Ronnie O'Sullivan v Judd Trump | Final | Session 1 | Northern Ireland Open Snooker 2023

73 and 74, Ronnie O'Sullivan has come back from 8-5 to 8-7. Putting some delightful balls along the way, he's really dominated the last two. Onus now on Trump if he gets a chance, and at the moment it's a big if, but if he gets a chance, can he produce the goods? I guess the omens are good in terms of the scoreline, 2018 final he won 9-7 and last year he won 9-7. But can O'Sullivan take this final to a decider? I'd say the same thing, he needs a good break off. And that's not the best, that could be very expensive. Now the pressure, maybe getting to Trump hasn't left anything easy, but he has left a half chance. If Ronnie wants to take this one on, brilliant. What can you say about this man? I think one thing that's true is, you know, he's not necessarily renowned for comebacks, he's renowned for getting in front and burying people. This is the other side of it, isn't it? Digging in, producing your best snooker when it really counts in a final. Yeah, and he did dig in earlier, didn't he? Really did dig in. Fought some hard battles, fought some hard frames. Red there, that will go in the middle of that cluster. That had to be very accurate with the positional shot, which he is. Now might just play a little cannon to the red, above and to the right of the black. Again, brilliant shot, judged to perfection. And he might open more reds up here. Just lost the cue ball a little. Didn't quite catch him thick enough. Not easy to get to the next red from there. Got to remember, he's got to make sure of the pot rather than the position. Too high, too high, just too high. Yeah, well called, Joe. It had a go, didn't it? In the end, just dropping. I thought it was going to drop there, and then just rattled. Well, Trump hasn't potted a ball since he made the century in frame 13. Well, this is his chance, David. Exactly, this is his chance. Now, let's see how he's feeling. He missed that long red earlier in the frame off the break off, didn't get too close to it. He sat out the two frames from O'Sullivan, who started to produce the goods. So let's see how Trump responds. Well, if he's straight on the red, he's going to have to play for one of the ball colours again. Would have liked a little angle on this red to go down towards the black. So not a good shot on the green, really. The red to the right of the pink spot looks to be a red that he could play for, but he's got other plans in mind. It's the blue that's causing him a problem. To screw past the blue is not going to be ideal on the red to the right of the pink. I don't think he can screw directly to the red. Now, that was the problem. It would help if the pink went into this left corner. I'll stem from that first shot when he potted the green and finished straight on the red. It was an easy shot to leave himself the right angle on the red. I think he's on the red and he can get to the black or pink now. Choice of reds, in fact. Well, that's developed more reds. Two reds just above and to the right of the black are available. Left himself the wrong side of straight. He's going towards the cushion. He would have liked to have been absolutely straight. And it made a difference because now he's got to go back up for one of the bought colours. Don't think he can hold for the pink. He's okay. Nicely on the yellow. A little screw back. Choice of two reds. The green, he prefers a right-handed. Well, he switched to right-handed. What a time to switch to right-handed. Well, this is on a knife edge now. It's advantaged Trump because he's at the table, but still work to do. Yes, he's left an angle on the black to be able to go into those three reds. Yes, he could play for the other red, the loose one, but he needs those three reds open. Does he do it now or in a moment? He's done it now and they've split. Yeah, he's now every chance to complete a hat trick of Northern Ireland Open titles. A special event for him. It was the start of his great run, of course, two years ago. Every final he's played Ronnie O'Sullivan. Is it going to be 9-7, 9-7, 9-7? That would be incredible. Well, it's down to Trump now and his heart will be pumping. Make no mistake about that. He's going to hold himself together. Just a few more shots. Well, it showed true bottle, hasn't it? After what's been thrown at him to get one chance. Absolutely, he didn't put a ball for two frames. O'Sullivan was playing like the Ronnie O'Sullivan that we've seen for the last three decades at the top level. So, Judd Trump needs the red and O'Sullivan needs snookers. Is there going to be one late twist here? No, there's not. The red goes in. Well, every credit to Judd Trump, the way he's won this frame because he was bang under it the way O'Sullivan was coming back at him. He was seven years of age when Stephen Hendry won the 1996 UK Championship. That's the last time the same player won the same ranking event three years running. It's a very rare feat and he's done it each year beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final. In this battle for supremacy at the top of the game, the world number one has prevailed over the world champion and suddenly he can relax. Great break. Ranking event number 19 for Judd Trump. He's 11th in two years. It all started at this event in 2018. So, it's a hat trick of Northern Ireland Open titles for Judd Trump. Really exciting final in the end and what a great break from Judd Trump after O'Sullivan put him under pressure reeling off two frames in no time at all. An 89, Trump the winner, 97. Well, what a thrilling match it turned into and every credit to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He really dug in, he scrapped it out and just as he was starting to play his best snooker, Judd Trump stepped in and I think he would have felt, I have to take this out here because O'Sullivan, as I say, was starting to make the breaks but Judd Trump, it is the world number one. Yet another title. What a player he's turned into. Well, really was a fantastic final and our congratulations to Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump for playing their part in it. Let's have a quick word with our runner-up firstly, sadly. Ronnie, if you want to make your way to the mic stand, we'll have a quick chat with you. Firstly, commiserations but it really was a fantastic comeback, close but no cigar, Ronnie. Yeah, it's just one of them things, isn't it? I've just enjoyed the whole week, to be honest. I've had a fantastic time, really enjoyed playing. I wish I could have enjoyed playing like this earlier on in my career and just had so much fun, you know. I know there's no crowds but, you know, just playing on these conditions, the table was playing lovely, you know, it was hard at the start of the week but even that was a challenge in itself, you know. You just