The Teesside qualification group for both of the English Junior Championships was staged at Tables Snooker Club in Thornaby on Sunday 27th October. All games were one-hour duration.
There was a disappointing turn-out which resulted in entries for the U- 16 down from sixteen to nine, and the U-19s were reduced to a field of eleven after reaching 18 last year. In addition, the majority of these entries were younger players doubling up from the U-16 competition.
Particularly surprising was the absence of the reigning U-16 champion, Michael Donnelly, although many of the region's better juniors chose to ignore the competition this year, for motives not immediately obvious. The reigning under-19 Champion, Robin Wilson, was also not present, but for more understandable reasons, as he now exceeds the age limit and has recently joined the professional Association.
The U-16 competition was further reduced when Stephen Woodall failed to appear, giving John Hall a bye through the first round. However, he then had the misfortune to meet an in-form Dominic Mulhall in the qualifying round. Mulhall began this match with a break of 81 at his second scoring visit, easily the highest of the day, and despite a reply of 46 Hall was always struggling to catch up. Mulhall eventually came through a high scoring match 346-300. Callum Robinson and Stephen Bingham were the other two qualifiers and both will be making their debut in the competition proper.
John Hall was again on the losing end of a high scoring game as he went out 354-301 to Paul Snowden in the opening match, this time a break of 51 bringing no reward. Snowden himself lost out in the qualifying round to Kyle Cunningham, and regular qualifier Billy Bousfield booked his place again, winning his two matches with some ease. Two of the under-16 players contested the third qualifying slot, with Dominic Mulhall and Callum Robinson giving us a great match which was decided only in the last few minutes when Mulhall pulled out a slender twenty point lead which he held until the end. Mulhall is a young player determined to reach the very top of the game, and few who know him would bet against his achieving this ambition. His immediate target is to equal Robin Wilson's record of winning both the U-16 and U-19 titles on the same day, a task certainly not beyond his abilities.