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Eoin Monaghan

From Countdown
Eoin Monaghan
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionRunner-up
Seeding2
Points total898
Conundrums solved6
Eoin Monaghan

Eoin Monaghan was an octochamp in and the runner-up in Series 63. He was a 14-year old from County Down, Northern Ireland.

Monaghan debuted on 15 September 2010 with a drubbing of fellow challenger David Rayner. He had spotted PORTIERE, HEPTAGON and FORAGERS before the first break, and went on to solve the conundrum in half a second to win 108 – 40. Seven further challenges did nothing to stop Monaghan, who achieved scores of 121 and 120 on the way to an octochamp total of 898 points, the seventh highest in the old 15 round format. He also became only the fourth person after Julian Fell, Craig Beevers and Andrew Hulme to score a century in each of his eight preliminary games. Several others have since achieved this feat as well. His total aggregate winning margin over his eight preliminary games was 544, a record which stood for three years before being broken by Andy Platt in Series 68.

Monaghan returned for the finals in December as No. 2 seed, behind only the imperious Jack Hurst. In the quarter-final against Niall Young, with letters offerings of IMAMATE, VIRAGOES and TOTALISED, he achieved 127 points, even higher than Hurst. He then beat Daniel Pati 108 – 77 in the semis despite the lack of an available nine and a conundrum that defeated the whole studio. Finally, Monaghan was defeated by Jack Hurst in the grand final but still delivered a strong performance as runner-up, only being beaten on one letters round, one numbers round and a 0.25-second conundrum solve from the opponent.

After his appearances on Countdown, a new production rule which prohibits people under the age of 16 appearing on the show was enforced by the team. This effectively makes Monaghan the last ever contestant under that age to appear on the show. He did not return for the 30th Birthday Championship nor Championship of Champions XIV.

On 8 August 2016 and 2 January 2017, he appeared on University Challenge, representing Oriel College, Oxford.

Preceded by
Nicki Sellars
Series runner-up
Series 63
Followed by
Adam Gillard


Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
5111 15/09/2010 P David Rayner 40 – 108 Eoin Monaghan Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent 119
5112 16/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 105 – 66 John Shaw Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent 128
5113 17/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 115 – 44 Pauline Wedell Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent 131
5114 20/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 121 – 35 Dave Rudd Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Dave Spikey Susie Dent 130
5115 21/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 100 – 16 Clive Myers Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Dave Spikey Susie Dent 125
5116 22/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 120 – 60 Les Morrell Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Dave Spikey Susie Dent 129
5117 23/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 116 – 61 Angela Monk Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Dave Spikey Susie Dent 133
5118 24/09/2010 P Eoin Monaghan 113 – 32 Pete Hawksworth Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Dave Spikey Susie Dent 136
5173 10/12/2010 QF Eoin Monaghan 127 – 45 Niall Young Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Amanda Lamb Susie Dent 130
5177 16/12/2010 SF Eoin Monaghan 108 – 77 Daniel Pati Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 122
5178 17/12/2010 GF Jack Hurst 113 – 85 Eoin Monaghan Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 114