Joe O'Connor (snooker player)

Joe O'Connor

Paul Hunter Classic 2017
Born	(1995-11-08) 8 November 1995 (age 29) Leicester, England
Sport country	England
Professional	2018–present
Highest ranking	28 (July 2024)
Current ranking	39 (as of 2 February 2025)
Maximum breaks	1
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (2022 Scottish Open)

Joe O'Connor (born 8 November 1995) is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He was the 2018 English Amateur Champion and a ranking event finalist at the 2022 Scottish Open.

Career

Amateur

Previously a junior pool champion, O'Connor qualified for the snooker main draw as an amateur at the 2014 Wuxi Classic, then faced Neil Robertson at the 2014, ^{[1] [2]} and Mark Selby at the 2015 UK Championship. ^[3] He won four events on the 2017–18 English amateur tour. ^[4]

Ahead of the 2018–19 season, O'Connor defeated Brandon Sargeant 4–1 and then Oliver Brown 4–0 to secure a two-year professional tour card for the first time at the 2018 EBSA Play-Offs at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. ^[5] In June 2018, he beat Andrew Norman 10–3 to become the English Amateur Champion before turning professional.

Professional

On 28 November 2018, O'Connor defeated world number 12 Ryan Day 6–2 in the first round at the 2018 UK Championship. ^[6] In February 2019, he defeated top 10 players Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui and John Higgins en route to his first ranking event semi-final at the Welsh Open, ^[7] eventually losing 6–2 to Stuart Bingham. ^[8] In the 2021 German Masters, he made it to the quarter-finals, ^[9] but he lost 5–1 to Tom Ford. ^[10]

In December 2022, O'Connor reached his first ranking final at the 2022 Scottish Open, defeating Zhao Xintong, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden and Neil Robertson throughout the tournament. ^{[11] [12]} However, he lost 9–2 to Gary Wilson. ^[13]

In February 2023, O'Connor made it to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, ^[14] but lost 5–4 to Pang Junxu, ^[15] then he defeated number one seed Mark Allen at the Players Championship, ^[16] before bowing out to Ali Carter at the semi-final stage. ^[17] In April, he lost 8–10 to Andrew Higginson in the qualifying rounds of the World Championship. In November, he beat Stephen Maguire to qualify for the last-32 of the 2023 UK Championship. ^[18]

On 29 February 2024, O'Connor compiled his first maximum break, the 200th maximum in competitive snooker, during a 3–2 win against Elliot Slessor in the 2024 Championship League in his home town of Leicester. ^[19] He won his group and made it to the final in the Winners' Group, but there he lost 1–3 to Mark Selby. ^[20] In April, he qualified for the 2024 World Snooker Championship with a 10–8 win over Matthew Selt for his debut appearance at the tournament, where he was drawn against Mark Selby, ^[21] whom he defeated 10–6 for his maiden win at the Crucible Theatre. ^[22] His run ended though in the second round, as he was beaten 6–13 by Kyren Wilson. ^[23]

He remains active in pool, and was named as a wildcard for the 2023 Ultimate Pool professional circuit, O’Connor defeated former Pro Series event winner Jake McCartney during his first Series weekend, and has since reached the last 32 of Event 4. ^[24]

