Martin O’Donnell faces Vincent Muldoon in semi-final of the 2011 European Snooker Championship
England’s Martin O’Donnell surged into the semi-final stage of the 2011 European Snooker Championship, where he will meet Irishman, Vincent Muldoon, for securing a spot in the final of the event.
The tournament is being held at Dedeman Hotel in Bulgaria’s capital city, Sofia. The winner of the event will occupy the final place in the main tour of the 2011-12 snooker season.
O’Donnell played some extraordinary snooker during the group matches of the event to top Group H with seven victories. The 25-year-old O’Donnell outplayed his group members which included Welsh National Champion, Daniel Wells, to grab the group’s top position.
The Middlesex-based, O’Donnell, moved into the last-32 stage against Poland’s Krzysztof Wróbel. After facing a tough competition from the 30-year-old Polish cueist, O’Donnell finally succeeded in winning the match at 4-3.
In the last-16 clash, the Englishman faced Israeli potter, Roey Fernandez, who proved to be an easy opponent as O’Donnell defeated him convincingly, with a 5-0 score. O’Donnell went head-to-head against young Scotsman, Scott Donaldson, in the quarter-final
stage. The 17-year-old Scotsman, Donaldson, was on the edge of grabbing victory when the game entered the decider frame, but the Englishman won the match and surged into the semi-final.
On the other hand, Vincent Muldoon topped Group C, winning seven matches to storm into the last-32 stage with great momentum. Muldoon is considered to be one of the top contenders to clinch the European title.
The 21-year-old Irish cueist faced Israel’s Shay Arama in the last-32 encounter and whitewashed him 4-0 in the match, with relative ease. Muldoon’s opponent in the last-16 was 32-year-old compatriot Robert Murphy. Former Irish Championship winner, Muldoon,
took his last-16 match quite easily at 5-2 and booked his place in the quarter-final stage against Scotland’s Bobby Cruickshanks.
The Galway potter, Muldoon’s match-up with Cruickshanks was expected to be a tussling encounter, but it turned to be an easy 5-2 victory for the Irish potter.
Both, O’Donnell and Muldoon, have shown impressive performances during the championship as they topped their respective groups and reached the play-off stages in dominating fashion.
Tags: