Robbie McGuigan (born 7 July 2004) is a professional snooker player from Northern Ireland. In 2023, he became a three-time Northern Ireland Amateur champion, whilst still a teenager.
| Born | 7 July 2004 County Antrim |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  Northern Ireland |
| Professional | 2024–present |
| Highest ranking | 91 (July 2024) |
| Current ranking | 108 (as of 2 December 2024) |
| Best ranking finish | Last 64 (x2) |
Early life
editFrom County Antrim, McGuigan attended Antrim Grammar School. He hit his first 147 break at thirteen years-old.[1]
Career
editIn 2019 McGuigan made his debut at a ranking event when he was given a wildcard aged fifteen years-old to the 2019 Northern Ireland Open.[2] He lost to his countryman Patrick Wallace.[3] The following year he lost in the final of the Northern Ireland Amateur snooker final, on a deciding frame, 10–9 to Declan Lavery.[4]
In 2021, McGuigan became the youngest ever Northern Ireland Amateur snooker champion when he defeated Rab McCullough, 10–4 in the final. At 17 years and eleven months he was two and a half months younger than the previous youngest winner Mark Allen had been.[5]
2021-22
editIn March 2022, still aged seventeen, he defended his Northern Ireland title, again beating McCullough in the final, but by a 10–6 margin.[6] In that same month, March 2022 he won the final event of the WPBSA Q Tour season with a 5–3 victory over Scotland's Michael Collumb at the event held at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, coming back from 3–0 down.[7]
2022-23
editIn October 2022, he defeated compatriot Joel Connelly 4–0 in the preliminary round of the 2022 Northern Ireland Open before losing in the final round of qualifying.[8]
In May 2023, he won the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship title for a third consecutive year, defeating Raymond Fry 10–8 in the final.[9]
2023-24
editMcGuigan won the first two amateur tournaments of the 2023–24 season held in Northern Ireland.[10] Awarded a wildcard to the 2023 Northern Ireland Open in October 2023,[11] he defeated Muhammad Asif to qualify for the main stages of the event in Belfast.[12] In the next round, McGuigan faced experienced campaigner Anthony McGill, McGuigan led 3–1 in the best of seven frame match and McGill required three snookers on the colours to stay in the match, before mounting a comeback to win the frame on a re-spotted black and went on to defeat McGuigan 4–3.[13]
Given a wildcard to the 2023 UK Championship as the reigning Northern Ireland champion,[14] he beat veteran Irishman Fergal O'Brien 6–2 in the first qualifying round, before losing by the same score in the following round to Dylan Emery.[15]
In March 2024, he defeated Craig Steadman 5–4 in the final to win the EBSA European Snooker Championship and a tour card for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.[16]
2024-25
editHe made a successful start to his pro career at the 2024 Championship League in Leicester in June 2024, beating Sanderson Lam 3-0 and qualifying from his round robin group.[17] He reached the third round of the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters with a win over Ma Hailong of China.[18]
Personal life
editThe son of Kyla McGuigan, he is a supporter of Manchester United.[19] His sister Harleigh was born in July 2017. His stepfather was snooker player Mark Allen until 2020.[20]
Performance and rankings timeline
edit| Tournament | 2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 |
2023/ 24 |
2024/ 25 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | ||||||||
| Ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Championship League | NR | A | RR | RR | A | 2R | ||||||||
| Xi'an Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | LQ | ||||||||||||
| Saudi Arabia Masters | Tournament Not Held | 3R | ||||||||||||
| English Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||
| British Open | Not Held | A | A | A | LQ | |||||||||
| Wuhan Open | Tournament Not Held | A | LQ | |||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | LQ | A | A | LQ | 1R | LQ | ||||||||
| International Championship | A | Not Held | A | LQ | ||||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||||
| Shoot Out | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | |||||||||
| Scottish Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||
| German Masters | A | A | A | A | A | |||||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | A | A | |||||||||
| World Open | A | Not Held | A | |||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||
| Players Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||
| Tour Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||
