Kildare win All-Ireland Pool Intermediate Championship in thrilling final
The win marks an incredible milestone for the Kildare Pool Association, which was reformed in 2017 by David Delaney and Benny McHale
Kildare have become the 2026 Irish Pool Association (IPA) All-Ireland Intermediate champions after their brilliant win over Tyrone ‘B’ at the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney last week.
The teams were near inseparable for much of this tense decider, but the Kildare outfit finally put three frames between the sides when they went 12-9 in front with a dominant win from Paraic Kelly before completing an overall victory of 14-10 in the best of 27 final. The win marks an incredible milestone for the Kildare Pool Association, which was reformed in 2017 by David Delaney and Benny McHale, and this is the first main event win for the association.
The Kildare team: Dan Dempsey (c) (Monasterevin), Jeff Ratledge (vc) (Athy), Aidan Abbott (Celbridge), Dave “Lasher” Kelly (Curragh/Dublin), Kyle Connolly (Newbridge), Keith O’Reilly (Newbridge), Paddy Greed (Kildare Town), Paraic Kelly (Kill), Ricky Morrissey (Clonmel), Sid Cully (Straffan/Newbridge).
After semi-final and final disappointments over the years, the man to finally get Kildare over the line was Jeff Ratledge who had a less than ideally placed Tyrone ball in front of him for his shot to win the title, but beautifully kissed outside of the black ball and dropped it into the middle pocket as the players in Kildare colours dropped to their knees and ran around the table in celebration of their victory. Crowning the live IPA coverage of the moment was an eruption from the co-commentator who said “Kildare are after winning the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship…get in there ya daisy ya!” in complete ecstasy with the moment being scored by the cheers of the superb travelling Kildare support.
Run to the Intermediate final
R1 Win v Cavan 14-12
R2 Loss v Cork ‘B’ 11-14
R3 Win v Offaly ‘B’ 14-7
R4 Win v Down ‘B’ 14-4
R5 Loss v Westmeath A 13-14
Quarter-final Win v Kerry ‘A’ 14-8
Semi final Win v Down ‘B’ 14-8
Final Win v Tyrone ‘B’ 14-10
A key turning point in the final was the introduction of 17 year-old Kyle Connolly who subbed in for the last frame of session two. With the game at 9-8 in Kildare’s favour, the young player duly delivered to put his county two frames ahead headed into the final session.
Team member Paraic Kelly said, “We’ve been in semi finals and finals in previous years but never got over the line. This year the team was determined to do it and played as a unit all through the event. Next year we will compete in the senior category and we welcome all new players of any level to our ranking events for the 2026/27 season.”
Details to join and for the Kildare Pool Association’s AGM will be posted on their Facebook page. For the 2026 season the KPA had teams in Intermediate, Junior, Junior B, Ladies, U23s, O50s
Junior All Ireland U15s and U18s and in 2027 they move to senior level following their title win and hope to have an O60s team.