McGlinchey’s still going strong almost 40 years later

IT’S 36 years since Dermot McGlinchey competed in his first Northern Ireland Amateur Snooker Championship semi-final and he’s still battling at the sharp end, having reached the same stage of this year’s edition.

The Castlederg cueman rolled back the years in 2022, firing in a stunning 126 clearance during a 5-2 quarter-final victory over Connell Doherty in the last eight before taking on reigning champion Robbie McGuigan in the semis.

Dermot won the first frame 53-25, and led 40-0 in the second before runs of 68 and 25 for the defending champion levelled the match at 1-1. Seventeen year-old McGuigan then added breaks of 50, 47 and 51 in the next two frames as he went in at the interval 3-1 in front.

McGlinchey, who is a two-time former Northern Ireland champion, never really got going after the interval and it would be Robbie who stayed on course to defend his title as he finished the match off with an 80 clearance to win 6-1 before he beat Rab McCullough in the decider.

And while the one-sided scoreline doesn’t reflect how his semi-final with McGuigan went, McGlinchey is delighted to still be in the mix, despite his position as a veteran these days.

“Robbie is a very worthy champion,” McGlinchey acknowledged. “I was delighted to get to the semi-finals because it’s 36 years since I got to my first semi-final in 1986!

“That in itself is not a bad achievement, to, after 36 years, still be able to compete.

“Robbie deserved the victory. I started well but I was a bit unlucky when I went into the reds in frame two but he made a great break to get back into the frame and got stronger from then on.”

Throughout the tournament, Dermot impressed with wins over Chris Ferguson 3-2 in round one, Joe Loughran 3-1 in the last-32 and he then toppled Gerard Travers, who held the high break of 128 at that stage, in the last-16, and while he admits that those wins are great for his confidence, he’s also long enough in the tooth to know his form won’t last forever.

“It does give you confidence, but I’ve been about long enough to know it doesn’t get easier as you get older,” he explains.

“Forty years now travelling up and down the road from I stated in the Omagh League in 1982 is a lot of miles and a lot of balls potted, but I’m still looking forward to next season.”

McGlinchey was only able to play in four of the six ranking events this season due to a family bereavement and illness, but he still retained his place in the overall top 10 at the end of the campaign, which he is delighted to have achieved.

“All in, that’s not bad considering I only played four tournaments out of six, so that in itself I’m happy with”

Dermot is available to provide snooker coaching, contact details through World Snooker coaching website or by private message through Social Media.