2008 Northern Ireland Trophy

Northern Ireland Trophy
Tournament information
Dates24–31 August 2008 (2008-08-24 – 2008-08-31)
VenueWaterfront Hall
CityBelfast
CountryNorthern Ireland
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£200,500
Winner's share£30,000
Highest break Stephen Lee (ENG) (145)
Final
Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)
Runner-up Dave Harold (ENG)
Score9–3
2007
Last →

The 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 31 August 2008 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed his 21st ranking tournament by defeating surprise finalist Dave Harold 9–3 in the final.[1]

Tournament summary

  • Notable comebacks in the qualifiers included: Li Hang coming from 0–4 down to beat Irish prodigy David Morris 5–4, and both Jimmy White and Ian Preece came from 2–4 behind to win their matches 5–4, against Jamie Jones and Paul Davies respectively.
  • Jimmy White qualified for the final stage of an event for the first time in over a year, stretching back to the 2007 China Open.
  • Long standing top-16 players, Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Stephen Lee were playing in the qualifiers for the first time in over a decade.
  • Last year's runner-up, Fergal O'Brien fell at the first hurdle, losing 3–5 to Michael Holt.
  • In his match against Mark Selby, Andrew Higginson was playing in front of the TV cameras for the first time since his run to the final of the 2007 Welsh Open.
  • Dominic Dale came from 1–4 down against Mark Allen to level at 4–4, before Allen played superbly to take the decider.
  • In beating Ding Junhui 5–4, Mark Davis secured one of the best wins of his career.
  • Ronnie O'Sullivan won three quick consecutive frames to oust former world champion Ken Doherty 5–4 in the last 32.
  • Stephen Maguire won the last three frames to beat Alan McManus 5–4, a player who had not reached the last 16 of an event the previous season.
  • Dave Harold beat Stephen Lee 5–4, a player who had been considered one of the tournaments in-form players, having knocked in three centuries, including a high break of 145.
  • Harold increased his head-to-head record to 3–0 over Stephen Maguire by beating him 5–2 in the quarter-finals, afterwards Maguire stated that he never seems to perform against Harold.
  • Barry Hawkins produced a brave fightback to recover from 1–4 to level at 4–4 against Ronnie O'Sullivan in their quarter-final match, before the world champion took the decider.
  • Dave Harold led John Higgins 5–1, but won only 6–4, to reach his first ranking final since 1994, the gap between those two ranking finals is the longest in snooker history.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[2]

Main draw

[3]

Last 48
Best of 9 frames
Last 32
Best of 9 frames
Last 16
Best of 9 frames
Quarter-finals
Best of 9 frames
Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames
Final
Best of 17 frames
1Scotland Stephen Maguire5
24Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien3England Michael Holt1
1Scotland Stephen Maguire5
England Michael Holt5
Scotland Alan McManus4
15England Mark King3
17Wales Matthew Stevens2Scotland Alan McManus5
1Scotland Stephen Maguire2
Scotland Alan McManus5
28England Dave Harold5
13Scotland Graeme Dott3
28England Dave Harold528England Dave Harold5
28England Dave Harold5
England Ricky Walden2
27England Stephen Lee4
6Scotland Stephen Hendry1
27England Stephen Lee527England Stephen Lee5
28England Dave Harold6
England Judd Trump3
5Scotland John Higgins4
5Scotland John Higgins5
30Republic of Ireland Michael Judge4England David Gilbert2
5Scotland John Higgins5
England David Gilbert5
China Liang Wenbo1
9England Peter Ebdon0
29England Steve Davis3China Liang Wenbo5
5Scotland John Higgins5
China Liang Wenbo5
25England Ian McCulloch3
10Australia Neil Robertson2
25England Ian McCulloch525England Ian McCulloch5
25England Ian McCulloch5
England Mike Dunn4
4England Mark Selby4
4England Mark Selby5
31England Anthony Hamilton3England Andrew Higginson1
28England Dave Harold3
England Andrew Higginson5
2England Ronnie O'Sullivan9
3England Shaun Murphy2
22Wales Mark Williams522Wales Mark Williams5
22Wales Mark Williams3
Scotland Marcus Campbell3
16Northern Ireland Mark Allen5
16Northern Ireland Mark Allen5
32Wales Dominic Dale532Wales Dominic Dale4
16Northern Ireland Mark Allen2
England Adrian Gunnell4
7England Ali Carter5
11China Ding Junhui4
20Northern Ireland Joe Swail4England Mark Davis5
England Mark Davis2
England Mark Davis5
7England Ali Carter5
7England Ali Carter5
21England Stuart Bingham4England Rory McLeod1
7England Ali Carter5
England Rory McLeod5
2England Ronnie O'Sullivan6
8Wales Ryan Day5
23England Nigel Bond1England Stuart Pettman4
8Wales Ryan Day3
England Stuart Pettman5
26England Barry Hawkins5
14Hong Kong Marco Fu2
26England Barry Hawkins526England Barry Hawkins5
26England Barry Hawkins4
England Jimmy White3
2England Ronnie O'Sullivan5
12England Joe Perry5
19England Jamie Cope519England Jamie Cope2
12England Joe Perry3
England David Gray4
2England Ronnie O'Sullivan5
2England Ronnie O'Sullivan5
18Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty518Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty4
Northern Ireland Gerard Greene2

