Ballyfarnon in North Roscommon isn’t known for be a Pool strong hold but that might be about to change. Jamie Gaffney was part of the Ireland team that won the U-23 Pool Championship in Blackpool recently. After a roller-coaster of a tournament, Ireland defeated England 5-4 Final and Jamie was on the table for that final frame.
article by Gerard Browne
It has been a very successful year for the Ireland U-23 team as they won the European Championship back in February. Jamie felt that victory gave Ireland the confidence they needed ahead of the World Championship. Shannonside FM’s John Lynch visited the pool club in Drumshambo this week where he caught up with Jamie.
“We were going in believing we had a good chance. We won the European Championship in February with the same four players (Jordan Doyle and Jordan Synnott from Wexford, and Sean O’Neil from Dublin). We went in as one of the main favourites. We were fairly confident but you need that at this level.”
It was far from the ideal start for team Ireland. There is also an individual competition, which saw early exits for all the Ireland team. These early exits made the players more determined for the team event.
“We all got knocked out in the first or second round but we remembered the good times and that got our confidence back. It put emphasis on the team matches and we knew we had to perform.”
The poor performance from the individual competition seemed to effect the players as Ireland lost their opening two group games. A 5-4 win over Scotland B got Ireland up and running in the group stages. Jamie points to this game as a turning point.
“That’s where it all really started to get off even though we weren’t at 100%. We still got the win under our belt and just took it one game at a time after that.”
Ireland’s fortunate turned after that game. Ireland qualified for the Semi-Final ahead of Malta, virtue of the fact of having won more frames. Ireland defeated Morocco 5-2 in the Semi-Final. This was a game Jamie felt Ireland played with more freedom.
“There was no pressure on us going into the Semi-Finals. We knew what we had to do. We all played like we do when we are playing well.”
In the Final, Ireland got off to the worst possible start. They were 4-1 down vs England and Jamie had lost two frames. They got themselves back into the game and drew level at 4-4. It went down to a decider and Jamie was back on the table.
“I and another lad had lost our first two frames and it just worked out that both of us were in for the decider. I ended up getting a chance and thankfully took it out. I was fairly nervous and but we thrived off that.”
This isn’t the first time Jamie has been a World Champion and has shown great potential for a number of years. It all began for Jamie in Drumshambo Pool Club. Jamie is very thankfully to the helpful of the people on the Roscommon/Leitrim border.
“It’s great to come home and everybody is congratulation you. It great to see to see the support and I really appreciate it.”
You can hear their conversation here
