to be contested in the fifties was the 1958 tournament and the trophy remained uncontested until 1967 and then again until 1976. What happened?

Interest in snooker waned in the late fifties and early sixties. The club was moved across the hall and what is now the Thrift Shop became a parish venue. One of the three tables was dismantled and lay in the hallway and one eventually ended up in Pettigo. The club had run a bingo under the auspices of Fr. Tommy Doherty as a fundraising measure but as the cinema takings declined, the parish took over the running of the bingo and a major source of revenue to the club dried up. Few were playing snooker and the club folded. The table still standing lay idle and this situation persisted for years.

The club isn't all about trophies. The memories are still fresh in the minds of those members who witnessed funny incidents or played with "characters" over the past fifty years. Mickey Harte from the Mullins was a man fondly remembered by several older members, along with his cousin Pat Harte. One member misses the away matches that he used to play and the craic that ensued. Golf matches with Harry, "Pax", Jack and Vincent were mentioned by several people who enjoyed the banter that went on. Harry once even broke a light playing a shot! One story has it that Harry Diver once replaced Jackie McMullin's new cue with a split broom handle, with a nail for a tip; Jackie brought it home in its case to show his brother-in-law not knowing the cue had been switched! Oh, to have been a fly on that wall…! He seemed to enjoy having a pop at Jackie for he once told the caretaker Jim Keeney to replace eggs (which Jackie had bought and temporarily placed behind a curtain) with stones!

Willie Coulter was a joker and it is alleged that he would often have a red in his pocket, for emergencies! Alec Monaghan was another character who kept people smiling. Eddie McGowan (brother of Willie) always came in but would only watch and then leave promptly at 8.30 p.m. to go to the pictures. Capt. Andrews was an ex-English army captain and as an electrician, he wired lots of areas in the town. He was a very good player and would regularly pot the black of its spot from the D. Patsy Meehan played him often and found him a very difficult player to beat. He also impressed Packie Hanna a lot. Packie remembers playing him when he was very young and no one else was around. The young lad was getting good and Capt. Andrews enjoyed the challenge of a new kid on the block.

Sean Muldoon and John McGettigan were two guys who seemed to only play each other! John liked a tight game with reds being picked off one at a time... he didn't like anyone smashing them!

Fondly remembered by those who witnessed it is the competition match between Willie Coulter and Willie Gibson. They failed to finish by midnight so Jim Keeney sent the two contestants home for a good night's rest, leaving the balls in the third frame as they lay. They duly returned the next night and finished the game! For the record, Willie Coulter won! Surely the longest match in club history! Alex McGinley represented the club in the All-Ireland Championships in Dublin in the early eighties dressed in white shirt, dickie-bow and black waistcoat, a sight that delighted the club members. He travelled in a car sponsored by Billy Johnston and didn't disgrace himself.

I'm sure that in the future the current membership will reminisce about their peers just as much as the older generation. Discretion (and libel laws!) prevents the disclosure of incidents and humorous anecdotes relating to the current set of regulars but suffice it to say that there is enough material for a series of blockbusters!