In 1989 perseverance paid off for Johnny Dunne from Laois who was appearing in his 9th. Divisional Finals. He had to do it the hard way with wins over Jack McKenna in the semi-final and John Joe O´Shea in the final.
His luck ran out when he travelled across to the Hammersmith Odeon for the Grand Finals as he was drawn against the ´Wee Scot´ Jocky Wilson in the first round and lost 0-2.
One thing that the Irish players can always claim was that they never had the ´luck of the Irish´ when the draw was made at the Grand Finals. They were invariably drawn against the tournament favourite or the eventual Champion.
This was certainly the case in 1990 when both of the Irish Champions, Kevin Marron (Dublin) and Breda O´Leary (Cork) were eliminated by the eventual winners, Paul Cook and Lynne Ormond.
Ironically, this was the first year that a separate women´s competition was organised by the News of the World and sadly it was also the last.
