Dessie Sheehan (born 3 September 1949 in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...

) is an Irish former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

player.

Career

Born in 1949, Sheehan turned professional in 1981. His first match was a 5–1 victory over Vic Harris in the International Open, but he lost all of his other matches during the 1981/1982 season, finishing it with a 5–9 defeat to

Dean Reynolds Dean Reynolds (born 11 January 1963 in Grimsby) is an English former professional snooker player whose career spanned twenty years from 1981 to 2001. Career Before turning professional, Reynolds won the first-ever Junior Pot Black in 1981, b ...

in qualifying for the 1982 World Championship. The next several seasons came without any success, although Sheehan reached the last 64 at the 1983 Professional Players' Tournament, where Rex Williams beat him 5–1. In the 1985 UK Championship, he defeated Paul Watchorn 9–7 and George Scott 9–6 and was drawn against

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

in the last 64. Sheehan made a break of 92 in the seventh frame, but won only that frame and was eliminated from the tournament, losing the match 9–1 to Davis. By the end of the season, having earned £1,878 in prize money, he had accumulated enough ranking points to be placed 81st, a career best, for the 1986/1987 season. That season saw Sheehan record his only quarter-final finish, beating Jack McLaughlin in his first-round match at the 1987 Irish Professional Championship before losing 3–6 to

Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...

. Slipping down the rankings, Sheehan entered few tournaments during the 1990s, and earned no prize money after the 1992/1993 season. Ranked 451st, he lost his professional status when the secondary UK Tour was introduced in 1997. The next four seasons brought only entries in the World Championship; Sheehan lost all of his first-round qualifying matches, although he held a ranking position during the 1998/1999 and 2000/2001 seasons. Having played in only one event - the 2007 Irish Professional Championship - in twelve years, Sheehan entered Q-School in 2012 in an attempt to re-qualify for the main tour. He had earlier entered four PTC tournaments during the 2011/2012 season, losing to Joel Walker,

Chris Norbury Christopher Norbury (born 14 August 1986) is an English former professional snooker player. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Norbury first entered Main Tour for ...

, Zak Surety and Anthony Cronin, and showed no better form at Q-School, where he was defeated 4–0 by

Vinnie Calabrese Vincent "Vinnie" Calabrese (born 7 October 1987) is a former Australian professional snooker player from Campbelltown, New South Wales. He was based in Cambridge together with his compatriot Neil Robertson, although he has since moved back to ...

, 4–1 by Saqib Nasir and 4–0 by

Scott Donaldson Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...

. The following season, he again played in the PTC events, but lost three of his four matches, to Allan Taylor,

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World ...

and Nico Elton respectively. At Q-School in 2013, he lost 4–0 to

Steven Hallworth Steven Hallworth (born 1 December 1995) is an English former professional snooker player. He is the only ever qualified professional from Lincoln. He is a practice partner of Stuart Carrington. Career Junior Hallworth started playing snooke ...

, 4–1 to

Michael Georgiou Michael Georgiou (born 18 January 1988) is a British- Cypriot former professional snooker player from Forest Hill. He is a practice partner of Igor Figueiredo and Hammad Miah, who practises at Whetstone Snooker Club. In 2018, Georgiou won his f ...

and 4–0 to Josh Boileau. At the Lisbon Open in December 2014, Sheehan won two matches to reach the last 128, where he was drawn against fellow veteran

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

. In their match, White compiled breaks of 66 and 96 and beat Sheehan 4–0. His Q-School efforts in 2014 resulted in defeats to William Lemons and

Duane Jones Duane L. Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor and theatre director, best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State Universi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Dessie Irish snooker players 1949 births Living people Sportspeople from Limerick (city)