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Irish Masters
Tournament information
Venue	Ormonde Hotel
Location	Kilkenny
Country	Republic of Ireland
Established	1975
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Non-ranking event
Final year	2007
Final champion	Ronnie O'Sullivan

The Irish Masters was a professional snooker tournament. It was founded in 1978, following on from the successful Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament (alternatively known as the Benson & Hedges Ireland Championship). The final champion of the tournament was Ronnie O'Sullivan.

History

Early events

The event started out in 1975 as the Benson & Hedges Challenge Match between Alex Higgins and John Spencer. The match initially carried a £250 prize for the winner and £150 for the runner-up, but both players agreed to a "winner-takes-all" format. Spencer scored two centuries (a 121 and a 109) and despite Higgins leading 7–5, Spencer won four frames in a row to win.^[1] In 1976 and 1977 it was expanded to a four-man invitational event, called the Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament.

Irish Masters

In 1978 the tournament was renamed the Irish Masters and continued as an ever-present fixture on the snooker calendar until 2005. Benson & Hedges continued their sponsorship with the tournament being played at Goffs, County Kildare. After tobacco sponsorship was outlawed in the Republic of Ireland in 2000, the Irish government funded the event from 2001 and it was subsequently relocated to the Citywest Hotel, Saggart, County Dublin. The tournament was staged on an invitational basis for most of its existence but became a ranking tournament from the 2002/03 season. The event was dropped from the calendar in the 2005/2006 season.^[2] In 2007, a three-day invitational event known as the Kilkenny Irish Masters was staged with 16 players. It attracted a strong field with 9 of the world's top 16 players taking part, with Ronnie O'Sullivan winning the title.^[3]^[4]

The tournament was dominated most of all by Steve Davis, who won it eight times. It was won by Irish players on two occasions, Alex Higgins in 1989 and Ken Doherty in 1998. Doherty claimed the title despite losing in the final 3–9 against Ronnie O'Sullivan, as O'Sullivan subsequently failed a drugs test after testing positive for cannabis.^[5] There was only one official maximum break in the history of the tournament. John Higgins made it in the quarter-finals of the 2000 event against Jimmy White.^[2] There has been one further maximum break in 2007 by O'Sullivan,^[6] but it is not included in the list of official maximum breaks, as the table was not to the required standards used on the professional circuit.^[7]

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Venue	Season
Benson & Hedges Challenge Match (non-ranking)^[2]
1975	John Spencer	Alex Higgins	9–7	Dublin	1974/75
Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament (non-ranking)^[2]
1976	John Spencer	Alex Higgins	5–0	Dublin	1975/76
1977	Alex Higgins	Ray Reardon	5–3	Leopardstown	1976/77
Irish Masters (non-ranking)^[2]^[8]
1978	John Spencer	Doug Mountjoy	5–3	Kill	1977/78
1979	Doug Mountjoy	Ray Reardon	6–5	Kill	1978/79
1980	Terry Griffiths	Doug Mountjoy	9–8	Kill	1979/80
1981	Terry Griffiths	Ray Reardon	9–7	Kill	1980/81
1982	Terry Griffiths	Steve Davis	9–5	Kill	1981/82
1983	Steve Davis	Ray Reardon	9–2	Kill	1982/83
1984	Steve Davis	Terry Griffiths	9–1	Kill	1983/84
1985	Jimmy White	Alex Higgins	9–5	Kill	1984/85
1986	Jimmy White	Willie Thorne	9–5	Kill	1985/86
1987	Steve Davis	Willie Thorne	9–1	Kill	1986/87
1988	Steve Davis	Neal Foulds	9–4	Kill	1987/88
1989	Alex Higgins	Stephen Hendry	9–8	Kill	1988/89
1990	Steve Davis	Dennis Taylor	9–4	Kill	1989/90
1991	Steve Davis	John Parrott	9–5	Kill	1990/91
1992	Stephen Hendry	Ken Doherty	9–6	Kill	1991/92
1993	Steve Davis	Alan McManus	9–4	Kill	1992/93
1994	Steve Davis	Alan McManus	9–8	Kill	1993/94
1995	Peter Ebdon	Stephen Hendry	9–8	Kill	1994/95
1996	Darren Morgan	Steve Davis	9–8	Kill	1995/96
1997	Stephen Hendry	Darren Morgan	9–8	Kill	1996/97
1998	Ken Doherty *	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Disqualified	Kill	1997/98
1999	Stephen Hendry	Stephen Lee	9–8	Kill	1998/99
2000	John Higgins	Stephen Hendry	9–4	Kill	1999/00
2001	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9–8	Saggart	2000/01
2002	John Higgins	Peter Ebdon	10–3	Saggart	2001/02
Irish Masters (ranking)^[2]^[8]
2003	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	10–9	Saggart	2002/03
2004	Peter Ebdon	Mark King	10–7	Saggart	2003/04
2005	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Matthew Stevens	10–8	Saggart	2004/05
Kilkenny Irish Masters (non-ranking)^[3]
2007	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Barry Hawkins	9–1	Kilkenny	2006/07

Notes

* Ronnie O'Sullivan was disqualified and stripped of the title in 1998 after a 9–3 win over Ken Doherty.
O'Sullivan failed a drugs test after testing positive for cannabis. Doherty was awarded the title.^[5]

References

^ "Spencer "breaks" Higgins". Belfast Telegraph. 26 May 1975. p. 17.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Turner, Chris. "Irish Masters". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
^ ^a ^b Turner, Chris. "Kilkenny Irish Masters". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
^ "O'Sullivan drives Hawkins to drink". RTÉ Sport. 12 March 2007. Archived from the original on 28 March 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
^ ^a ^b Ian O'Riordan (7 July 1998). "O'Sullivan stripped of Irish title". The Irish Times. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
^ "O'Sullivan notches 147 in Ireland". BBC Sport. 10 March 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
^ Turner, Chris. "Maximum Breaks". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Hall of Fame". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 June 2013.