By:
Conor Martin
Fergal Quinn has become the second Irish player to earn themselves a place on the World Snooker Tour after coming through Q School on Sunday.
The 25-year-old put in an incredibly impressive showing. Quinn won five matches, dropping only four frames in the process, in the second of two events to claim one of eight places on offer for the 2025-26 season, which starts on June 30.
His victories came in wins against Ronnie Sullivan (4-0), Sean O’Sullivan (4-1), Keith Keldie (4-1) and Ashley Carty (4-1) before he took on Scotland’s Dean Young in the decider on Sunday.
Quinn, who hails from Tyrone, is in good company from an Irish perspective and will join five other Irish players on the tour for the season ahead. Mark Allen, Jordan Brown, Aaron Hill, Ken Doherty and Robbie McGuigan are the fantastic five alongside Quinn.
After securing his place on the tour for at least two years, something he has achieved after a couple of heartbreaks, Quinn reflected on these achievements in an interview with WST.com.
Fergal Quinn reflects on milestone achievement
“I’m just so excited to see what the next two years has to offer, to be honest.
“After this Q School I was genuinely unsure what direction I was going to go down with my life path. I’m 25 years-old, another year, 26, 27… I have big ambitions for myself in my life in general.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know and eventually you have to trust that snooker is for me. This game keeps pulling me back in. Maybe I was going to walk away from this game for six months
“Now it’s pulled me back in, I’m on the tour – it’s a bit crazy, to be honest. Now it gives me something to focus on for the next two years, simplifying my life a lot.
“I’m a professional snooker player now and that’s all I have to focus on.”
In the decider, Tyrone’s Quinn opened with a break of 62 before winning the second on the black. With such a life-changing opportunity on the line, Quinn could have folded under pressure, especially when his opponent Young got on the board in the third frame.
However, he gathered himself to stay in control of the contest and won the following two frames. He would pot the brown to get over the line to secure a place on the World Snooker Tour in frame five.
Quinn can now take a little of time to reflect on his impressive achievement.
Coalisland’s Quinn has been looking to nail down a place on the tour since 2018. As previously mentioned, he now becomes the second Irish player to secure a debut season on the tour. Following in the footsteps of Leone Crowley, who completed the feat at the start of the year. When the Cork native won the WSF Junior Championship in January.
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