He topped his group at the 2024 Championship League in Leicester in June 2024. ^[25] He recorded a win over world champion Kyren Wilson as part of reaching the quarter-final of the 2025 Welsh Open. ^[26]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	2013/ 14	2014/ 15	2015/ 16	2016/ 17	2017/ 18	2018/ 19	2019/ 20	2020/ 21	2021/ 22	2022/ 23	2023/ 24	2024/ 25
Ranking [27] [nb 1]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 3]	68	62	62	47	31	29
Ranking tournaments
Championship League	Non-Ranking Event							RR	RR	RR	RR	2R
Xi'an Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held											1R
Saudi Arabia Masters	Tournament Not Held											4R
English Open	Not Held			A	LQ	1R	2R	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R
British Open	Tournament Not Held								4R	2R	LQ	LQ
Wuhan Open	Tournament Not Held										1R	LQ
Northern Ireland Open	Not Held			A	A	1R	2R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R
International Championship	A	LQ	LQ	A	A	LQ	LQ	Not Held			1R	2R
UK Championship	A	1R	1R	A	A	3R	1R	3R	2R	LQ	1R	LQ
Shoot Out	Non-Ranking			A	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R
Scottish Open	Not Held			A	A	1R	3R	2R	LQ	F	2R	2R
German Masters	A	LQ	LQ	A	A	LQ	LQ	QF	LQ	1R	2R	2R
Welsh Open	A	1R	1R	A	A	SF	1R	3R	LQ	QF	1R	QF
World Open	A	Not Held		A	A	LQ	LQ	Not Held			LQ
World Grand Prix	NH	NR	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	2R	DNQ
Players Championship [nb 4]	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	SF	DNQ
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held					DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
World Championship	A	LQ	LQ	A	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	2R
Non-ranking tournaments
Championship League	A	A	A	A	A	A	RR	A	A	A	F	RR
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic	A	1R	Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open	A	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters	A	LQ	LQ	A	A	Non-Ranking		Not Held			Non-Ranking
Paul Hunter Classic	Minor-Ranking			A	3R	3R	NR	Tournament Not Held
Indian Open	A	LQ	NH	A	A	LQ	Tournament Not Held
China Open	A	1R	A	A	A	2R	Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters [nb 5]	NH	Minor-Rank		A	A	2R	WD	Tournament Not Held
China Championship	Not Held			NR	A	LQ	1R	Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series	Tournament Not Held							RR	Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters	Tournament Not Held								1R	Not Held
Gibraltar Open	Not Held		MR	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	Not Held
WST Classic	Tournament Not Held									2R	Not Held
European Masters	Not Held			A	A	LQ	LQ	3R	LQ	LQ	1R	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Six-red World Championship	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Not Held		LQ	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

NH / Not Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
2. He was an amateur
3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
4. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
5. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2022	Scottish Open	Gary Wilson	2–9

Non-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2024	Championship League	Mark Selby	1–3

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2018	English Amateur Championship	Andrew Norman	10–3

References

1. "UK Championship 2014: Neil Robertson test excites O'Connor". BBC Sport. 26 November 2014.
2. "UK Snooker: Joe O'Connor to man up for crack at champion Neil Robertson". York Press. 21 November 2014.
3. "Joe O'Connor awaits Mark Selby tie at UK Championship". BBC Sport. 12 November 2015.
4. "Reports from the English Amateur Tour 2017/18 – EASB". www.easb.co.uk.
5. "Clarke and O'Connor Win EBSA Play-Offs - WPBSA". www.wpbsa.com. 18 April 2018.
6. "Murphy stunned by world number 124". BBC Sport.
7. "O'Connor stuns Higgins at Welsh Open". BBC Sport.
8. "Welsh Open: Neil Robertson to play Stuart Bingham in final". BBC Sport. 16 February 2019.
9. "Ding Progresses To Continue Trophy Pursuit". World Snooker Tour. 28 January 2021.
10. "Lisowski Clinches Semi-Final Spot". World Snooker Tour. 29 January 2021.
11. "Outstanding O'Connor Reaches Maiden Final". World Snooker Tour. 3 December 2022.
12. "Scottish Open 2022: Joe O'Connor stuns Neil Robertson to book place in first final of his career". Eurosport. 3 December 2022.
13. "Wonderful Wilson Crushes O'Connor In Scottish Final". World Snooker Tour. 4 December 2022.
14. "Crunch Time For Allen In Bonus Race". World Snooker Tour. 17 February 2023.
15. "Milkins Sees Off 'Pitiful' Allen". World Snooker Tour. 18 February 2023.
16. "Players Championship: Joe O'Connor stuns Mark Allen in Wolverhampton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
17. "Carter Battles Past O'Connor". World Snooker Tour. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
18. "O'Connor Beats Maguire To Earn Higgins Clash". World Snooker Tour. 23 November 2023.
19. "Championship League: Joe O'Connor makes 200th official 147 break in snooker history". BBC Sport. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
20. "Selby Lands Championship League Crown". World Snooker Tour. 13 March 2024.
21. "World Snooker Championship 2024: Neil Robertson loses to Jamie Jones; Jackson Page and Ryan Day advance". BBC Sport. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
22. Emons, Michael (22 April 2024). "Selby unsure of snooker future after round-one loss". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
23. "Warrior Fends Off Debutant O'Connor". World Snooker Tour. 29 April 2024.
24. Joe O'Connor (46) Ultimate Pool. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
25. "MICHAEL WHITE CONTINUES WELSH CHARGE AT CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER TO REACH LAST 32". Eurosport. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
26. "Shock defeats for Wilson and Allen at Welsh Open". RTE. 12 February 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
27. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links

• Joe O'Connor at the World Snooker Tour
• Joe O'Connor at snooker.org