The Return of snooker to the legendary Goffs venue….
The World Seniors Tour tournament will be held at the renowned Goffs facility in Ireland in March when the Mr. Vegas Snooker 900 travels there.
The first-ever Mr. Vegas 900 took place at Epsom Racecourse last month, featuring
In the championship match, Stephen Hendry defeated Jimmy White to win his first seniors title.
On March 2, when the format travels to the Emerald Isle, the two will square off for first place once more.
Former world champions Dennis Taylor and Ken Doherty, Dubliner Fergal O’Brien, and Maltese veteran Tony Drago will be joining Hendry and White.
The Irish Masters, a renowned non-ranking competition on the main snooker circuit, was held at Goffs, County Kildare, from 1978 until 2000.
The location, which is now more frequently utilised as a bloodstock auction building, is frequently mentioned by older players from that era as one of the greatest in snooker history.
It’s ideal for a single table layout because of its imposing circular cage.
It had previously been named as a favoured site by Ronnie O’Sullivan, the man who memorably won the Irish Masters in 1998 only to be banned for failing a cannabis drug test.
“In Ireland, I believe I would have to say Goffs.” In 2020, the Rocket stated, “Goffs is the best venue in my opinion,” on Colin Murray’s 52 podcast.
Basically, it serves as the location for all horse sales. All the best horses, where all the Red Rums, or whatever, are purchased.
It’s a huge circular stable, and they chose to use it for a snooker competition.
Ask any snooker player who has actually played there or has simply been and observed a match.
Without fail, they will all claim that it is the best snooker room you have ever had the opportunity to play in.
“You only hear people say things like ‘the hairs on the back of your neck rise up’ at the times I’ve played. It did that one time only.
Playing your Davis, your Hendrys, your Jimmy Whites, and all that kind of things, I had a lot of great matches there.
However, I find that facing Ken Doherty in the championship match stands out the most since at the time, he may have been the world champion.
The final was where we played. The throng is all up there when you emerge from a tunnel.
“Ken received an amazing welcome since he was from Dublin and had all the backing from his native country. I also received a respectable shout.
It seemed like a rush because I was so anxious. It was great to go outside and play in that kind of environment.
You had the impression of being a boxer, much like Rocky when he engaged in combat. It’s much more calm when you play snooker, so you don’t really feel like that.
“However, the energy of the crowd on this specific evening was akin to a gladiatorial match.”
In 2018, in his final competitive outing in the game, Steve Davis won the Irish Seniors Masters at Goffs after winning the Irish Masters a record eight times.
When the Irish Seniors returned to the location in 2019, White won the trophy.
The World Seniors Snooker Tour will have an event at Goffs for the first time in five years with the 2024 Mr Vegas 900.
Each match in the event is played over 900 seconds or 15 minutes under an exciting new format.
Similar to the inaugural event held at Epsom Racecourse, Channel 5 will live stream this event for audiences in the UK and Ireland.
Tickets for the entire day are available for €50 on ticketmaster.ie starting on Monday, January 22.
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