Fergal Quinn secures two-year WST tour card through Q School
He defeated world number 96 Dean Young 4-1 in Leicester in the deciding match, having earlier seen off Ashley Carty - who finished last season at 68 in the world rankings - Keith Keldie, Sean O'Sullivan and Ronnie Sullivan.
It gives the Tyrone native the opportunity to compete at the elite level of the sport as he looks to build on his progress in the amateur game, including reaching the semi-finals of the WSF World Amateur Championship in Morocco in January.
Speaking after securing the tour card, he admitted that he had contemplated his future in the game after so much disappointment over the last half decade.
"I'm just so excited to see what the next two years has to offer, to be honest," he told WST.com
"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."
Quinn has been trying to secure a tour card since 2018 and becomes the second Irish player to earn a debut season on the tour after Leone Crowley, who managed it by winning the WSF Junior Championship in January.
Antrim's Mark Allen is the top ranked Irish player at number 10, with Cork's Aaron Hill set to start the new campaign at 49 in the world. Also on tour in the 2025/2026 season will be Jordan Brown, Robbie McGuigan and 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.
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The 42
23 minutes ago
- The 42
'This should have been Bernard Dunne 2.0... but life played out how it played out'
By Joe O'Neill IRISH BOXING JOURNALISTS are like broken records. Any and all discussions will, eventually, always and forever, return to The Bernard Dunne Days™. Four or so years usually cannot be labelled an 'era', but for a generation of boxing fans, especially those south of the border, 2006 to 2009 was the heyday. Terrestrial TV coverage, national attention, thrilling fights, and a posse of quality fighters forever imprinted on the general sports fan despite, objectively, greater success occurring in the years which followed. 'When will we – and how do we – get those days back?' is the frequent, admittedly naïve post-fight pints discussion. In truth, the Brian Peters-powered vehicle was a moment in time that will never be replicated in a time of increasingly fragmented sports media rights and growing Saudi influence. Indeed, the 3Arena, formerly the Point Depot via a spell as the O2, has played host to increasing amounts of boxing in recent years, with Katie Taylor duking it out with Chantelle Cameron twice in 2023 and Cork's Callum Walsh having his Irish homecoming at the venue in 2024. On Friday, 5 September, the boxer who many in the industry felt could have been the man to bring back the glory days will finally make his bow on the North Quays. While there has been plenty of water under the bridge over the last decade, Belfast featherweight Mick Conlan (19-3, 9 KOs) was perfectly placed to be the Capital King. Olympic bronze medallist in 2012, RTÉ Sports Personality of the Year in 2015, the biggest story in Irish sport in 2016, a television regular. The cheeky chappy, the world's best with warranted confidence, the wronged Irish sporting hero who stood up for himself. While Belfast born and bred, the Dublin-based Conlan was always bigger 'down south', but it has taken 22 professional contests and over eight years for him to step through the ropes in the Fair City. Speaking to The 42 today at a media launch event for his WBC rankings fight with England's Jack Bateson, Conlan recalled simpler times in the IABA High Performance Unit. 'I've had many a day, night in Dublin. I lived here basically from 2011 'til 2016. I was here Tuesday to Friday every week, away from family, away from everything. '…Many nights out here too, like. coming out of Coppers at around 6am, some mad ones,' Conlan laughs. 'But, you know, it's somewhere that I haven't been as a professional. I've been witnessing shows in the 3Arena and witnessing nights out in the 3Arena, but I never fought there. 'It's great, I'm really excited. It's somewhere that I think I probably should have fought a lot more as a professional – but that wasn't in my control at the time. So, y'know, now I'm self-managed, now I'm doing everything myself and I get to call my own shots, and I'm happy.' Following his Olympic heartbreak in 2016, Conlan was snapped up by American promotional behemoth Top Rank, netting one of the largest signing-on fees in boxing history. Managed initially by Matthew Macklin under the broader MGM (later MTK Global) banner, which Macklin co-founded with Daniel Kinahan, the Dublin dream unsurprisingly never got off the ground. Conlan, later managed by his older brother Jamie, disentangled himself from MTK in 2021 but had long since established himself in Belfast as he chased world titles. Does he look back with regret? 'Always. Not even looking back. Here is where I should have been based,' the 33-year-old admits. 