Billy Kelly (born 1 May 1945) is an Irish former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player. He played professionally from 1981 to 1992.

Career

Kelly was born on 1 May 1945. In 1977, he won the

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championship, regarded as the second-most prestigious amateur competition after the

English Amateur Championship The English Amateur Championship is an annual snooker competition, the highest-ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is also the oldest and longest-running snooker tournament in the world, having been established in 1916, th ...

, and the Autumn Pontins Open. He was accepted as a member by the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards. It is headquartered in Bristol, England. Founded as the Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) in ...

(WPBSA) in 1981. His first professional tournament was the

1981 International Open The 1981 International Open (officially the 1981 Jameson International Open) was the first staging of the professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 14 and 20 September 1981 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, England. Televi ...

, where he lost 1–5 to Murdo MacLeod in the first qualifying round. He also lost in his first qualifying matches at the

1981 UK Championship The 1981 UK Championship (officially the 1981 Coral UK Championship) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 22 November and 5 December 1981. This was the fifth e ...

(7–9 to

Geoff Foulds Geoffrey Foulds (born 20 November 1939) is an English former professional snooker player. He is the father of fellow professional snooker player Neal Foulds. Career Born in 1939, Foulds turned professional in 1981 after a successful amateur ca ...

); the 1982 Irish Professional Championship (1–6 to Tommy Murphy); and the

1982 World Snooker Championship The 1982 World Snooker Championship (officially the 1982 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 30 April and 16 May 1982 at the Crucible Theatre, in Sheffield, England. It wa ...

(8-9 to

Eddie Sinclair Eddie Sinclair (5 May 1937 – 23 January 2005) was a Scottish professional snooker player. Career Sinclair turned professional in 1979 at the relatively advanced age of 42, reaching a high ranking of 26th in 1982 and holding that position for ...

). Although he recorded a number of match victories in the following seasons, he did not reach further than the last 32 of a major tournament. He compiled a of 141 against Tony Kearney in the qualifying rounds of the 1988 World Snooker Championship that was, at the time, the highest break ever made in the world championship qualifying rounds. In 1990, Kelly was due to lose his professional status after being defeated 7–10 by Jason Ferguson in a play-off match, one of a series of matches where the lowest-ranked professionals faced leading amateurs with places on the professional tour at stake. However, the WPBSA soon opened membership for events to anyone over the age of 16 that paid the relevant fee, and Kelly continued to play in professional tournaments until 1992, finishing the 1991–92 snooker season

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

188th. He also entered the World Snooker Championships in

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and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. His highest ranking achieved as a professional was 54.

Career highlights

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Billy Irish snooker players 1945 births Living people Sportspeople from County Kerry