Irish snooker on the up as young stars Aaron Hill and Leone Crowley set to wave the flag on professional tour

All three players are at very different points in their professional careers.

Not much needs to be added about 1997 World Champion Doherty; a legend of the sport, with six ranking titles to his name who continues to ply his trade with the world’s best.

The 55-year-old missed out on several events last season, but he did score a 10-3 win over rookie professional Haydon Pinhey in World Championship qualifying a few weeks ago.

Currently, Doherty is on the pro circuit with an invitational tour card that expires at the end of the upcoming campaign - but, of course, he can requalify by right through the rankings.

At the other end of the experience scale is teenager Crowley, who is about to embark on his maiden season on snooker’s top flight.

The 18-year-old from Cork won the 2025 World Snooker Federation Junior Championship in Saïdia, Morocco in January - an achievement that earned him a two-year World Snooker Tour card starting from the 2025/26 term.

Nicknamed ‘Lightning’, Crowley defeated Polish youngster Michał Szubarczyk - who will also be on the pro tour in the coming months - en route to the final in North Africa where he defeated Kaylan Patel 5-0 to become the first Irish winner of the global title.

A winner of several national titles in his homeland, Crowley follows in the footsteps of fellow countrymen Doherty (in 1989) and Rodney Goggins (in 1999) who have also won the premier world title in junior snooker.

During the recent 2025 World Snooker Championship, Totally Snookered pitched a question to Doherty - through the tournament’s betting sponsors Midnite - about how excited he was with the emergence of both Crowley and Hill.

“Crowley turning pro is great, we have another Irishman. I'm looking forward to seeing him on the tour next year. I know his family well, lovely people” said Doherty.

“And Aaron Hill. I was gutted for him when he lost to Dave Gilbert 10-9 in the qualifier. I was absolutely gutted for him.

“He put so much work in with Fergal O'Brien, his coach, and it would have been a great moment in his career to qualify.

“But look, he'll be back. He's a good player. He'll learn from it, come back stronger and I hope he does it.”

23-year-old Hill is Ireland’s number one player, currently occupying a career-high world ranking of 50th in the end-of-season standings.

‘The Breeze’ first entered the professional ranks during the 2020/21 season having won the European Under-21 Snooker Championship several months earlier.

In only his second professional event, Hill defeated then reigning World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 on live TV in the 2020 European Masters.

During his time on the World Snooker Tour, Hill has also gotten the better of Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, Mark Selby, Jack Lisowski, and Zhao Xintong.

Over the last couple of seasons, Hill has grown into one of the most improved players on the circuit and kept his tour card through the rankings, having initially been relegated after his first stint but immediately bouncing back through Q School.

Last season (2024/25) was Hill’s most lucrative campaign, to date, earning over £73,000, during which he reached the second ranking event quarter-final of his career at the 2025 German Masters in Berlin.

As Doherty mentioned above, Hill’s season nearly ended in style with a Crucible debut. After clean sweeping Haris Tahir 10-0, and then dispatching former world semi-finalist Anthony McGill 10-5, he agonisingly lost 10-9 to a semi-finalist the previous year, David Gilbert, in the final qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

18+ Be Gamble Aware