Irish snooker is once again on the rise with at least two young players set to feature in the 2025/6 World Snooker Tour, Leone Crowley and Aaron Hill. Their youthful talent is also balanced out by world-class experience on the senior circuit through World Snooker Championship winner Ken Doherty.
After a period of stagnation that saw Doherty remain the country’s top pick almost twenty years after his most recent victory at the 2006 Malta Cup, new Irish talent is beginning to come through¹. As we look forward to the 2026 World Snooker Championship, held between April 18th and May 4th, let’s look at some of the top Irish players to watch.
Leone Crowley
The first player in our list of ones to watch is a rising star of the professional scene, Leone Crowley. At an incredible 18 years old, Crowley from Cork seems set to become a star in the future of the sport. He’s already a record breaker, becoming the first Irish player to win the World Snooker Federation’s Junior Championship following his victory in 2025. His journey through the junior circuit has been unparalleled winning the Irish National Championships across the U12, U14, U16, U18 and U21 levels.
Crowley’s victory at the Junior Championship in Morocco also earned him a two year professional card on the World Snooker Tour, giving fans the opportunity to see the player in action on snooker’s biggest stage from 2025. He put in a strong performance throughout the junior tournament where his main challenge came in the quarter finals after he found himself 3-2 down to Poland’s Michal Szubarczyk. After overcoming Szubarczyk in a nail-biting final frame decider, he cruised the final winning 5-0 against England’s Kaylan Patel without dropping a single frame.
The question now is whether Crowley can translate his achievements into professional level tournaments. In his first professional tournament, the 2025 World Championship, he was defeated in the first round by England’s Manasawin Phetmalaikul 10-3. Although not an ideal start to his professional career, even Ireland’s greatest cueist Ken Doherty lost his first World Championship match in 1993 to Shaun Mellish. His junior victory means that Crowley will get the opportunity to test himself again against professionals in the 2026 championship. After he’s adjusted to the professional level tournaments, Crowley will be a real one to watch out for in the upcoming seasons if his junior form is anything to go by.
Aaron Hill
The 2025 season has been a turbulent one full of highs and lows for Cork’s Aaron Hill. In January, he won a victory over Welshman and three times World Champion Mark Williams. His victory took mettle after Williams fought back against Hill’s 2-0 lead to draw level. Hill went on to win the next three frames in impressive style, winning 5-2 overall. The victory echoed his win over the sport’s joint most decorated player, Ronnie O’Sullivan, which Hill delivered in 2020 his very first season on the professional tour². He’s also gone on to beat other giants of the sport including Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby.
Hill went on to be defeated 5-0 in the quarter-final round by China’s Xiao Guodong. The heartbreak continued for Hill after he narrowly missed out on qualifying for the debut World Snooker Championship in April. Despite a strong start which saw him leading 6-3, he lost his qualifying match in the final frame 9-10 to England’s David Gilbert. There were some positives for Hill who finished the match with a higher pot rate, 62%, than his opponent³. Hill’s impressive wins against some of the sport’s best ever players, mean that at just 23 he’s definitely one of the top Irish players to look out for in future seasons.
Ken Doherty
Ranelagh’s Ken Doherty is easily the most famous Irish snooker player of all time having six ranking titles so far in his four decade-spanning career. At the very height of his form in the 2006/7 season, he was ranked as the second best player in the entire world. In 1997 he won the sport’s biggest prize, the World Snooker Championship at the iconic Crucible Theatre after defeating Stephen Hendry 18-12.
Doherty’s most recent title came at the 2006 Malta Cup where he defeated John Higgins 9-8 to lift the title. Despite his win being almost twenty years ago, he remained Ireland’s top pick into the late 2010s. Doherty himself has highlighted the need for younger Irish talent on the world circuit. Now, with the rise of young talent like Aaron Hill and Leone Crowley, Doherty has begun a shift towards the senior version of the sport.
Should Doherty be successful in his hunt for the Senior Snooker World Championship, he will have completed a unique grand slam having won the title across World Professional, World Amateur and World Under 21 level. So far, he’s been successful in two senior championships, the 2018 UK Seniors Championship and the 2024 Mr Vegas World Senior Snooker Event held in his native Ireland. Although he’s no longer on the professional world stage, Ken Doherty remains one to watch in senior championships and viewers can also find him commentating on BBC snooker coverage.
What Does the Future of World Snooker Look Like?
World snooker is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance with the 2025 World Snooker Championship breaking streaming records. The BBC reported that the tournament was streamed an incredible 29 million times, a huge jump of 25% from last year’s viewing numbers⁴. In the tense final, Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams 18-12 becoming the first Chinese player to lift the trophy. In January of this year, the BBC signed a five year extension to allow it to continue showing the world’s biggest snooker games.
The Future in Ireland
In Ireland, snooker has been struggling since its glory days in the 1980s when there were around 70 snooker clubs in Dublin⁵. Today, that number stands at well under half and many report struggling to stay afloat amongst a drop in interest. The sport faced further challenges in the country after promising Irish player, Leo Fernandez, was banned from the sport for match fixing⁶. Fernandez was accused of intentionally throwing a shot against Gary Wilson in an early qualification match in 2016 for the World Championship. Following an investigation by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, he was banned from competing in the sport for a year. Following the 2018 season, Fernandez fell out of professional rankings and hasn’t competed since 2021.
Despite these challenges, figures in Irish snooker still remain positive, hoping young players like Leone Crowley will help the sport regain a foothold in Ireland. In February 2024, Snooker and Billiards Ireland launched the Snooker in Schools initiative which places snooker tables in schools across the country. The program aims to get more children interested in the sport in the hopes of reviving its future in Ireland.
The Future of Irish Snooker
There’s no doubt it will be a hard road back for snooker in Ireland with challenges presented by closing clubs, player bans and Doherty moving over to senior tournaments. However, young players represent a glimmer of hope in a potentially bleak future for the sport in Ireland. As Crowley settles into the professional version of tournaments, his junior form certainly makes him stand out. Hill’s victories over some of the top players within the sport also make him an impressive candidate. Overall, the future of Irish snooker could be in good hands with the top players Leone Crowley and Aaron Hill, ones we’d make sure to watch.
3: Heartbreak for Hill as Crucible Dream Ended by Gilbert, Written by RTE, Published by RTE.
6: Irish Snooker Player Banned for Match Fixing, Written by Siobhan Aslett, Published by Irishluck.
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