Dessie Sheehan

Dessie Sheehan
birthday	3rd September 1949 (age 70)
nationality	Ireland
professional	1981 - 1997 , 1998/99 , 2000/01
Prize money	£ 7,956
Highest break	96 ( Irish Professional Championship 1987 )
Century Breaks	-
World rankings
Highest WRL place	81 ( 1986/87 )
Best results
Ranked tournaments	6 × round of the last 64
Other professional tournaments	1 × quarter-finals
Amateur tournaments	4 × national champion

Desmond "Dessie" Sheehan (born September 3, 1949 ) is a former Irish snooker player who, after a successful amateur career, was a professional player for 18 years with interruptions between 1981 and 2001.

Career

Sheehan first drew attention to himself when he reached the quarter-finals of the British U19 Championship in 1968 and was eliminated there. In 1970 and 1971 he won the Irish Snooker Championship ; in the second of these two years he also won the All-Ireland Amateur Championship against Sammy Crothers . After he had become Irish runner-up in 1972 and 1979 and had participated in both 1974 and 1980 with mediocre results in the amateur world championship, he won the Irish championship for the third time in 1980. A short time later he became a professional player.

Professional years in the 1980s

Sheehan became a professional player in the 1981/82 season, at the time when even worse professional players could gradually take part in more tournaments. Nonetheless, his professional career got off to a miserable start: in the first three seasons he had only two wins - at the International Open 1981 against Vic Harris and at the Professional Players Tournament 1983 against Pat Houlihan - while he lost all of the other games. As a result, he also missed placing on the world rankings . Only after the next season two games on their own and another thanks to the noncombat mission of Lou Condo won and thus next to the Round of 80 of the Classic and the Round of 64 and the first main round of the Grand Prix reached, He was also assigned a world ranking with rank 99.

The next two seasons were then much more successful: After Sheehan had reached the round of the last 96 of the World Snooker Championship during the 1985/86 season and the round of the last 64 at both the UK Championship and the British Open , he was eliminated during the following Season three times in a round of 96, but achieved the best result of his career at the Irish Professional Championship , a non-ranking tournament, with the highest break of his career worth 96 points with the quarter-finals. In the world rankings, he reached another high with 81st place, but then deteriorated again to 94.

The following three seasons, however, went a little worse again when Sheehan won only one game against Derek Heaton at the Classic during the 1987/88 season. In the following season , however, he won three games on his own and one more game on his own, making it into the round of 96 at the International Open and the UK Championship and the last 64 at the Classic . In the 1989/90 season , however, he could only win two of thirteen games and was eliminated twice in the round of 96. In the world rankings, he slipped out of the top 100 during the three seasons and was only 121st in 1990.

Professional years in the 1990s

Sheehan's poor form continued into the 1990s, when the professional tour was largely open to all players. After Sheehan had not won a single game during the 1990/91 season , he was able to win a third of the games in the next season . He reached the round of 96 at the Grand Prix with two wins on his own against Tom Finstad and Tommy Murphy and later benefited from Finstad's abandonment without a fight at the Welsh Open . The 1992/93 season was also marked by the numerous defeats, but Sheehan managed to get into a round of the last 128 and the third round of the Irish Professional Championship twice . In the following season Sheehan won only twice, but could not really book a success. On the world rankings nothing about Sheehan's general trend changed during the seasons; meanwhile the Irishman had fallen to rank 279.

In the following years Sheehan reduced his appearance on the professional tour significantly. After he had not played a single game during the 1994/95 season , he took part in six tournaments again in the following season , but could not win a single opening game. After he had not played a single game again in the next season and he had crashed to 451 in the world rankings, he lost his professional status again after 16 years as a professional. For the 1998/99 season he was again a professional player for a short time, but played only one game, had to admit defeat in this and later lost his professional status again, only leading to 294th in the world rankings. After qualifying for the 2000 Snooker World Championship with modest success as an amateur , he was again a professional player in the 2000/01 season , but - this time without success - played only one opening game in the 2001 World Snooker Championship qualification . After he was only ranked 207 at the end of the season, Sheehan lost his professional status for the third and last time after a total of 18 professional years.

Further life as an amateur snooker

In the years after the end of his professional career, Sheehan participated largely unsuccessfully in the events of the Challenge Tour and in the qualification of the World Snooker Championship . In 2004 he paused for the first time and in 2005 after almost 25 years he took part again in the Irish Snooker Championship, where he was eliminated in the round of 32 at the latest. In 2007 he was allowed to start for the Irish Professional Championship , but lost his opening game against Michael Judge . In 2008 he took part again in the Irish championship and was defeated in the round of 16 Brendan O'Donoghue .

In 2009 and 2019 he tried his luck again at the Irish championship, but was eliminated in the round of 32 at the latest. In the meantime, Sheehan took part in editions of the Players Tour Championship events - his best result was reaching the main round of the Lisbon Open -, the World Seniors Championship and the Q School , mostly without much success . In spring 2020 he also reached the fourth and final amateur qualifying round of the Gibraltar Open , but then lost to Andrew Pagett .

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
winner	1970	Irish Snooker Championship	P. Thornton	unknown
winner	1971	Irish Snooker Championship	Jim Weber	4: 3
winner	1971	All-Ireland Amateur Championship	Sammy Crothers	4: 2
Second	1972	Irish Snooker Championship	Fergus Murphy	3: 4
Second	1979	Irish Snooker Championship	Eugene Hughes	unknown
winner	1980	Irish Snooker Championship	Tony Langhan	5: 3

Web links

• Profile of Dessie Sheehan on CueTracker
• Dessie Sheehan in the snooker Database (English)
• Profile of Dessie Sheehan at snooker.org
• Profile of Dessie Sheehan at the Dublin Billiards and Snooker League

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Dessie Sheehan - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Dessie Sheehan. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
3. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1967-1968 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Senior Champions Roll of Honor. Republic of Ireland Billiards and Snooker Association, May 29, 2020, accessed July 11, 2020 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1971-1972 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1974-1975 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1980-1981 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
8. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1981-1982 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1982-1983 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1983-1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1984-1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
15. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1988-1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1989-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1990-1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
24. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
25. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
26. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2002-2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
27. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2003-2004 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
28. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2004-2005 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
29. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2007-2008 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
30. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2007-2008 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
31. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2008-2009 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
32. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2018-2019 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
33. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2011-2012 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
34. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2012-2013 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
35. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2014-2015 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
36. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2015-2016 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
37. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2013-2014 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
38. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2016-2017 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
39. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2017-2018 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
40. ↑ Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2018-2019 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .  
41. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Dessie Sheehan - Season 2019-2020 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 11, 2020 .