Dick Brennan (Dublin) became the Irish Billiards Champion for the third time when he defeated Victor O'Gorman (Dublin) 750-668 at Jim Leacy's Ivy Rooms in Carlow on 10th June. In the semi-finals, which were held on the same day, O'Gorman had defeated Timmy Murphy (Cork) while Brennan received a walk-over against Joe Delaney (Wexford) who was unable to attend because of work commitments. Phil Martin (Celbridge), previous winner of the championship in 1998 and 1999, was surprisingly eliminated in the earlier qualifying rounds by Joe Delaney.