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Eirian Williams.
Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 31 August 2008.[3]
Dave Harold
 England
3–9 Ronnie O'Sullivan
 England
Afternoon: 63–14, 44–68 (68), 17–127 (103), 0–84 (84), 44–87, 13–84, 60–76 (76)
Evening: 76–41, 19–73 (64), 54–61, 88–0 (81), 22–80 (50)
81 Highest break 103
0 Century breaks 1
1 50+ breaks 6

Qualifying

Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 15 and 17 August 2008.[4]

Round 1
Best of 9 frames
Round 2
Best of 9 frames
Round 3
Best of 9 frames
Republic of Ireland Rodney Goggins5England Rod Lawler5England Michael Holt5
Northern Ireland Declan Hughes2Republic of Ireland Rodney Goggins0England Rod Lawler2
England Paul Davison0England Andy Hicks5Scotland Alan McManus5
Wales Andrew Pagett5Wales Andrew Pagett4England Andy Hicks2
Wales Daniel Wells5England Barry Pinches5England Ricky Walden5
China Jin Long3Wales Daniel Wells1England Barry Pinches3
Northern Ireland Patrick Wallace5England Mark Joyce5England Judd Trump5
Bye0Northern Ireland Patrick Wallace0England Mark Joyce0
Thailand Supoj Saenla2England Robert Milkins3England David Gilbert5
China Liu Chuang5China Liu Chuang5China Liu Chuang3
England Peter Lines5England David Roe5China Liang Wenbo5
Hong Kong Andy Lee0England Peter Lines2England David Roe0
England Matthew Couch5England Andrew Norman5England Mike Dunn5
Republic of Ireland Vincent Muldoon3England Matthew Couch3England Andrew Norman1
Scotland Robert Stephen1Republic of Ireland David Morris4England A. Higginson5
China Li Hang5China Li Hang5China Li Hang2
England Lee Spick5Republic of Ireland Joe Delaney5Scotland Marcus Campbell5
India Aditya Mehta2England Lee Spick0Republic of Ireland Joe Delaney1
Wales Jamie Jones5Wales Ian Preece5England Adrian Gunnell5
England Stephen Craigie2Wales Jamie Jones4Wales Ian Preece2
England Kuldesh Johal5England Mark Davis5Scotland Jamie Burnett2
England Michael Georgiou3England Kuldesh Johal1England Mark Davis5
England Matthew Selt5China Liu Song5England Rory McLeod5
New Zealand Chris McBreen1England Matthew Selt1China Liu Song2
Scotland James McBain5England Stuart Pettman5England John Parrott4
Netherlands Stefan Mazrocis1Scotland James McBain3England Stuart Pettman5
England Jimmy White5Wales Paul Davies4England Tom Ford2
Thailand Atthasit Mahitthi4England Jimmy White5England Jimmy White 5
England Simon Bedford5England David Gray5England Jimmy Michie3
England David Grace1England Simon Bedford4England David Gray5
England Lewis Roberts1England Martin Gould5Northern Ireland Gerard Greene5
England Wayne Cooper5England Wayne Cooper3England Martin Gould3

Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

[4]

Televised stage centuries

[3]

References

  1. ^ "Classy O'Sullivan wins NI Trophy". BBC Sport. 31 August 2008. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  2. ^ "Northern Ireland Trophy 2008 – Prize Money". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "Northern Ireland Trophy 2008 – Results". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Northern Ireland Trophy 2008 – Qualifying Results". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2011.