Irish youngster David Hogan captured the 2009 European Championships on Saturday evening beating fellow countryman Mario Fernandez 7-4 in the final. The 20 year old had played some superb snooker over the two weeks beating the likes of Sean Bullock, Tony Drago and Sascha Lippe to reach the final.
The final saw him go into an early 3-1 lead until Mario got a frame back with a 66 break before Hogan stepped up a gear with breaks of 78 and 104 to help him take three frames in a row. Mario got a frame back thanks to a 90 break and then made it 6-4 before Hogan finsihed off the match with a 50 break in the final frame.
Overall it was a great event for the Irish with both Mario and Brendan O'Donoghue playing some superb snooker to reach the latter stages also. Mario however will obviously be very disapointed after missing out on the main tour narrowly twice now this year after finising in 2nd place in the Irish rankings last month.
Both New Institute Club players will now be joining the main tour next season which is a superb achievement for such a small club and the boys wont have long to get ready with the main tour starting now on August 3rd and Brendan will be travelling to the 6-red Championships in Thailand in July also.
Mario Fernandez 4-7 David Hogan
43-81, 68(67)-1, 38-76, 25-61, 78(66)-9, 1-81, 6-86(78), 8-108(104), 90(90)-8, 72-8, 42-68(50)
