Draft:Clare O'Donnell

Clare O'Donnell
Sport countryCanada

Clare O'Donnell was a Canadian snooker player who particpated in the 1936 World Snooker Championship.

NOTE: check flag if used - would likely have been older Canadian flag

Biography

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Canadian final v Polloc. COD from Toronto[1] Clarence; 3-3 best f 7[2]

Ontario pro snooker champion[3]

"confines activities solely to the multi-ball game for the simple reason, in his own words, he hits the cue-ball too strongly to ever make a success at billiards"[4]

"has a special habit of his own. He plays with terrific speed and runs round the table for each succeeding shot as though he were on a time limit.... He is reputed to be a very fine player but was no match for Horace Lindrum when they met during March. The Australian champion was so far ahead at the end of the first day that Clare decided to call it a day and forget to keep his appointment."[5]

hard hitter[6]


O'Donnell entered the 1936 World Snooker Championship,[7] and was drawn to play Sydney Lee at Thurston's Hall in a match of the best of 31 frames.[8] O'Donnell led 6–4 after the first day; the correspondent for The Times wrote that O'Donnell "takes very little time over his strokes, sights quickly, and pots cleanly."[8] and 11–9 after two days.[9] Lee won the last two frames on the final afternoon to reduce O'Donnell's lead to 13–12 and then added the first three in the evening to lead 15–13, before O'Donnell took the last three frames to win the match 16–15.[10][11]

In the quarter-finals, O'Donnell faced Horace Lindrum at Burroughes Hall.[12] Lindrum led 8–2 and 15–5 after the first two days.[13][14] O'Donnell won frame 21 but Lindrum won the match in the next frame, securing a decisive margin at 16–6. The afternoon session ended with Lindrum 19–6 ahead.[14] O'Donnell did not appear for the evening session and Lindrum played an exhibition match against Bert Terry.[15][16] O'Donnell did not enter the championship again.[16]

Lindrum later wrote that he could not remember watching a player who would "hit a ball harder or with such devastating results", adding that O'Donnell "brought off some remarkable shots crashing the ball into a pocket at a terrific pace from the most delicate angles."[17] Unusually, O'Donnell kept his chalk under his hand while cueing.[16][17]


Might's Greater Toronto city directory, 1954

References

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  1. ^ "Pollock and O'Donnell are snooker finalists". The Daily Record. 4 May 1928. p. 12.
  2. ^ "Edmonton boy breaks even in snooker tourney". Edmonton Journal. 5 May 1928. p. 37.
  3. ^ "Hodgson qualifies in billiards play". The Gazette. 1 Mar 1930. p. 17.
  4. ^ "Billiards". Tattersall's Club Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 1. March 1936.
  5. ^ "Billiards". Tattersall's Club Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 3. May 1936.
  6. ^ "Billiards and snooker". Tattersall's Club Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 12. February 1937.
  7. ^ "Professional Snooker Championship". The Times. 2 January 1936. p. 5.
  8. ^ a b "Snooker Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 24 March 1936. p. 5.
  9. ^ "Snooker Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 25 March 1936. p. 6.
  10. ^ "Snooker Pool – The Professional Championship". The Times. 26 March 1936. p. 5.
  11. ^ "Snooker championship at Thurston's". The Billiard Player. April 1936. p. 18.
  12. ^ "Snooker Pool". The Times. 14 April 1936. p. 5.
  13. ^ "Snooker Pool Championship". The Times. 14 April 1936. p. 5.
  14. ^ a b "Snooker Pool – World's Professional Championship". The Times. 16 April 1936. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Snooker Championship – Unexpected ending to Lindrum-O'Donnell match". Aberdeen Journal. 16 April 1936. p. 4.}
  16. ^ a b c Everton, Clive (1986). The History of Snooker and Billiards. Haywards Heath: Partridge Press. pp. 51–53. ISBN 1852250135.
  17. ^ a b Lindrum, Horace (1974). Horace Lindrum's Snooker, Billiards and Pool. Dee Why West, Australia: Paul Hamlyn Pty. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-7271-0105-1.