Joe Delaney (snooker player)

Joe Delaney
Born	4 August 1972 (age 51)
Sport country	Ireland
Professional	1991–1997, 1998/1999, 2000/2001, 2003–2011
Highest ranking	58 (2007/2008)
Best ranking finish	Last 32 (x2)

Last updated January 23, 2024

Joe Delaney (born 4 August 1972 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish former professional snooker player.

Career

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.

Personal life

Alongside his father and brother, Delaney runs a furniture business which makes seating for restaurants, nightclubs and cinemas.

Performance and rankings timeline

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.

↑ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
1 2 3 4 New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 He was an amateur
↑ The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1991/1992–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
↑ The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
1 2 The event was called the Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)
↑ The event was called the Dubai Classic (1991/1992-1994/1995) and the Thailand Classic (1995/1996)
↑ The event was called the Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
↑ The event was called the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
↑ The event was called the European Open (1991/1992–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Irish Open (1998/1999)

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2002	Challenge Tour – Event 3	Lee Spick	3–6

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References

External links

Joe Delaney at WorldSnooker.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 February 2008)

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[1] It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season

[UR-2] 1 2 3 4 New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking

[AMA-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 He was an amateur

[4] The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)

[5] The event was called the Grand Prix (1991/1992–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)

[6] The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)

[STR-7] 1 2 The event was called the Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)

[8] The event was called the Dubai Classic (1991/1992-1994/1995) and the Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

[9] The event was called the Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)

[10] The event was called the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)

[11] The event was called the European Open (1991/1992–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Irish Open (1998/1999)

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[nb 4]

[nb 5]

[nb 6]

[nb 7]

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Born	(1972-08-04) 4 August 1972 (age 51)
Sport country	Ireland
Professional	1991–1997, 1998/1999, 2000/2001, 2003–2011
Highest ranking	58 (2007/2008)
Best ranking finish	Last 32 (x2)