Donegal Town Snooker Club will be 50 years in its current location this winter. Built by Canon McMullin as a sporting outlet for the youth of the town, it has had its ups and downs over the years. The Snooker Club's tables have been erected in both halves of the Four Masters' Clubrooms in the past half-century and many hundreds of people have been members during that period. The following article is an attempt to record the history of billiards and snooker in this town and to acknowledge the efforts made by many people to provide an indoor sporting facility for this town, often against the odds. The article is based almost entirely on oral interviews conducted over a long period as very little in the way of written records has survived. In any oral history there will probably be errors but these will hopefully be few and far between. Donegal Town Snooker Club has not commissioned this article and the views expressed are solely those of the author.

Prior to 1952, snooker was long established in Donegal Town. Sadly, little is known about these early venues or the people who ran them. Prosperous individuals owned tables in their private residences; the current snooker club purchased one such table in the early nineteen fifties.

Hugh Gildea was a spirit dealer listed in Griffith's Valuation of 1858-65. He resided at No.56 Main Street in those days but Slater's Directory of 1897 has him located on the Diamond and running a billiard room, selling groceries, operating a public house and dealing in spirits. The location is uncertain…the late Terence Callaghan's premises was once Jim Brady's chemist shop and it had a Gildea sign over the door, so this is one possibility. Hugh isn't mentioned in the 1901 census but a Denis Gildea is listed as a spirit dealer in Bridge St. There may or may not be a connection.

Michael McIntyre, Tommy Gallinagh and Tommy McCormack remember seeing a group photograph of Donegal Town snooker members taken at Revlin and dated 1907. Michael believes there may have been copies around the town but sadly none have emerged to date. He recognised one man in the photo: Jim Weir who was an uncle of Joe Weir who still lives in the town. Jim was an uncle of Christy Gallagher or Christy 'Egg' who lived where Henderson's shop is today in Bridge St. (Christy was an egg-dealer). Where these gentlemen played their snooker/billiards is a mystery.

During a recent refurbishment of the 'Shamrock Table', a lot of graffiti was discovered on the base of the wooden frame. The names and dates are listed in the appendix but one name and two dates stood out from the rest: "John McNulty March 1906" and "John McNulty 1907". "John" could been a resident of this town or perhaps covered tables for a living. The fact that he is down twice in successive years suggests he may have been a local. A Paddy McNulty used to own a public house in Quay St. before Phil Timony owned it and Paddy then moved to where the Murphy's Bar is now. There may be a connection.

Paddy More Doherty's was the snooker centre in Donegal Town through the 30s and 40s, although the exact time-scale is unknown. Perhaps it existed prior to this. The premises were known as the Shamrock Hotel and were situated opposite Irwin's shop on Main Street. Paddy and his wife Marion had returned from America and had bought the Shamrock Hotel. He was a prominent man in the town; he had a long waxed handlebar moustache and was built like John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight boxer and once heavyweight champion of the world. It was said that Main St. barber Jimmy Furey used to be tie Paddy's moustache behind his head when he had a shave! He had a large pheasant on display in the Shamrock Hotel's front window and the Meehan's inherited it when they took over the pub in early 1940 (Paddy had died prior to that). The meaning of the "More" in his name has been linked to a slogan of Paddy's; "More tomorrow" meant more drink tomorrow but now we're closed! Others maintain that it was because of his great size. We'll never know for sure!

The Shamrock was easily spotted in the town thanks to an illuminated sign outside. Patsy Meehan (Coventry) and brothers Hughie (Donegal), Michael (NY) and Eugene (deceased) first got hooked on snooker in 1940. Marion Doherty continued to run the billiard room on the first floor with only one table in the venue. Invariably it would be packed with local lads each evening. Indeed the young Meehans had to force their way through the billiard room in order to get to the bedrooms at night. The craic was good, although the atmosphere was smoky and noisy. The family called it the "Bullock Room" because of the continuous stamping of feet. Patsy and his brothers played when it was quiet. Eugene played blow-football with photos of county footballers on the table and him doing a Michael Ó'Hehir commentary. This is an activity not practised by snooker aficionados today!

Marion had a difficult job controlling affairs as some made life difficult for her. She was tough and cleared the room if there was any trouble. If one was barred, one had to crawl back pleading to be re-admitted, as there was little else to do in the town in the evenings, especially in winter. Normal closing was 11p.m. The caretaker was Tommy O'Donnell of Church St; he repaired, cleaned and ironed the table. This table was installed in the Water St. venue prior to its opening as Marion had had enough. The scoreboard in the Shamrock was made for free by Joe McCann, a non-playing member who worked in the G & R garage; it stayed there when the snooker table moved to the Eske Hall.

There was also a table in the Hyland Central Hotel and while in the F.C.A., Patsy Meehan played on it when the lads got breaks from the drill and training which was held there. Packie Hanna also played on the Hyland table when he was in the F.C.A but it was usually for patrons only.