The 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy was the 2006 edition of the
Northern Ireland Trophy
The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament.
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 f ...
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
, held from 13 to 20 August 2006, at the
Waterfront Hall
Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corpo ...
,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, Northern Ireland.
Ding Junhui
Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005 ...
defeated
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...
by nine to six (9–6) in the final to lift his third
ranking title whilst still a teenager. In the semi-finals, Ding defeated
Stephen Lee 6–1, and O'Sullivan beat
Dominic Dale
Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport.
Career
Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...
6–0. O'Sullivan made the highest with his 140. The
defending champion,
Matthew Stevens
Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple c ...
, lost in round 3. The tournament, consisting of the top 32 and 16 qualifiers, was the first of seven
WPBSA
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...
ranking events in the
2006/2007 season, preceding the
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
.
Tournament summary
The
Northern Ireland Trophy
The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament.
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 f ...
was first staged in
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
at the
Waterfront Hall
Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corpo ...
,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, Northern Ireland, as a non-ranking tournament featuring the top 16 and four wildcards, generally Irish. In the following year, it was granted ranking status and took the form of a regular tournament.
The 2006 tournament was the first of seven
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...
(WPBSA) ranking events in the
2006/2007 season, preceding the
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
, and the first event since
last season's
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
won by
Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...
, who defeated
Peter Ebdon
Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addit ...
18–14 in the final. The defending champion was
Matthew Stevens
Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple c ...
, who defeated
Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...
9–7 in the previous year's final. Going into the tournament,
Joe Swail
Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cha ...
, provisionally ranked number 13, said he was targeting a place in the top 16; and Dott, the World Champion, said interest in his results would increase, and that he felt capable of winning more tournaments.
Shaun Murphy
Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...
, the
2005 World Champion, said the pressure would be off him in the 2006/2007 season.
Qualifying
The qualifying stage took place between players
ranked
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
from 33 to 48 and those lower for one of 16 places in the final stage between 29 and 31 July 2006 at
Pontin's Snooker Centre
Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels.
Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...
,
Prestatyn
Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085,
History Prehistory
There is evidence that the ...
, Wales. The matches were best-of-9 frames until the semi-finals. Successful qualifiers in this round included Northern Irish player
Mark Allen
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
, who defeated
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...
5–3, and said the Waterfront—where he made his professional debut last year—was the best venue he had played at.
Gerard Greene
Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast.
Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his ...
defeated
Judd Trump
Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...
5–2, and
Dominic Dale
Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport.
Career
Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...
beat
Dermot McGlinchey
Dermot McGlinchey (born 9 May 1973) is a former professional snooker player from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United King ...
5–1.
Jimmy White
James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...
, who had slipped from 8th to 35th in the rankings, lost 3–5 to
Jimmy Michie
Jimmy Michie (pronounced "Mickey"; born 4 August 1971) is an English former professional snooker player from Pontefract, Yorkshire, and a two-time WPBSA ranking tournament semi-finalist, who has also reached the World Snooker Championship. Mich ...
, and said he was "match-shy" rather than nervous. Irish players
Joe Delaney
Joe Alton Delaney (; October 30, 1958 – June 29, 1983) was an American football running back who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL). In his two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Delaney set four franchise records ...
and
Fergal O'Brien
Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000â ...
lost to
Rod Lawler
Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod".
After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tournament fin ...
and
Paul Davies
Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
respectively, both 3–5.
Round 1
In round 1 the 16 qualifiers went through to face players ranked 17–32. Swail lost 1–5 to Greene, who said the crowd was on his opponent's side. Tied at 3–3
Mark Selby
Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...
won the seventh frame after
Tony Drago
Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player.
Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...
missed a pink, eventually winning the match 5–4.
Jamie Burnett
Jamie Burnett (born 16 September 1975) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
A journeyman, Burnett was ranked within the world's top 64 players for 20 consecutive years between 1996 and 2016, reachin ...
made breaks of 117, 77, and 55 in defeating
David Gray 5–2. Allen lost 1–5 to
Ryan Day, a match in which Day made breaks of 79, 73, 56, and 91, after which Day said, "as soon as I started knocking in some breaks they went a bit quiet", in reference to the crowd.
Michael Holt lost 2–5 to
Mike Dunn, a player ranked 34 places below him.
James Wattana
James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โà¸à¸šà¸à¹‰à¸à¸¡ ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โà¸à¸šà¸à¹‰à¸à¸¡ ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...
defeated Michie 5–4 in a match that lasted over three hours. Michie was 1–3 down but went on to lead 4–3 and 30–0 points before he missed a straightforward pot, eventually losing the frame. Michie had the first chance in the next but also lost that frame.
Tian Pengfei
Tian Pengfei (, born 16 August 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He began his career by playing the Challenge Tour in 2004, at the time the second-level professional tour. Tian played on the Main Tour in 2006 and competed on the ...
, on his 19th birthday, made breaks of 50, 62, and 115 in defeating
Andy Hicks
Andrew Hicks (born 10 August 1973) is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Cream of Devon", Hicks was a semi-finalist at both the World Snooker Championship and UK Championship in 1995, and the same stage at four other ranking ...
.
Final
In the best-of-17 final Ding defeated O'Sullivan to lift his third ranking title whilst still a teenager.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
"2006 Northern Ireland Trophy Player Prize Money"
. snookerdatabase.co.uk (Snooker Database). Retrieved 14 October 2010.
* Winner: £30,000
* Final: £15,000
* Semi-final: £7,500
* Quarter-final: £5,600
* Last 16: £4,000
* Last 32: £2,500
* Last 48: £1,625
* Last 64: £1,100
Main draw
References
Sources
. Sporting Life (UK). Retrieved 14 October 2010.
"Northern Ireland Trophy 2006"
Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
"2006 Northern Ireland Trophy Results Grid"
snookerdatabase.co.uk (Snooker Database). Retrieved 14 October 2010.
"World Rankings 2006/2007"
snooker.org. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
{{Snooker season 2006/2007
Northern Ireland Trophy
Northern Ireland Trophy
The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament.
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 f ...
Trophy
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...
Northern Ireland Trophy
The Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional snooker tournament.
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 f ...