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Figure after player's nation denotes 2001-02 World Snooker Ranking
REPORT
After a mid-season slump Higgins has resumed the excellent form he showed at the start of this season's campaign when he won the first three events. However for Ebdon, after a week of good snooker where he had excellent victories over Joe Swail, Mark J. Williams and home favorite Ken Doherty, he really let himself down in the first session of the final after he squandered a number of opportunities. The 7-2 lead Higgins built up after the first session's play was just too much of a deficit for the 31-year-old Englishman to claw back. Higgins, who was also Irish Masters champion in 2000, won the first frame with a break of 91 in reply to a miss on the black using the rest by Ebdon when on a break of 39. The second frame too went the Scotsman way and he should have made it 3-0 when he got back into the frame after needing a snooker, only to miss the final blue into the right center pocket using the rest. Higgins however stretched his lead further when he took the next frame 63-2, and he then made it 4-1 with a break of 109 in the fifth frame. Ebdon would have felt very relieved to have won the sixth frame after he got in first with a break of 55 only to run short of position on the black. Higgins replied with a break of 56 only to see himself miss the final blue again off its spot to enable Ebdon to go on and win the frame. Ebdon again got in first in the seventh frame with a break of 62 only to miss a pink off its spot when trying to force open the pack of reds, but the outcome was different this time as Higgins stepped in with a coolly taken clearance of 69 to go into a 5-2 lead. A break of 78 from Higgins won him the next frame, and he wrapped up a solid first session performance with a break of 55 to take the frame for a five-frame advantage and requiring just three second session frames.
It was the 26-year-old from Wishaw in Scotland who got in first however in the first frame of the second session. A break of 40 giving him the early advantage, but Ebdon could not capitalize on the opportunity he got – only being able to make 18 points before missing a red into the top-right hand pocket. Higgins punished that mistake with two further visits to the table to extend his lead to 8-2. Ebdon was now playing for pride and and this was reflected in the next frame when he went all-out for a maximum 147 break only to unfortunately miss a tricky red along the top cushion after taking eight reds with eight blacks. That break of 64 helped him to take the frame and he cut Higgins' lead to 8-3. Ebdon had now gone into an attacking mode hoping to make inroads into Higgins' lead, but an attempt at a two-red combination shot went hopelessly wrong and scattered the pack of reds around the table. Higgins held himself superbly and picked off the reds for a break of 79 to make it 9-3. Higgins got in first again in the thirteenth frame with a break of 41, though missed a black off its spot. After some safety exchanges Higgins misses a long straight red into the top-right hand pocket, but Ebdon can only score 28 off the chance he was presented with and Higgins replies with a break of 20 to leave Ebdon needing snookers which he could not get to take his second Irish Masters title. After the disappointing performances at the recent China Open and Thailand Masters Higgins, Higgins was in a much happier mood after his successful 2002 Citywest Irish Masters campaign and to also have his wife Denise and six-month-old son Pierce with him.
"It was more that I wanted to be at home with the family and having them here has really helped me this week. "I'm not sure I'll be bringing Pierce to every tournament though – he's hard work!" Higgins was surprised by the Ebdon's performance in the final. "I was expecting a tough match but luckily for me, Peter didn't play anywhere near the way he can play in the final." I haven't always played my best stuff in Ireland but that's my second title now and the fans here are second to none," admitted Higgins, who also collected about $4,400 for compiling the highest break of the tournament – a total clearance of 140 during his semifinal encounter with Matthew Stevens. Ebdon, who pocketed a check for around $33,400 for his efforts, was very complimentary toward Higgins after his comprehensive defeat. "In my opinion, it has taken one of the greatest players the game has ever seen to beat me this week. I really do think John is the best match player in the game – he's a fantastic champion. "I've got a very good record against him but it counts for nothing if you don't play well enough and I didn't. "I've played well this week however and I can take the positives from the fact that I've beaten some good players."
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A delighted John Higgins
Peter Ebdon was completely