'This should have been Bernard Dunne 2.0, you know what I mean? In terms of, like, the shows which should have happened here in The Point and stuff. That's sort of what I would have liked to happen but unfortunately it didn't and life played out how it played out, and my career has played out how it's played out.' Conlan inside the 3Arena. Wasserman Boxing Wasserman Boxing While Conlan's mainstream prominence in the south faded for many reasons – among them the removal of the Olympic microscope, his management by MTK, and the simple passing of time – he still feels the warmth in Dublin. 'I'd still say I am [more known in Dublin than in Belfast],' he says during the media day in Ballsbridge, a brief visit before he flies back to Sheffield to finish camp with coach Grant Smith. 'As I said to the boys, when I fight in Belfast, 50% of my tickets are from the south of Ireland. It's massive. Anytime I come down here, Little Gerard [Hughes, training partner] is my photographer, people want to get photos and it's brilliant. 'I always get recognised in Dublin. I probably get more people willing to come and ask for a photo in Dublin than you would in Belfast. Listen, it's fantastic, the fact that I'm back here. 'I'm still a big name here, no matter what anybody says or what everybody thinks, probably bigger down here than in Belfast. Advertisement 'Now, at the tail-end of my career, I'm getting to come back to the 3Arena and finally fight there as a professional and, y'know, main event as well, so it's always special.' September's opponent Bateson was a decent amateur who won light-flyweight bronze at the 2013 European Championships in Belarus (Conlan won silver at the weight above in the same tournament). He is far from a pushover. From 22 contests, the Leeds boxer boasts 20 wins – albeit only three against notable opposition – versus one stoppage loss to the rising Shabaz Masoud, as well as a technical draw with Danny Quatermaine in which the bout was stopped in just the second round due to a head clash. Conlan is expecting a fired-up opponent, noting how 'this is Jack's world title fight'. 'This is his big opportunity to break through because, no matter what, even if I'm at the tail-end of my career, I'm still a big name for anybody,' says the Belfast man. 'If he can beat me, he can go and get some big fights off of that, so I've got to be on my 'A' game.' Michael Conlan on his way to the ring against Jordan Gill in 2023. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO The Falls Road switch-hitter last boxed in March, posting a low-key points win over awkward Indian journeyman Asad Asif Khan in Brighton. 'The first fight with Grant was the first fight back after over a year out of the ring,' Conlan explains. 'The training camp and all, it wasn't amazing, but I just got in, got it done, got the job done in front of me, against a tricky opponent. He had a really hard head, I actually hurt my hands on his head! So the fact that I got in there and got that done, y'know, it was good, but this training camp has been much different. 'I'm firing on all cylinders again. The first one, I wasn't really firing at all. This one, I'm starting to come back into myself and I'm really excited because I'm expecting a spectacular performance. 'I haven't felt this good in the gym in a long time – and that's not a lie. Like, I know a lot of people say it, a lot of fighters say, like, 'best camp' and all this… nah, that has never really been my case. I've always been honest and open about that, y'know, but this one really has been the best I've felt, mentally and physically, in a long time. 'So I'm going into this fight and, listen, anything can happen, you've got to be prepared for anything. I can go in and look spectacular, or I can go, y'know, look shit, but how everything is going at the minute, I believe I'll go in and look unbelievable.' In truth, the former English super bantamweight champion is, at his absolute very best, 'European level'. Michael Conlan should be winning this fight comfortably if he wants to have any chance of contending for world titles. The problem is that similar was said in December 2023 ahead of Conlan's fight with Jordan Gill in Belfast. This was a comeback against 'domestic-level' opposition in which Conlan was a heavy favourite (even heavier, with the bookmakers, than he is for his upcoming bout). That night, Conlan, who was 'starting afresh' under storied Cuban coach Pedro Diaz, was sensationally stopped in seven rounds by his unfancied foe. Contextualising what many thought would be the final time he would be seen in a ring, Conlan says: Before that, there was an awful lot of family stuff going on which wasn't a good thing to be going on during a fight week and, y'know, a lot of personal issues which weren't resolved until probably the end of 2024. It was announced in December 2024 that Michael would be stepping away from the 'Conlan Sport' management company he had founded with brother Jamie. Michael subsequently launched his own 'Conlan Boxing Management' outfit. 