Martin O'Donnell

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", in what is jocularly taken as a reference to the UK government body responsible for the Armed Forces.

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. O'Donnell finished 109th on the Order of Merit. 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. He won the SnookerBacker Classic, which guaranteed him entry into Q School at the end of the season. 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.

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. 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. He did not win two consecutive matches in qualifying for any other event this season. His season ended when he was beaten 5–10 by Tian Pengfei in the first round of World Championship Qualifying. O'Donnell finished his first year on the tour ranked at world number 86.

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. 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. 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. 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. He was eliminated in the last 64 in both events and had amateur status for the coming season. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Performance and rankings timeline Performance Table LegendLQ 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-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD 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.

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1 Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2024 Welsh Open Gary Wilson 4–9

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2017 Italian Snooker Open Alexander Ursenbacher 3–2

Amateur finals: 8 (4 titles)