Born | 4 August 1972 |
---|---|
Sport country | Ireland |
Professional | 1991–1997, 1998/1999, 2000/2001, 2003–2011 |
Highest ranking | 58 (2007/2008) |
Best ranking finish | Last 32 (x2) |
Joe Delaney (born 4 August 1972 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish former professional snooker player.
Born in 1972, Delaney turned professional in 1991. He endured several barren seasons on the tour before losing his place in 1997, but re-qualified during the 1997/1998 season, notably reaching the last 48 stage of the 1998 World Championship. There, he beat seven opponents, including Michael Holt, Munraj Pal, Jamie Burnett and Gary Ponting, before losing 7–10 to Dave Harold.
In his first season back on the tour, Delaney won the majority of his matches, but progressed only to the last 96 at a ranking event – the 1998 Grand Prix, where the declining Steve James beat him 5–2.
Having competed for another several seasons as an amateur, Delaney reached the final of a Challenge Tour event in 2003, defeating Paul McPhillips and Joe Jogia alongside five others, before losing 3–6 to Lee Spick. This performance was not enough for him to re-qualify, but the following season heralded runs to the last 16 at another Challenge Tour event – losing 1–5 to Cypriot Mehmet Husnu – and the fifth qualifying round at the 2003 World Championship, where Gary Hardiman beat him 5–3. These results did earn Delaney a place on the main tour for the 2003/2004 season.
The following three seasons were without any significant progress, but Delaney enjoyed better form in 2006/2007. He reached the last 48 at the 2006 UK Championship, defeating Andrew Higginson 9–5 and fellow Irishman Fergal O'Brien 9–7 before losing to Northern Ireland's Joe Swail, also 9–7. The 2007 Welsh Open, in which Higginson would reach the final as an amateur, heralded a 5–3 victory over Spick and a 5–4 defeat of Marcus Campbell, but Delaney lost in the last 48, 0–5 to Stuart Bingham.
Earlier in the season, he had played in the 2006 Irish Professional Championship, beating fifty-seven-year-old Alex Higgins 5–2 before losing in the quarter-finals to a resurgent Ken Doherty; the former would be Higgins's penultimate competitive match.
At the 2007 World Championship, Delaney defeated Ian Preece 10–7, having trailed 1–5, Barry Pinches 10–9 from 6–9 behind, and Alan McManus by the same scoreline to reach the main stages at the Crucible Theatre for the first time in his career. In his last-32 match against Matthew Stevens, Delaney came to trail 0–5, and eventually lost 2–10.
At the 2007 Grand Prix, Delaney progressed from his qualifying group – recording victories over Issara Kachaiwong, David Gilbert, David Gray, 4–0 over Pinches and a 4–3 defeat of Spick – but lost all five of his group matches.
The 2008/2009 season saw Delaney reach the last 64 in four tournaments – beating Spick 5–0 in the Northern Ireland Trophy after Spick had conceded having fallen ill, and again in the Welsh Open, 5–3, before a 1–5 defeat to Gerard Greene in the latter. At that season's World Championship, he lost 1–10 to Judd Trump.
By the end of the 2009/2010 season, Delaney's form had slipped, although he recorded a 10–0 whitewash over Sam Baird in qualifying for the 2010 World Championship; in his next match, he recovered from 0–8 down against Adrian Gunnell to trail only 7–9, leading the seventeenth frame by fifty-six points before Gunnell made a break of 64 to prevail 10–7.
With the introduction of Players Tour Championship events in 2010, Delaney played in fourteen tournaments that season, notably beating Patrick Einsle, Rory McLeod, Greene and Li Yan before exiting at the last-32 stage at the 2010 Shanghai Masters, 3–5 to Mark King.
2010/2011 brought no more success, however, and Delaney finished his season with a 4–10 World Championship qualifying defeat to Jogia. Ranked 81st at its conclusion, he dropped off the tour once more, aged 38.
As an amateur, he came within one win of returning to the tour in 2012 in one of the Q-School events, but lost his quarter-final match 0–4 to Rod Lawler.
Alongside his father and brother, Delaney runs a furniture business which makes seating for restaurants, nightclubs and cinemas.
