Martin O'Donnell (snooker player): Difference between revisions

Martin O'Donnell
	O'Donnell at the 2013 German Masters
Born	4 June 1986 (age 38); England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Minister of Defence
Professional	2012–2014, 2015–2022, 2023–present
Highest ranking	30 (October 2020)
Current ranking	48 (as of 16 December 2024)
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (2024 Welsh Open)

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Martin O'Donnell (born 4 June 1986) is an English professional snooker player. He gained a two-year place on the main snooker tour by coming through the 2012 Q School. He finished with the most points during the Q Tour of the 2022–23 season and gained a two-year tour card as a result. He is known as "The Minister of Defence" because his initials spell out "MoD" as reference to the UK government body responsible for the Armed Forces.^[2]

Career

Early career

As an amateur, O'Donnell played in all 12 of the Players Tour Championship events during the 2010/2011 season. He reached the second round on three occasions, but could not progress any further, however, in Event 3 he defeated former world champion, Shaun Murphy 4–3.^[3] O'Donnell finished 109th on the Order of Merit.^[4] He entered the 2011 Q School in an attempt to turn professional and in the final event he was one match away from achieving this. He played Kurt Maflin and lost 1–4.^[3]

In the 2011/2012 season, O'Donnell was again confined to entering the PTC events, playing 9 of the 12. He reached the main draw on six occasions but failed to win a match once there.^[5] He won the SnookerBacker Classic, which guaranteed him entry into Q School at the end of the season.^[6] O'Donnell won five matches at the first 2012 Q School event, concluding with a 4–1 victory over Adrian Ridley, to secure a two-year tour card beginning with the 2012/2013 season.^[7]

Professional debut

O'Donnell's first match as a professional was in qualifying for the Wuxi Classic. He beat David Grace 5–2, before losing to Alfie Burden 3–5.^[8] He went one better in qualifying for the next ranking event, the Australian Goldfields Open, by defeating Jeff Cundy and Grace once more, but was then whitewashed 0–5 by David Gilbert.^[9] He did not win two consecutive matches in qualifying for any other event this season.^[8]

O'Donnell played in all ten minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events and did not win a match in any of them, until his final attempt at the European Tour Event 5 in Scotland. He saw off Sean O'Sullivan, Craig Steadman, Kurt Maflin all by 4–3 scorelines to reach the quarter-finals, but his run was ended as Andrew Higginson advanced with a 4–2 win.^[8] This helped O'Donnell to finish 83rd on the PTC Order of Merit.^[10] His season ended when he was beaten 5–10 by Tian Pengfei in the first round of World Championship Qualifying.^[11] O'Donnell finished his first year on the tour ranked world number 86.^[12]

2013/2014 season

O'Donnell was beaten in the qualifying rounds for eight ranking events in the 2013/2014 season. All 128 players on the tour entered the UK Championship and Welsh Open at the first round stage, with O'Donnell losing at this stage in both.^[13] The only event he qualified for this season was the China Open by defeating David Gilbert 5–1. He received a bye through the first round due to Stuart Bingham's withdrawal which meant he would play in the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time.^[13] O'Donnell faced Craig Steadman and was edged out 5–4.^[14] In the European Tour events his best result came at the Rotterdam Open where he beat experienced players Robert Milkins and Marcus Campbell, before losing 4–0 to Stuart Bingham in the last 16.^[13] As he ended his second season at world number 92, outside the top 64 in the rankings, his other route to remain on tour next year was through the European Order of Merit, with eight places available to non-qualified players.^[15] O'Donnell finished 59th, less than 300 points short of Tony Drago who received the final spot and entered the 2014 Q School to retain his professional status.^[16] He was eliminated in the last 64 in both events and had amateur status for the coming season.^[13]

2014/2015 season

O'Donnell qualified for the first round of three of the six European Tour events during the 2014/2015 season. His only win came at the first event, the Riga Open where he defeated Alfie Burden 4–2, but then lost 4–1 to Mark Williams in the second round.^[17] At the end of the season he won his place back on the tour by coming through three matches at the EBSA Play-offs, culminating with a 4–3 victory over Jamie Clarke.^[18]

