O’Callaghan’s “brilliant” season

BOURNEMOUTH break-builder David O’Callaghan capped a “brilliant” season by knocking in his highest break in the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour Championship play-off.

The south coast teenager smashed his previous best of 32 with a 44 in the deciding frame of his 2-1 quarter-final victory over David Rice (Fordingbridge).

It was at Salisbury Snooker Club last October that O’Callaghan (pictured) first started making headlines. Kicking off his second season playing snooker, he beat the eventual rankings winner Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford) 2-1 in the final.

The 16-year-old finished the season in fourth place on the Bronze Tour, finished sixth in the Greenbaize rankings and saw his home club retain the Cuestars club rankings title.

“This season has been brilliant for me,” he said. “I never could have predicted how much I would have improved from the last (season), going from a newcomer to a rankings title contender is a great achievement for me.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge of playing in Silver next season and I believe it will improve my game massively playing against the better quality players.”

O’Callaghan had accounted for Albert Warren (Salisbury SC) 2-1 in the last-16 of the end-of-season play-off at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, but was knocked out 2-0 in the semi-finals thanks to a remarkable performance by nine-year-old Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford).

And just to end a memorable year, he was selected to play guest-of-honour Joe Perry in an exhibition frame

He managed just two points (although five of the other 15 players recorded nil points) and world number nine Perry compiled a 103, one of the seven centuries he made during the course of the afternoon.

Report and picture by Tim Dunkley.