| World Championship | A | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| WST Pro Series | NH | RR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||
| WST Classic | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | |||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi–finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
| DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
| NH / Not held | means an event was not held. | |||
| NR / Non-ranking event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
| R / Ranking event | means an event is/was now a ranking event | |||
Amateur finals: 10 (6 titles)
edit| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2019 | Challenge Tour – Event 3 |  Andrew Pagett
|
0–3 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2020 | Northern Ireland Amateur Championship | Declan Lavery
|
9–10[4] |
| Runner-up | 3. | 2020 | Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship | Fergal Quinn
|
4–5[21] |
| Winner | 1. | 2021 | Northern Ireland Amateur Championship | Rab McCullagh
|
10–4[22] |
| Winner | 2. | 2022 | Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship | Jamie Gardiner
|
5–2[6] |
| Winner | 3. | 2022 | Northern Ireland Amateur Championship (2) | Rab McCullagh
|
10–6[6] |
| Winner | 4. | 2022 | Q Tour – Event 4 |  Michael Collumb
|
5–3 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 2023 | Northern Ireland Under-21 Championship (2) | Joel Connolly
|
2–5[9] |
| Winner | 5. | 2023 | Northern Ireland Amateur Championship (3) | Raymond Fry
|
10–8[9] |
| Winner | 6. | 2024 | EBSA European Snooker Championships |  Craig Steadman
|
5–4 |
References
edit- ^ Glynn, Niall (18 April 2018). "Snooker star Allen hails stepson Robbie McGuigan's 147". BBC News NI. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "Teenagers McGuigan and Bulman handed places in Northern Ireland Open". wst.tv. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "Northern Ireland Open: Mark Selby beats Xu Si 4-2 in first round". BBC Sport. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Lavery Retains Northern Irish Title". WPBSA. 30 September 2020. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ Gould, James (11 July 2021). "17-year-old Robbie McGuigan becomes youngest ever Northern Ireland Amateur snooker champion". Belfast Live. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ a b c "McGuigan Defends Northern Irish Title". WPBSA. 29 March 2022. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ "Comeback King McGuigan claims Q Tour title". wpbsa.com. March 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ^ McGoran, Martin (5 September 2023). "Top teenage amateurs handed wild cards for snooker's Northern Ireland Open in October". Irish News. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
- ^ a b c "Magic McGuigan Makes it Three-in-a-Row in Northern Ireland". WPBSA. 23 May 2023. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ McGoran, Martin (23 September 2023). "Robbie McGuigan wins first senior ranking event of the NIBSA season". Irish News. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
- ^ "McGuigan and Connelly awarded Belfast wildcards". wst.tv. 5 September 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
- ^ Wright, Andrew (23 October 2023). "ROBBIE MCGUIGAN BREAK HALTED BY BIZARRE REFEREE GAFFE AT NORTHERN IRELAND OPEN". Eurosport. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ McGoran, Martin (24 October 2023). "Robbie McGuigan edged out by Anthony McGill at the Northern Ireland Open". Irish News. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ "WPBSA QUALIFIERS ANNOUNCED FOR MRQ UK CHAMPIONSHIP". wst.tv. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.~
- ^ Caulfield, David (18 November 2023). "UK Championship qualifiers: 2023 draw, schedule, results, how to watch". Snooker HQ. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ^ "Played matches results - EUROPEAN BILLIARDS & SNOOKER ASSOCIATION". esnooker.pl. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "MCGUIGAN MAKES FAST START TO PRO CAREER". wst.tv. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS: DAY TWO AFTERNOON". wst.tv. 31 August 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
- ^ Robson, Stewart (April 2018). "Watch: Mark Allen's stepson Robbie McGuigan becomes UK's youngest player to chalk up 147 break". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ Goulding, Neil (28 May 2020). "Mark Allen reveals divorce heartache as he prepares for return". Belfast Live. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "WPBSA International Round-Up October 2020". WPBSA. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ "McGuigan Becomes Youngest Champion". World Snooker. 19 July 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
