The Irish Masters was a professional

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. 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 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, ...

History

Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament

The Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament started out as a challenge match in 1975 between

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Wor ...

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. In 1976 and 1977 the event was staged as a four-man invitational.

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 Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by American conglomerate Altria. Cigarettes under the ''Benson & Hedges'' name are manufactured worldwide by different companies such as Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris USA, British ...

continued their sponsorship with the tournament being played at Goffs,

Co. Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Cou ...

. 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 Citywest ( ga, Iarthar na Cathrach) is a suburban development on the southwestern periphery of Dublin, originally developed as a "business campus." It contains a large hotel, with a convention centre, a small shopping centre and a small but ex ...

Saggart Saggart ( ga, Teach Sagard) is a village in South Dublin, Ireland, south west of Dublin city. It lies between the N7 (Naas Road), Rathcoole, Citywest and Tallaght. It is one of the fastest-growing settlements in Ireland, showing a populat ...

, Co. Dublin. The tournament was staged on an invitational basis for most of its existence but became a

ranking 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 o ...

tournament from the 2002/03 season. The event was dropped from the calendar in the 2005/2006 season. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 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

winning the title. The tournament was dominated most of all by

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

, who won it eight times. It was won by Irish players on two occasions,

in 1989 and

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

in 1998. Doherty claimed the title despite losing in the final 3–9 against

, as O'Sullivan subsequently failed a drugs test after testing positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

. There was only one official

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

in the history of the tournament. John Higgins made it in the quarter-finals of the 2000 event against

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 ...

. There has been one further maximum break in 2007 by O'Sullivan, 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.

Winners

Notes

.
O'Sullivan failed a drugs test after testing positive for cannabis. Doherty was awarded the title.

References