John Higgins captured his second Irish Masters title in three years with a stunning 10-3 victory over Peter Ebdon at Dublin's CityWest Hotel this evening. The world number three, a 9-4 winner against Stephen Hendry in 2000, claimed his fourth title of the season in front of his wife, kilted five-month-old son and his parents to the obvious delight of the vocal Irish crowd.
The popular Scot twice missed vital blues in frames three and six of the final but still built a 7-2 first session lead. He compiled breaks of 91 and 109 as he went 4-1 ahead and coolly cleared with 69 from 0-62 in the seventh to lead 5-2. A run of 78 then carried Higgins 6-2 ahead and he cleared with 55 to the brown in the last of the session to secure his five-frame lead.
On the resumption, Higgins added the first of the evening to effectively kill off Ebdon's comeback chances and although the world number seven closed to 8-3 with a break of 64, 26-year-old Higgins made 79 to lead 9-3 and he added the last as well to secure the 24th major title of his ten-year career.
Filed by Shane Murray