2015/2016 season

O'Donnell overcame Gerard Greene 6–4 to qualify for the International Championship and lost 6–2 to Neil Robertson in the first round.^[19] In the first round of the Welsh Open he knocked out Stephen Maguire, making a 130 break along the way, but was then defeated 4–2 by Matthew Stevens.^[20] O'Donnell beat another multiple ranking event winner when he recovered from 3–1 down to Mark Williams to triumph 5–3 and qualify for the China Open.^[21] He then ousted Joe Swail 5–2 and Matthew Selt 5–1 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, but he was thrashed 5–0 by Mark King.^[19]

2016/2017 season

O'Donnell qualified for the Riga Masters and beat Sam Craigie 4–3, before losing 4–3 to Jimmy Robertson. He had to wait until the penultimate event of the year to reach the last 32 again as he qualified for the China Open by edging past Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–4 and thrashed Jimmy Robertson 5–0.^[22] O'Donnell would be defeated 5–1 by Mark Selby and played in the 2017 Q School as he was ranked 74th in the world, outside the top 64 who kept their places.^[23]^[24] He lost 4–1 to Lukas Kleckers in the last round of the first event and 4–3 to Ashley Carty in the third round of the second, but took the final place through the Q School Order of Merit to earn a new two-year tour card.^[25]^[26]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	2004/ 05	2010/ 11	2011/ 12	2012/ 13	2013/ 14	2014/ 15	2015/ 16	2016/ 17	2017/ 18	2018/ 19	2019/ 20	2020/ 21	2021/ 22	2022/ 23	2023/ 24	2024/ 25
Ranking^[27]^{[nb 1]}	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 3]}	86	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 3]}	77	^{[nb 4]}	67	42	34	48	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 3]}	63
Ranking tournaments
Championship League	NH	Non-Ranking Event										RR	RR	A	2R	3R
Xi'an Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held															LQ
Saudi Arabia Masters	Tournament Not Held															4R
English Open	Tournament Not Held							1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R	A	QF	LQ
British Open	A	Tournament Not Held											2R	A	LQ	1R
Wuhan Open	Tournament Not Held														2R	2R
Northern Ireland Open	Tournament Not Held							1R	WD	4R	2R	1R	1R	A	2R	3R
International Championship	Not Held			LQ	LQ	A	1R	A	3R	QF	LQ	Not Held			LQ	1R
UK Championship	A	A	A	LQ	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	QF	3R	1R	2R	LQ	LQ	LQ
Shoot Out	Non-Ranking Event							1R	SF	1R	2R	QF	1R	A	1R	QF
Scottish Open	Not Held			MR	Not Held			1R	1R	2R	2R	3R	3R	A	3R	LQ
German Masters	NH	A	A	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	1R	LQ
Welsh Open	A	A	A	LQ	1R	A	2R	1R	1R	3R	3R	3R	LQ	A	F
World Open^{[nb 5]}	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	Not held		LQ	LQ	1R	2R	Not Held			LQ
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held					NR	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	1R	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Players Championship^{[nb 6]}	NH	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held									DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
World Championship	LQ	A	A	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic	NH	Non-Ranking		LQ	LQ	A	Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open	Not Held		A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters	NH	A	A	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	Non-Ranking		Not Held			Non-Ranking
Paul Hunter Classic	PA	Minor-Ranking Event						1R	2R	1R	NR	Tournament Not Held
Indian Open	Tournament Not Held				LQ	A	NH	1R	2R	LQ	Tournament Not Held
China Open	A	A	A	LQ	2R	A	3R	2R	1R	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters^{[nb 7]}	Tournament Not Held					Minor-Rank		2R	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
China Championship	Tournament Not Held							NR	LQ	QF	1R	Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series	Tournament Not Held											2R	Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters	Tournament Not Held												1R	Not Held
Gibraltar Open	Tournament Not Held						MR	2R	3R	1R	3R	1R	1R	Not Held
European Masters^{[nb 8]}	A	Tournament Not Held						A	2R	LQ	LQ	3R	LQ	A	LQ	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Haining Open	Tournament Not Held					Minor-Rank		3R	A	A	A	NH	A	NH	A	NH

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 a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e He was an amateur
^ ^a ^b ^c New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
^ Players qualified through Q School started the season without prize money ranking points
^ The event was called the Grand Prix (2004/2005)
^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2010/2011-2015/2016)
^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
^ The event was called the Malta Cup (2004/2005)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2024	Welsh Open	Gary Wilson	4–9