'They're resolved, they've been banished now. It is what it is, and I'm happy with my decisions which I've made and happy to stand on my own feet and my own truth,' says the younger Conlan brother. 'I wasn't in a good place then. I probably shouldn't have been in the ring, especially when I only trained for six weeks for the fight and I actually was only with the coach eight weeks. 'I said before the fight that I should not fight, and then my ego was kind of questioned. 'Really?' And I was like 'no, all right, well, listen, all right, I'll do it'. 'I'd sparred him (Jordan Gill) and I'd done this and done that, but sparring is sparring – and I learned in that fight that sparring is sparring. It doesn't really equate, especially when you're not in the right headspace. 'That one, yeah, I don't pay too much attention to it because of the situation which was going on in the background. 'No fighter should have fought in that way, but it is what it is.' Conlan believes his third professional stoppage defeat, following prior world-title reversals to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez, could prove to be a blessing in disguise. He remains a fighter with a large profile, a recognisable name, but the Gill loss, would suggest he is unable to compete at the upper levels of the sport. These are all attractive traits for a matchmaker. 'It's a fight anybody can look back on and go, 'Oh I could do that',' Conlan says. 'Great, great, come and do that. Let's see what happens because you didn't get an 80% me in that fight. 'So, the fact that I'm going into this fight and I feel like I'm getting back there, probably gonna be, I wanna say, 90 or 95 at the minute. I'm almost hitting 100 again and, once I hit 100, it's game over for anyone.' Michael Conlan receives a count against Jordan Gill. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO World titles seemed an impossibility in the wake of that Gill loss and talk of them may still sound fanciful to many in boxing, but Conlan is adamant he has the tools. 'I'm convinced. I know how I fight, I know how I've been performing in the gym, and I know what I can do and what I can't do,' he says, before offering further rationale. 'My body, I don't feel like I'm getting old. I don't drink. If I drink, I probably drink once a year, maybe twice. I don't take drugs, I don't smoke. So, it's not like I've abused my body. I've always lived like a professional, my whole career. 'I've no doubt in my engine still and how I can go. I've always been a fit person, you know? I was able to run a marathon in 2 hours 55 minutes last year – and that was my year off. I don't take my feet off the gas. I go 100 miles an hour, whatever I'm getting into, and give it 100%. 'There might be some things which are different, a lot of things which I've worked on, which I've wanted to work on. I think what Grant has done a great job doing is tightening up things and tightening up defensive movements, and defence while in close and stuff. 'It's something I'm very excited to show, something I'm very excited to do, and it'll give me more opportunities to do what I want to do when I'm in close or when I'm in long range.' While he is adding more strings to his boxing bow in camp, a rough few years have allowed Conlan to develop his intangible traits. 'It's just maturity isn't?' he says. 'It's all well and good saying when you haven't had the experience, but once you get that experience and you go in there and you know how to fight, and you know how to pace fights and you know how to do things differently instead of, y'know, look at the Wood fight where I probably overly worked. I did too much because I was winning rounds quite easy, but still trying to take a guy out who had enough grit to hold in. 'They're the things you look back on: 'If I would have done this, if I would have done that, things would end differently.' In that fight, it was more fatigue than anything that got me at the end, but that's experience and, y'know, it was my first world title fight and that's probably one that actually keeps me up at night at times. Well, I'll think about that one more than anything. 'But, yeah, listen, I've got the experience. You gotta go in there and use your experience to your advantage, and I think I'm at that stage now where I know what I have to do and know how to do it and if I can do this and that, this will work.' Conlan celebrates his 2022 victory over Miguel Marriaga. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO A self-confessed boxing anorak, Conlan has a route to a third title shot already plotted. Win his 10-rounder next month and he will pick up the WBC's 'International' trinket – a belt that is valuable only for the top-15 ranking it will likely provide. This would make Conlan eligible to be chosen as a voluntary defence by a world champion, while it is also a gateway to world-title eliminators from which he could position himself as a mandatory challenger. The current WBC champion in his weight class is former Carl Frampton sparring partner Stephen Fulton. The talented Philly fighter is a two-weight world champion but Conlan is confident and details why he has chosen the WBC route as his comeback trail. 