Having spent 30 years of his life on the competitive snooker circuit – with several of those as a professional – Dylan Leary has only fully turned his attention to conquering the top echelons of 8-ball pool within the last decade. However, the former European and current World Over-50 Champion is flourishing in the sport and has amassed a plethora of impressive titles in a short space of time.

A top tier snooker player at the age of 20, Leary defeated several well-known players in his career including former World Champion Joe Johnson. His best run in a ranking event came at the 1997 Welsh Open where he eliminated Jimmy White on his way to reaching the last 32.

It was when he and his wife re-opened and took over the running of Racks Snooker and Pool Club in Maidenhead that his passion for pool was discovered. Despite the Northern Irishman’s late introduction to the smaller table, he didn’t take long to become an imposing figure in the ‘Reds and Yellows’ format.

In 2016 he made the final of the European Championship in Nantes, France but lost 8-3 to Karl Sutton. He would go one better in the event, though, three years later in Killarney, Ireland. On his way to lifting the trophy he dispatched Sutton in the last 16 and the host nation’s Shaun Sharkey 8-2 in the title match.

Later in the same year he wasn’t far off recording a unique double when he got to the semi-finals of the World Championship in Blackpool where he was narrowly ousted 10-9 by Dom Cooney.

A Premier League winner in 2018, Leary was one of the standout performers of 2019 as he took top honours at the All-Ireland Championship, the Northern Ireland National Championship and the English National Amateur Singles in which he defeated former World Champion Shaun Chipperfield in the final.

Leary continued his hot streak into the start of 2020 by winning the World Over-50 Championship title in Bradford.

In 2021, he won back-to-back titles on the WRPT Seniors Tour.

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Best UPG Tournament Results

Professional Series: 1x Event Semi-Finalist (2021 Event 7)
Professional Cup: Last 32 (2021)
Champions League: Joint 17th (2022)
Professional Grand Slam: Quarter-Finalist (2022)
Masters: Last 32 (2021)
Champion of Champions: N/A
Pairs Cup: Opening Groups Phase (2021/22)

After a relatively quiet inaugural Professional Series campaign in 2021, Leary burst into life during the final weekend of the season as he defeated John Roe, David McNamara and Jimmy Croxton to reach the semi-finals of Event 7 where he was ousted by the in-form Shaun Storry via a 6-reds shootout.

He began the 2022 season well, eliminating Gareth Potts on his way to reaching the quarter-finals of the Professional Grand Slam.

In the 2021 Apply Mortgages Ultimate Pool Masters he defeated Jon McAllister – one of the sport’s reigning world champions at the time – in round one before losing to Chris Melling in the last 32.