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2017	Italian Snooker Open	Alexander Ursenbacher	3–2^[28]

Amateur finals: 8 (4 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2006	English Amateur Championship	Mark Joyce	3–8
Runner-up	2.	2012	English Amateur Championship (2)	Gary Wilson	9–10
Winner	3.	2012	Snookerbacker Classic – Grand Finals	John Sutton	4–0
Winner	4.	2022	Q Tour – Event 2	George Pragnell	5–1
Runner-up	5.	2022	Snooker Legends – The 900	Ant Parsons	0–1
Winner	7	2022	Q Tour – Event 6	Ross Muir	5–1
Winner	8	2023	Snookerz Christmas Cracker^[29]	Paul Ganley	3–1

References

^ "Martin O'Donnell". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
^ "'I CAN'T PLAY SNOOKER LIKE THAT' – MARTIN O'DONNELL VOWS TO DITCH GO-SLOW TACTICS AFTER CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SUCCESS". Eurosport. 28 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Martin O'Donnell 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "Order of Merit 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "Martin O'Donnell 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "O'Donnell And Sutton Excited By Q School". World Snooker. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "MOD Ready To Rock". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Martin O'Donnell 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "Australian Goldfields Open Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ "Issued after Munich Open 2013 (ET6)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
^ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Martin O'Donnell 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Snooker – Robertson battles past Williams in Beijing". Eurosport. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
^ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
^ "European Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Martin O'Donnell 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
^ "EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Martin O'Donnell 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ "Rocket Through But No 147". World Snooker. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ "Mark Allen fails to qualify for the China Open". Vavel. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ "Martin O'Donnell 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^ "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
^ "China Open: Ronnie O'Sullivan knocked out in the second round". BBC Sport. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^ "Kleckers Books Tour Sport". World Snooker. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
^ "Q School Order of Merit 2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
^ "2017 Italian Snooker Open".
^ Snookerz is a 'Not For Profit' project , set up in 2022 to support , showcase and facilitate the promotion of Amateur / Grass Roots Snooker. You can access their website HERE

External links

Martin O'Donnell at the World Snooker Tour
Martin O'Donnell at snooker.org

[28] It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.

[AMA-29] He was an amateur

[UR-30] New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking

[QS-31] Players qualified through Q School started the season without prize money ranking points

[32] The event was called the Grand Prix (2004/2005)

[33] The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2010/2011-2015/2016)

[34] The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

[35] The event was called the Malta Cup (2004/2005)

[1] "Martin O'Donnell". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.

[2] "'I CAN'T PLAY SNOOKER LIKE THAT' – MARTIN O'DONNELL VOWS TO DITCH GO-SLOW TACTICS AFTER CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SUCCESS". Eurosport. 28 June 2023.

[2010/11-3] "Martin O'Donnell 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[4] "Order of Merit 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[5] "Martin O'Donnell 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[6] "O'Donnell And Sutton Excited By Q School". World Snooker. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[O'Donnell-7] "MOD Ready To Rock". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[2012/13-8] "Martin O'Donnell 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[9] "Australian Goldfields Open Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.

[10] "Issued after Munich Open 2013 (ET6)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.

[11] "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.

[12] "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.

[2013/14-13] "Martin O'Donnell 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 April 2014.

[14] "Snooker – Robertson battles past Williams in Beijing". Eurosport. Retrieved 20 May 2014.

[15] "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.

[16] "European Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.

[17] "Martin O'Donnell 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.

[18] "EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.

[2015/16-19] "Martin O'Donnell 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

[20] "Rocket Through But No 147". World Snooker. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

[21] "Mark Allen fails to qualify for the China Open". Vavel. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

[22] "Martin O'Donnell 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.

[23] "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.

[24] "China Open: Ronnie O'Sullivan knocked out in the second round". BBC Sport. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.

[25] "Kleckers Books Tour Sport". World Snooker. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.

[26] "Q School Order of Merit 2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 May 2017.

[Ranking_history-27] "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

[36] "2017 Italian Snooker Open".

[37] Snookerz is a 'Not For Profit' project , set up in 2022 to support , showcase and facilitate the promotion of Amateur / Grass Roots Snooker. You can access their website HERE

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