Leone Crowley defeated Kaylan Patel 5-0 within the last of the 2025 WSF Junior Championship to earn the title and a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card.
Crowley, from Cork, got here via a global subject of 57 cueists from 22 international locations to win the most important title of his profession to this point.
The 18-year-old makes historical past as the primary ever participant from the Republic of Eire to win the celebrated title and earns skilled standing for the primary time in his profession.
He made a powerful begin to the match by topping his group with a clear sweep of victories and simply two frames dropped en path to the knockout levels.
This advantageous kind continued as Crowley, who repeatedly practices at Mark Allen’s snooker camp in Belfast, whitewashed Scotland’s Ayaan Iqbal earlier than displaying his battling qualities to beat Poland’s Michal Szubarczyk in a deciding body having trailed 3-2.
His place within the title match was secured by overcoming Amaan Iqbal 4-1 in a tough fought contest that final for nearly 4 hours on Wednesday night.
There he confronted England’s Patel, who was aiming to grow to be solely the second Englishman after Stan Moody to carry the WSF Junior Championship crown.
Following a trio of group stage victories, Patel had defeated fellow countryman Adam Abbas (4-1) and O’Shay Scott (4-1) to succeed in the final eight.
He appeared sure of a semi-final place when he stormed right into a 3-0 lead over Riley Powell, however the Welshman rallied to win three frames in a row and pressure a decider. Patel, nevertheless, held his nerve within the last body to compile a break of fifty earlier than incomes his last place with a powerful 4-0 defeat of the highly-rated Zhou Jinhao from China.
Sadly for Patel, he was unable to repeat this manner within the title match and Crowley raced right into a 4-0 lead on the mid-session interval in comparatively snug trend regardless of not compiling a half-century break.
Crowley stored his cool after the break and took the fifth and decisive body by a scoreline of 73-24 to finish the most important victory of his life.
“I really feel excellent. I’ve been taking part in the sport for the final ten years and I’ve put numerous exhausting work into this so I’m simply completely satisfied to have made my Dad proud and myself too. My household again dwelling have been all watching it so I wish to thank them for all of the help” mentioned Crowley.
“I 100% believed that this was attainable – if you happen to don’t imagine then you definately’re not going to realize your objectives. I used to be feeling good coming into the sport. It was scrappy however there was some good security play and I felt assured once I was in entrance that I might recover from the road finally.”
Waiting for the subsequent two years, Crowley mentioned: “I wish to acquire expertise and hopefully I can keep on the tour. I don’t wish to say an excessive amount of however hopefully, after these two years, I’ll keep on – that’s the aim. My hero is Judd Trump, so I wish to play him.”
The WSF Open Championship takes place on 24 January – 1 February and may be watched dwell on the WPBSA YouTube channel and WSF Fb web page.