How do you see the state of snooker in RoI?

Agree 100%, there’s only so much a player can do in Ireland to improve and eventually you have to consider setting up in England.

On the other hand I’ve always thought it best to dominate your home events, win your national c’ship , then win the world amateurs. Winning junior events is one thing but winning senior events another, Can Leone still travel over and enter tournaments in Ireland ?

Yeah, he's over and back all the time and has the full house of junior titles, from 16s to 21s. I'd say it's not for everybody, big decision to uproot your life at 15 but shows how dedicated and ambitious he is and also the necessary support and backing behind him.

Wins the tight frame to square it 2-2. I think mertens for all his superior scoring power isn't so good when he's forced to grind a bit more. No silly mistakes and he can definitely be taken here.

Should finish this off here now, table seems slow also so hopefully it will play better for the final

Interesting to see who he meets in final: Kazakov or Davies. Davies is a huge scorer like mertens, better long term prospect I'd say while Kazakov is a real grinder who won his tour card at the WSF champs earlier this year. I'd fancy Leone against him, though, if he reproduces that kind of form. No reason to fear anyone at this stage really!

Not surprised to see him lose his 21s match, that was just rotten scheduling to be fair. Now has probably 20 minutes to freshen up for 18s final, tough enough ask that. And ironically, having already lost to Davies in the 18s group stages, he'll be playing him again in the 21s this evening and will have to win to stay in the competition. He'll be in need of a good sleep tonight whatever happens!

Third frame bit of a catalogue of disasters, first palpable sign of nerves. Quite understandable really.

Well, defeat in the end but no shame in it, Davies probably the best junior in the world right now or certainly very close. Absolute joy watching Leone these past few days, big future ahead of him on this evidence. And still 2 u/21 matches to play today, if he can fit them in, and u-16s starting tomorrow too. Going to be knackered at the end of all this!

Leone wins his last U21 group match but it's not enough to qualify for KO stages. Dont think schedule really gave him much chance anyway, figure he's played close to 25 frames today, must be absolutely knackered. Good sleep and hopefully ready to go again for U16s tomorrow. Might even get another crack at Davies after 3 defeats to him in past two days!

Ross Bulman safely through to KO stage with 3 wins out of 3. Alex Currid from Wexford and Cavans Aaron Goldrick have also qualified so well done to them. Currid had a good win over Robbie McGuigan so good performances all round.

No worries, just glad there's some interest around anyway!

Unfortunately, no luck for Ross Bulman with the draw tomorrow. Win first match and then very likely got Ben Mertens and Liam Davies just to reach sf. Gonna have to have the day of his life to get through all that, I'd say.

Atta boy Ross, dug that one out brilliantly, opponent that bit more brittle when pressure was applied. Ben Mertens up next, hopefully he can emulate Leone and get the victory.

Not to be for Ross, disappointing having lead 3-1. Gutted for him.

Seems a bit mad these tournaments all on at the one time, with some players participating in several of them at once.

In the good old pro am days in the UK in the late 80’s you would expect to play up to 7/8 matches in a day to win the tournament. Great schooling and it didn’t have a bad effect on the likes of the so called class of ‘92

The players know the schedule before the tournament begins, if it’s too much then only enter one event and not all three. It’s the same for every player, the more successful you are the more matches you will play.

Too many players especially juniors are pampered too much these days !!

My own opinion of course :-)

Ha! Fair play AJ, i do believe my fallibility has never been been beyond doubt. I didn't actually pay much heed to Gibraltar this year, so happy to be corrected on that.

And just for the record, nobody is complaining here, least of all Leone himself. Just pointing out, on Thursday he played a tough sf v Ben Mertens, then was on table 15 minutes later to play his 21s match after which a 15 minute break and then to play his 18s final. Nobody complained about it, just the way things fell for him, but it was unfortunate and can't have helped. When Aaron Hill won his titles in Portugal, the 18s were played to a finish before the 21s started. I don't think Leone would have made it through the 21s anyway, but the format really gave him no chance. That's just how it was.

Anyway, in other news, Aaron gets the privilege of breaking off the new season against Yan Bingtao in the championship league. Just two weeks on Tuesday! I hope he's having himself a well earned break at the moment!