Billy Kelly (born 1 May 1945) is an Irish former professional snooker player. He played professionally from 1981 to 1992.

Career

Kelly was born on 1 May 1945. In 1977, he won the CIU championship, regarded as the second-most prestigious amateur competition after the

English Amateur Championship The English Amateur Championship, an annual snooker competition, is 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, a ...

, and the Autumn

Pontins Open The Pontins Open events were a series of pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also re ...

. 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 based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

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

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

, where he lost 1–5 to

Murdo MacLeod Murdo Davidson MacLeod (born 24 September 1958 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacLeod, who played as a midfielder, made 20 appearances for Scotland and played in the 1990 World Cup Finals. He had a ...

in the first qualifying round. He also lost in his first qualifying matches at the

1981 UK Championship The 1981 UK Championship (also known as the 1981 Coral UK Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 22 November and 5 December 1 ...

(7–9 to

Geoff Foulds Geoff 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 car ...

); 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 w ...

(8-9 to

Eddie Sinclair Eddie Sinclair (5 May 1937 – 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 tw ...

). 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 The 1988 World Snooker Championship, also known as the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre in Shef ...

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 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 order or total preorder of ...

188th. He also entered the World Snooker Championships in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009 and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. His highest ranking achieved as a professional was 54.

Career Highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Billy Irish snooker players 1945 births Living people