Young Rocket takes national title home to Mayo
James Brennan has been beating much older snooker players for some time now and the 10-year-old is now U12 national champion.
Balla youngster James Brennan, aged 10, son of Caroline and Eamonn and brother to Amy, has been victorious in the PJ Nolan 147 Academy U12 National Championship in Carlow.
The three-hour trip didn’t put the talented youngster off, playing extremely well all day and winning all his games 2-0, beating Scott Cooke in the final.
James was beaten last year in the semi-final but told his dad: “I’m not going home without the silverware this time”, and sure enough he didn’t.
His love for snooker and pool started at the tender age of four when he played on his Uncle Sean’s snooker table.
From a young age, his natural ability to pot balls was evident to everyone. When Covid-19 hit, his family bought him a supreme pool table from Duffy Amusements and converted their attic to a pool room for James to practice.
It wasn’t long until people heard how good James was and wanted him to play in numerous competitions around the county.
Jackie Coyle was the first to ring and invited him to play in the Erris Pool competition, where he won his first ever competition in the Broadhaven Hotel. From that day on, Caroline or Eamonn haven’t left the road, taking James all over Ireland.
At the age of 8, he hit the headlines when he won the All-Ireland under-12 title in the Gleneagles Hotel, Killarney. Other ranking wins include the under-15 and under-12 titles in Treacy’s West County Hotel Ennis, Great National Hotel in Ballina and The Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe.
He also has back-to-back All-Ireland medals playing for the Mayo under-15 pool team in Killarney (2023) and J. Mac’s, Navan (2024).
It is not all about winning, however, as James has had the privilege of playing some of sport’s legends including ‘Whirlwind’ Jimmy White, Dennis Taylor and pool star Chris Melling.
His parents are certainly proud and thankful to those who have helped James in his journey so far.
“There are too many people to thank who have helped James to date with his success. I don’t want to leave any name out but they know who they are,” said Eamonn. “It’s not every day we get young talented players like James so they need to be praised and recognised for their success.” The young man’s dream is to play in the legendary snooker venue, The Crucible in Sheffield, and with his talent, who knows what he could achieve.
“We never know. Dreams do come true and with the help of God, it will happen some day,” Eamonn added.
