Rodney Goggins (born 25 March 1978) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

former professional

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

player from County

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

. He competed on the main tour between 2004 and 2009.

Career

At the age of 21, Goggins won the

International Billiards and Snooker Federation The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. History The World Bill ...

World Under-21 Championship in 1999, when he beat Rolf de Jong of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

11–4 in the final in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Two last-32 finishes in qualifying events during the 2003–2004 season earned Goggins a place on the professional main tour for 2004–2005. That season, his best performance was a run to the last 64 at the

2005 Irish Masters The 2005 Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 6–13 March 2005 at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. This was the last time the tournament was run as a ranking even ...

, where he beat

Shokat Ali Shokat Ali (born 4 March 1970) is an English snooker player of Pakistani descent, who represents Pakistan in international tournaments.Bjorn Haneveer Bjorn Haneveer (born 4 September 1976 in) is a Belgian snooker player and commentator. Haneveer, formerly a professional competitor, now plays at semi-professional level and also commentates on snooker matches for Dutch Eurosport. Career A six ...

, both 5–2, before losing by the same scoreline to

Dave Harold David Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his profession of ...

. Goggins finished the season ranked 90th, and lost his place on tour. Having finished first in the Irish senior rankings for 2006–2007, Goggins returned to the professional game in 2007. That season brought progress to the last 64 at the 2007 UK Championship, with victories over Alex Davies and

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

before a 3–9 defeat to David Gray. In the 2008 World Championship, he beat Ian Barry Stark and

Lee Spick Lee Spick (25 April 1980 – 26 January 2015) was an English professional snooker player. A former English under-15 champion, he reached the last 48 of ranking events on five occasions, including twice in the World Championship. Career He reac ...

, but lost 4–10 to Trump at the last-80 stage. Goggins' fortunes did not improve the following season; again, the last 64 at the UK Championship was his best performance, being defeated 3–9 by

Gerard Greene Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast. Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his ...

. He concluded the season ranked 70th, a career-highest, but as only the top 64 automatically retained their places on tour, he was relegated as a result. In 2018 he was runner up to

Michael Judge Michael Judge (born 12 January 1975 in Dublin) is a professional snooker player from the Republic of Ireland. His best performance in a ranking event came in the 2004 Grand Prix, where he reached the semi-finals, and he reached his highest rank ...

in the Irish Amateur Championships.

Performance and rankings timeline

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goggins, Rodney 1978 births Living people Irish snooker players People from County Wexford