By Elliott West
Introduction
During my time writing about snooker, I have come across a number of players who were very talented as amateurs but who couldn’t quite cut the mustard when they turned professional. One such player was Billy Kelly. Billy who was born in 1945 and is now aged 77 hailed from Ireland. A player with budding talent, Kelly soon shot to fame when he won the 1977 CIU (Club & Institute Union) Championship, a tournament that at the time was the second most prestigious event, only surpassed by the oldest and longest-running English Amateur Championship, established in 1916.
The Triumphs
1977 was definitely a good year for Billy Kelly. After winning the CIU Championship, he went on to claim victory at the Autumn Pontins Open, beating George Scott 7-5 in the final. Turning professional in 1981, Billy’s professional career was largely made up of qualifying matches. From his first at the 1981 International Open where he lost 1-5 to Scotland’s Murdo MacLeod in the first qualifying round, also losing 7-9 to Geoff Foulds in round 2 of the 1981 UK Championship, the 1982 Irish Professional Championship where he lost 1-6 to Tommy Murphy in the first round and the 1982 World Championship where he lost 8-9 to Eddie Sinclair in the first round also. He did however reach the last 32 of the 1982 UK Championship, losing 2-9 to John Virgo.
Billy did win a few matches subsequently but could never break into the top 32. His highest ranking was 54 but did claim one further achievement in the 1988 World Championship qualifiers. Playing against Tony Kearney, a match that he went on to win 10-4, Kelly achieved a 141 break, a break at that time was the highest ever made at a World Championship qualifier, quite a feat. Murphy went on to beat Colin Roscoe 10-8 in the second round before losing in the third round to Canada’s Bob Chaperon 5-10.
Success did come in the 1980 Professional Ticket Event where he beat Vic Harris 9-8 to reach the semi-finals, losing to Eugene Hughes 2-9 subsequently. Billy also got to ti the last 32 stages of the 1982 International Open where he lost 3-5 to Alex Higgins. Kelly reached the last 48 of the 1983 World Championship, losing 5-10 to Silvino Francisco, and the quarter-final of the 1983 Irish Professional Championship, losing 0-6 to Dennis Taylor. His success would dip after 1984 but he did get to the quarter-finals of the 1986 Irish Professional Championship where he was beaten 1-6 by Dennis Taylor. By 1990, Billy Kelly was sliding down the rankings and he had to enter the Professional Play Offs to secure his place on the tour. Reaching round 3, he came up against Jason Ferguson and lost the match 7-10. Teetering on the edge of falling off the tour after this body blow from Ferguson, Kelly was saved by a rule change, allowing any professional player over the age of 16 to remain on the tour, providing they paid a fee. Kelly paid up and went on to play for a further two years until 1992. He finished his professional career ranked 188th but he would subsequently enter the World Championship qualifiers in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2013 to no avail.
