By Elliott West
Introduction
Joe O’Connor is a player that has impressed me for quite a while. I was in Cardiff when he had an excellent run to the semi-finals of the 2019 Welsh Open, his best performance so far as a professional. A surge that saw him defeat Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui and John Higgins before eventually losing to Stuart Bingham 2-6.
Joe has also started to shine in this week’s British Open with a first-round win in the short frame, best of 5 formats with a first-round win against Steven Hallworth, beating his opponent 3-2. A professional snooker player since 2018, O’Connor has all the credentials to win a title and perhaps this revamped Leicester could see him achieve this or feel deep into the competition.
Career
Leicester born Joe O’Connor was born in 1995 and now only 25, has an impressive snooker Curriculum Vitae. Originally a pool player, Joe was a junior champion and was able to turn his hand to snooker very easily. In 2018, Joe won the English Amateur Championship, defeating Andrew Norman 10-3, having additionally won four events on the 2017-18 English amateur tour. His English Amateur win led to him becoming a professional with O’Connor going on to beat Brandon Sargeant 4-1 and then Oliver Brown 4-0 to secure a two-year professional tour card at the 2018 EBSA Play-Offs at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Since this great start to his professional career, Joe has faced Neil Robertson and Mark Selby at the UK Championship and qualified for the Wuxi Classic. O’Connor is an exciting player to watch, someone who has flair and natural talent. Someone who will definitely attain silverware in the near future.
