Northern Ireland Trophy

The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament.

For the tournament first held in Belfast in 2016, see Northern Ireland Open (snooker). For the invitational tournament that was held in Belfast in the 1970's and 1980's, see Irish Professional Championship.

Northern Ireland Trophy
Tournament information
VenueWaterfront Hall
LocationBelfast
CountryNorthern Ireland
Established1981
Organisation(s)World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£200,500
Final year2008
Final championEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan

History

First contested in 1981 and named Northern Ireland Classic. It was an invitational event held at Ulster Hall, Belfast, and Jimmy White beat Steve Davis in the final.[1]

The event was revived for the 2005/06 season as an invitational event and was contested by 20 players. From the 2006/07 season, it became a full ranking event, attended by the world's top 32 players plus 16 qualifiers.[2]

The event was the first ranking tournament to be held in Northern Ireland and has been staged as part of World Snooker's continuing efforts to popularise the game in more territories. The tournament took place at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast.[2] It has been the opening event of the season, other than in 2007 when it was held in November. Prize money for 2006 totalled £200,500 with the winner receiving £30,000.

In the 2006 event Ronnie O'Sullivan broke a world record during his semi-final against Dominic Dale; he won the match in 53 minutes of play, which was the fastest ever time in a best-of-11 match. At the 2007 event, O'Sullivan established another record in his 3rd round 5–2 win over Ali Carter by becoming the only player to win a match in a ranking tournament by compiling a century break in every winning frame. O'Sullivan also compiled a maximum break in the same match.[3]

Winners
Year Winner Runner-up Final score Venue Season
Northern Ireland Classic (non-ranking)
1981 England Jimmy White England Steve Davis 11–9 Belfast 1981/82
Northern Ireland Trophy (non-ranking)[2][4]
2005 Wales Matthew Stevens Scotland Stephen Hendry 9–7 Belfast 2005/06
Northern Ireland Trophy (ranking)[2]
2006 China Ding Junhui England Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–6 Belfast 2006/07
2007 Scotland Stephen Maguire Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien 9–5 Belfast 2007/08
2008 England Ronnie O'Sullivan England Dave Harold 9–3 Belfast 2008/09

See also

References
  1. Turner, Chris. "Northern Ireland Classic". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  2. Turner, Chris. "Northern Ireland Trophy". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  3. Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  4. "Hall of Fame". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
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