The club crossed the two hundred member mark in 2000.Trivia
The club crossed the two hundred member mark in 2000.
It was instrumental in founding the Donegal League in 1987 and won it three times in a row from 1987 to 1989. It won the double in each of these years, winning the Top Four Cup as well as the League.
Vincent Granaghan has won the club's oldest and most prestigious cup, the Canon McMullin on a record three occasions. He first captured the trophy in 1980 and went on to win it again in 1984 and 1985. Several players have two titles to their credit... Paddy Kelly in '56 and '81; Michael Breslin in '82 and 2000; Sean Boyle in '86 and '87; Joe Walsh in '90 and '92; and Tom Plunkett in '94 and '98.
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Vincent Granaghan receives his second cup in 1984 from Club Stewart Jim Keeney with runner-up Jack Keeney (Jim's son) on the right. |
Its first century man was Niall Keenan who compiled a break of 104 against Tom Plunkett in May of 1997. Next up was Charlie Murphy who had breaks of 133 and 101 in the spring of 2000. The highest competitive break is one of 73 by Tom Plunkett against Damien Hanna in the final of the Sean McCafferty Cup in 2000. Tom also compiled a 64 in the same match and yet went on to lose!
The club together with the Four Masters GAA Club invited former UK Champion John Virgo and Dennis Taylor to Donegal Town in September of 1982 and they played a nine frame exhibition in the Abbey Hotel. John compiled a total clearance of 139 which is still the highest break ever achieved in the town. Two years later Dennis won the Rothman's Grand Prix and in May of 1985 he defeated Steve Davis 18-17 in the World Championship Final at the Crucible in Sheffield. John Hanna -who was heavily involved in organising the event along with Mickey Cooney- refereed the exhibition and the scorekeeper was Jack Keeney. Poignantly, John's father David who knew the Taylors of Coalisland died the season Dennis became World Champion.
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Dennis Taylor and John Virgo with a young Paul Thomas. |
The Inter-Firms Shield ran from 1991 to 1994 when it was a snooker competition...the discontinuation of the event mirrored the drop of interest in snooker during the nineties. It resumed in 1998 as a pool tournament.
Aidan McGaley who played in the club in the mid-seventies was a former Munster Champion.
Three Donegal players have reached the County Final; John Hanna in 1985 and Tom Plunkett in 2000 both lost to seven-times champion Anthony Bonnar while James Gallagher beat Liam McNamee four one in 1990.
Niall Keenan has won tournaments in various parts of the country, several of them while a member of the club.
Tom Plunkett received the Donegal League's player of the year trophy for season 1999-2000 at a function hosted by sponsors Sister Sara's of Letterkenny. Tom lost only one game in the league (to Shane Grant of Killea) and won twenty. He won 41 frames and conceded just seven. He won all six cup games and represented Donegal in the All-Ireland Inter-County Championships. He also reached the final of the County Championships, the semi-final of the CYMS Open and the quarterfinals of the Raymond Burke trophy in Derry, while remaining undefeated in the Derry League.