Tournament | 1991/ 92 | 1992/ 93 | 1993/ 94 | 1994/ 95 | 1995/ 96 | 1996/ 97 | 1997/ 98 | 1998/ 99 | 1999/ 00 | 2000/ 01 | 2001/ 02 | 2002/ 03 | 2003/ 04 | 2004/ 05 | 2005/ 06 | 2006/ 07 | 2007/ 08 | 2008/ 09 | 2009/ 10 | 2010/ 11 | 2011/ 12 | 2012/ 13 | 2013/ 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ranking [nb 1] | [nb 2] | 137 | 181 | 186 | 166 | 148 | [nb 3] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 2] | 79 | 73 | 63 | 58 | 61 | 63 | 61 | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shanghai Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | A | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UK Championship | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | 1R | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German Masters [nb 4] | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | A | NR | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | A | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welsh Open | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Open [nb 5] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | RR | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Players Championship Grand Final | Tournament Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
China Open [nb 6] | Tournament Not Held | NR | LQ | A | LQ | A | Not Held | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Masters | A | LQ | LQ | A | A | A | WD | WD | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classic | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strachan Open [nb 7] | LQ | MR | NR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asian Classic [nb 8] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thailand Masters [nb 9] | WD | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | NR | Tournament Not Held | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scottish Open [nb 10] | NH | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | MR | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
British Open | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish Masters | Non-Ranking Event | A | LQ | LQ | NH | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Malta Cup [nb 11] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | NH | LQ | Not Held | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Ireland Trophy | Tournament Not Held | NR | LQ | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bahrain Championship | Tournament Not Held | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strachan Challenge [nb 7] | R | MR | WD | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish Professional Championship | LQ | 1R | Tournament Not Held | QF | QF | SF | Tournament Not Held |
Performance Table Legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) | QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
DQ | disqualified from the tournament |
NH / Not Held | event was not held. | |||
NR / Non-Ranking Event | event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
R / Ranking Event | event is/was a ranking event. | |||
MR / Minor-Ranking Event | event is/was a minor-ranking event. |
Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
Runner-up | 1. | 2002 | Challenge Tour – Event 3 | Lee Spick | 3–6 |
Tony Drago is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player.
Alan McManus is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator and pundit for ITV and Eurosport on snooker coverage. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship.
Joe Swail is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Championships but only one final. Swail is renowned for playing well at the Crucible Theatre, having reached the last 16 on four further occasions. He is also a former English amateur champion and Northern Ireland amateur runner-up, and has captained Northern Ireland internationally. He was Irish champion in 1992 and 2005.
Fergal O'Brien is an Irish professional snooker player who has played on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000–01 season. He has won one ranking title, the 1999 British Open, defeating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final. He has reached two other major finals, notably the 2001 Masters, where he lost 9–10 to Paul Hunter. O'Brien was relegated from the professional tour after losing to 15-year-old Welsh amateur Liam Davies in the 2022 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds. However, he regained his professional status immediately by coming through Event 1 of the 2022 Q School. O'Brien announced that he will retire from the professional tour after the 2023–24 season.
Michael Judge is a former professional snooker player from the Republic of Ireland. His best performance in a ranking event came in the 2004 Grand Prix, where he reached the semi-finals, and he reached his highest ranking, 24th, for the 2002–03 season.
Rory McLeod is a British-Jamaican professional snooker player. He has reached the last 16 in ten ranking tournaments, and his most notable achievement came in 2015, when he won the minor ranking Ruhr Open, beating Tian Pengfei in the final. His highest ranking is 32, which he last reached in 2012.
Rod Lawler is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod".
Patrick Wallace is a former professional snooker player from Dungannon in Northern Ireland. During his career, which lasted seventeen years from 1994 to 2011, he won two non-ranking titles and was a quarter-finalist in the 2001 World Championship.
Mark Joyce is an English professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the European Under-19 Championship in 2001, the English Open in 2005 and the English Amateur Championship in 2006, beating Martin O'Donnell 8–3 in the final. Joyce also finished fifth on the 2005/06 Pontin's International Open Series, winning the second of eight events, to book a place on Main Tour.
Paul Davies is a Welsh former professional snooker player who lives in Cardiff. He turned professional in 1991.
Lee Spick was an English professional snooker player. A former English under-15 champion, he reached the last 48 of ranking events on five occasions, including twice in the World Championship.
Peter Lines is an English former professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father of professional snooker player Oliver Lines. In January 2022, he won the 2022 UK Seniors Championship, part of the World Seniors Tour.
Patrick Einsle is a former German professional snooker player.
Hugh Abernethy is a Scottish former professional snooker player.
Mehmet Husnu is a Cypriot former professional snooker player.
Bradley Jones is an English former professional snooker player.
Craig Butler is an English former professional snooker player.
Brian Salmon is an English former professional snooker player.
Adrian Rosa is an English former professional snooker player.
Luke Simmonds is an English former professional snooker player.