'Stephen Fulton's the WBC champion and he's the one I like most out of all the featherweights. I think his style and my style would gel very well, and, y'know, he's the fighter I'd wanna fight out of all of them. 'And if I fight him, it will be in an away corner, but it could be in New York.' There is no margin for error anymore, though, and even if things go well, the route ahead is not guaranteed. But Conlan has already made his peace. 'I know that there's not a lot of years left on my clock – two, three max. Max. So whatever I want to do, I gotta do it fast, and I gotta do it soon – and if I don't do it, so be it. 'I've probably been unfortunate, with the fights that fell through and I've come up short in world title fights. Things out of my control have happened. 'For me, it would be a shame if I never won a world title in terms of my talent level, in terms of the effort I give. 'As I've said, the next time the opponent's hand gets put up, I'll say, 'That's me done'. No, that's it. 'Do I look back on my career and go, 'Well, you underachieved?' Yeah, I will, because I should have been a world champion. I was a minute and a half away from being a world champion. 'But, would I be able to sleep at night, knowing I've done it the correct way? I gave it all I could, didn't take no fucking steroids, didn't take any performance-enhancing drugs, like a lot of these people do. 'I'm happy, I've done well. I've earned out of boxing and, you know, I've been smart with money. I haven't been a silly person, spending money on silly things. 'I can look at myself and smile and say, 'You were smart with your money, you earned well, and you're out.''
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
The Left Wing: Rating the Irish Lions and Australia's regrets
In the final instalment of this season's Left Wing, Will, Luke and Jonathan give the grand overall view of the Lions Tour, how Australia could have made it a greater nail-biter and evaluating all the Irish players
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Tralee girls shine but Ireland fall just short again Scots
Ireland Girls' captain Brenda Craig acknowledged a heroic from her players while the combined side fell just short against Scotland on the opening day of the R&A Boys' & Girls' Home Internationals in Cork. England lead the overall and Girls' standings following their comprehensive 13-8 victory over Wales, as Scotland defeated the hosts 11-10. However, Ireland are just one game point shy of the English in the Girls' standings, before they renew rivalries tomorrow. The combined Irish side had made a fast start and took a 4-3 lead after the morning foursomes against Scotland. Hannah Lee-McNamara and Zoe McLean-Tattan, Kate Dillon and Róisín Scanlon, and Tralee pair Lucy Grattan and Ella Moynihan all won their matches for a clean sweep for the Girls. Caelan Coleman and Harry O'Hara combined for an important point for the Boys. Scanlon and Dillon both won their singles matches in the afternoon and despite further wins for Isaac Oliver, William O'Riordan and John William Burke, Ireland came up just short. 'A little bit disappointed with the overall result but we still got 10 points which is a good start for everybody for the week,' said Craig. 'The girls had a really good day, three great wins in the foursomes this morning followed up with two wins and two halves this afternoon, so we won our Girls' section 6-3, absolutely delighted and looking forward now to England tomorrow. 'We would have preferred to keep the English game until Thursday but we have to play them at some stage so really looking forward to it. 'We beat them in the Girls' match in the Home Internationals last year, we beat them not so long ago in the quarter-finals of the Europeans, so looking forward to another great match tomorrow. First match out so the girls will be going out fresh and looking forward to it. 'Three new girls in and the two Tralee girls getting a super win this morning, and Ella Cantwell getting an absolutely fabulous half this afternoon, so our experienced girls and the new girls are mixing and blending really well. 'There's a long way to go and hopefully we're chatting tomorrow afternoon and I have another smile on my face.' England also impressed against Wales on Tuesday. Charlotte Naughton and Annabel Peaford were part of a 7&6 win, there were three 4&3 results in their favour too as England took a 5-2 lead from the morning foursomes. Naughton had another big 7&6 win in the afternoon, with Alex Boyes (6&5) and Aaron Moody (8&7) also shining. 'We had a really good start in the foursomes, so that's always good to get a couple of points on the board because that's always difficult,' said England captain India Clyburn. 'This afternoon in the singles, we had some good battles out there, hard-fought matches to the end, and some good comebacks from the matches that we did lose, but all really good.'