had to find a way to perform on it and play on this table for three days was fantastic, you know. So, yeah, I mean, to be honest, when I come in at the start of the week, I probably would have took a quarter-final because I needed a little run, you know. So, for me to make the final, I'm really happy, you know. I've beat some good players and, you know, I tried tonight. I just wasn't good enough, you know. You can't afford to miss balls against Judd, you know. He's by far, you know, the best player in the world at the moment and, you know, you just can't, you know, like Hendry and Davidson in their prime, you know. You get so many chances but if you don't take them then, you know, you're going to get punished. Yeah, usually you're the front-runner as well in major finals and today you were chasing a lot. It was great to watch from an outsider's perspective because you kept digging in and digging in and towards the end of that match, your game was just at a fantastic level. But it didn't feel like I was digging in. I was just enjoying it so much, you know. I was having so much fun out there, like I said, you know. I was just enjoying competing, enjoying playing, you know. You know, I've been seven frames up in the world final and felt like I was digging in. Just not enjoying it but, you know, I've really, you know, that's the key, you know. If you can enjoy what you do, you know, that's great, you know. Hopefully I can, yeah, hopefully we're in different arms in the UK and we can play. Great, you know. You want to test your game against, you know, the best. I'm sure that session there today will do me good in the long run. Yeah, it was fantastic to watch and just finally social media went into meltdown throughout the evening session when you were maybe 50, 60, 70 behind and kept playing on. Is this something we're going to continue to see or not? Well, I don't practice much at home, so for me this is the best place to get practice, you know. So I just thought I want to get as much table time as I can. You know, I wasn't trying to put balls safe and make the frame long. I just wanted to get a chance and clear the balls up, you know, and just, you know, just enjoying playing. And when you're enjoying playing, you know, you want to pop balls, you know. You just love the game and, you know, my table at the club, if it played like this, I'd be over the moon. But this table just plays so lovely that, you know, I've just come to the conclusion that, you know, this is as good as places anywhere to get table time, you know. So yeah, I've done it every match this tournament. I'm probably going to do it for the rest of my career now. I know the commentators are probably sitting there thinking we want to go home, but, you know, it'll be the short straw if they draw me, the commentator on me there, they'll be hating it. Listen, well done for playing your part in a great final. I know it's such an old cliche, but sadly that had to be a runner-up. And that was you this time, but we commend you for just a brilliant performance. Well done, Ronny. Better luck next time. Ciao for now. Ronny O'Sullivan there. Fantastic performance. It was close, as I said, but no cigar. And it gives me great pleasure again to introduce, Judd, if you want to step up, the Northern Ireland Open champion for a third year on the bounce. How does that feel? Amazing, really. To win any tournament is tough nowadays. It's my second one of the season so far, so made a brilliant start. Very consistent and, yeah, same again today. I played some good snooker. Yeah, you just couldn't shake him off. He kept coming back and kept coming back. That was a fantastic break at the end to win it, but what were you thinking sitting down there seeing that comeback from Ronny? It's the same every time. If you get a lead, you're never comfortable without playing any of the top players. He rattles off the frame so quick. I mean, every time I make a mistake, you literally just want to set the board. You know this frame's over and you just can't leave anything on, so it's that simple. You leave something behind, you've lost the frame. Lots, of course, has been made and will be made, and rightly so, in the newspapers over the next few days. The fact that you have retained it now for a third consecutive year. The last time that was done was obviously Stephen Hendry in the mid-90s with the Yeah, it's okay. I mean, it's good. It's just, to me, it's just about winning and enjoying it as much as possible. I'm enjoying playing snooker, enjoying the challenge, playing the likes of Ronny, enjoying just trying to get better, keep improving, just keep taking my game to new levels, and for me, I'm delighted with just how I closed out the game because he was looking like going So, for me, just making these big clearances under pressure is important as well. Yeah, and another win for you against Ronny in a final. I know he's over your shoulder, but up until tonight, you'd met in nine finals. You'd won six of them. That, of course, takes it to seven-three now. You must be just confident, irrelevant of who your opponent is every time you get to a final. Yeah, it don't matter who I play in the final. I want to win and, I mean, against Ronny, I always play well because I know I've got to play well against other people, maybe not so much. So, you know, if you leave them a chance, the frame's over, and that makes me raise my game, and I enjoy just trying to learn from him, keep improving from him, and hopefully, we can play again in the next final. And just finally as well, we were standing here a few weeks back. You beat Neil Robson in a thrilling final in the English. You've just beaten Ronny in the Northern Irish. We've got the Scottish coming up. You've got every chance of winning that, and then, of course, the Welsh in the New Year. A message for Barry Hearn, who took this million-pound carrot away. Give me my million pounds. Listen, congratulations to both of you, to Ronny as well. Fantastic final, and congratulations to you as well, Judd, the new Northern Ireland Open champion. Let me hand over to our MC, Phil Seymour, to dish out the cash, shall we say? Your winner, collecting the winner's medal, the Alex Higgins Trophy, prize money of £70,000, and the title of 2020 Matchroom Live Northern Ireland Open champion, the ace in the pack, Judd Trump. And that's 19 ranking events now. He's sixth on his own, just gone past Neil Robertson and Mark Selby, three behind Mark Williams, and he's got that mentality that all the great players have got. He just wants to win every tournament he enters. He goes into the UK Championship, of course, as a big favourite, and Ronny O'Sullivan goes into it clearly enjoying his snooker, which is always good to see. But in terms of the Northern Ireland Open, for a third year running, our champion is the world number one, Judd Trump.