2024 Northern Ireland Open


The 2024 Northern Ireland Open was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 to 27 October 2024 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the seventh ranking event of the 202425 season, the second of four tournaments in the season's Home Nations Series. The event was broadcast by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe and by other broadcasters internationally. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £550,400 and a place in the 2024 Champion of Champions invitational event.
Judd Trump was the defending champion, having defeated Chris Wakelin 93 in the previous year's final. Trump lost 39 to Kyren Wilson in the final. Wilson claimed his first Northern Ireland Open title and the eighth ranking title of his professional career.
The event produced 60 century breaks, 22 during the qualifying rounds and 38 at the main stage. Trump and Mark Williams both made breaks of 143, the highest of the tournament.

Format

The event took place from 20 to 27 October 2024 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Qualifying took place on 28 and 29 September 2024 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England.
The WST implemented a new format for the four Home Nations events this season. In qualifying round one, players seeded 6596 face those seeded 97128. In qualifying round two, the 32 round one winners play those seeded 3364. The 32 round two winners then play the top 32 seeds.
All matches were played as the best of 7 until the quarterfinals, which were the best of 9. The semifinals were the best of 11, and the final was a best of 17 frame match played over two.
The qualifying rounds were broadcast by Discovery+ in Europe and by the CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin and Huya Live in China. They were available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.
The main stages were broadcast by Eurosport, Discovery+ and DMAX in Europe ; by the CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin and Huya Live in China; by Now TV in Hong Kong; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; by TrueVision in Thailand; by TAP in the Philippines; and by Sportcast in Taiwan. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.

Prize fund

The tournament winner received the Alex Higgins trophy. The breakdown of prize money for the event, an increase of £123,400 from the previous event, is shown below:
  • Winner: £100,000
  • Runner-up: £45,000
  • Semi-final: £21,000
  • Quarter-final: £13,200
  • Last 16: £9,000
  • Last 32: £5,400
  • Last 64: £3,600
  • Last 96: £1,000
  • Highest break: £5,000
  • Total: £550,400

    Summary

Qualifying rounds

Round 1

The first round took place on 28 September as the best of 7. Oliver Lines played in the semi final of the British Open on 28 September, so his match against Joshua Cooper was held over to the main venue in Belfast, where he beat Cooper 42. Jimmy White beat Paul Deaville 43 and Stan Moody beat Dylan Emery 42. Marco Fu withdrew from the event, so reigning women's world champion Bai Yulu was given a walkover to the next round.

Round 2

The second round took place on 29 September as the best of 7 frames. Ricky Walden's match against the winner of the match between Lines and Cooper was held over to the main venue in Belfast, where Lines beat Walden 42.

Final rounds

Last 64

The last 64 matches were played from 20 to 22 October as the best of 7 frames. Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew from the event, giving opponent Long Zehuang a walkover into the last 32.
In the afternoon session on 20 October Judd Trump whitewashed Ishpreet Singh Chadha, Matthew Selt beat Lyu Haotian 41, and Moody recovered from 02 down to beat Ryan Day 43. In the evening session Louis Heathcote beat 5th seed Mark Selby 43, Shaun Murphy recovered from 02 down to beat Jiang Jun 42, and Mark Davis beat 9th seed Gary Wilson 41. In the afternoon session on 21 October Neil Robertson defeated Graeme Dott 43, Jimmy Robertson beat Xiao Guodong 42, and Martin O'Donnell beat 11th seed Zhang Anda 43. Tian Pengfei defeated 12th seed Si Jiahui 42, and White beat Hossein Vafaei also by 42. In the final frame of the match between White and Vafaei, referee Kevin Dabrowski called an unusual on Vafaei when, with, he placed the slightly outside of the. In the evening session Mark Allen whitewashed Liu Hongyu, John Higgins beat Fan Zhengyi 42, and Wang Yuchen defeated Jack Lisowski 43. In the morning session on 22 October Ma Hailong beat 10th seed Ali Carter 41, and Lines beat Wu Yize also by 41. In the afternoon session Chris Wakelin beat Bulcsú Révész 42, and Kyren Wilson beat David Grace 43. Noppon Saengkham beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 43, and Mark Williams whitewashed Jamie Clarke.

Last 32

The last 32 matches were played on 22 and 23 October as the best of 7 frames. In the evening session on 22 October Murphy recovered from 02 behind to beat Zhou Yuelong 42, Trump defeated Selt 42, Heathcote beat Jimmy Robertson 41, Tian beat Robert Milkins 41, and Stuart Bingham whitewashed Davis. In the morning session on 23 October Pang Junxu beat 6th seed Luca Brecel 41, and Lei Peifan beat 13th seed Tom Ford also by 41. In the afternoon session Lines beat 3rd seed Allen 43, O'Donnell defeated White 42, and Elliot Slessor beat Long 42. Ma defeated Wakelin 41, and Barry Hawkins beat Higgins 42. In the 23 October evening session Moody whitewashed Jak Jones, Kyren Wilson beat Anthony McGill 43, Neil Robertson whitewashed Wang, and Williams defeated Saengkham 41, making a 143 in the third frame, the highest break of the tournament, which was later equalled by Trump.

Last 16

The last 16 matches were played on 24 October as the best of 7 frames. In the afternoon session Murphy beat Bingham 43, and Pang whitewashed O'Donnell. Williams defeated Ma 42, and Kyren Wilson beat Moody 41. In the evening session Neil Robertson beat Lines and Slessor beat Lei, both by 41. Trump defeated Hawkins 41, and Heathcote beat Tian 42.

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals were played on 25 October as the best of 9 frames. In the afternoon session Pang beat Neil Robertson 54, making a 129 total clearance in the. Kyren Wilson defeated Williams 51, making a 135 break in the 4th frame. In the evening session Trump beat Murphy 51, making breaks of 128 and 125 in the 4th and 5th frames, and Slessor beat Heathcote, also by 51.

Semi finals

The semi-finals were played on 26 October as the best of 11 frames. In the afternoon session Kyren Wilson beat Pang 64. After the match Wilson said: "I showed a little bit of emotion at the end, because I've never managed to make the one table setup here at the Waterfront. As soon as I walked out today I thought, wow, what an arena and what a crowd. This is definitely one of the best venues I've ever played in. I was desperate to make the final so I'm delighted to do that." In the evening session Trump whitewashed Slessor. After the match Trump said: "One of the best arenas you can play in, I had plenty left in the tank. I felt very relaxed out there. The table is a good test for everyone. The table conditions play so good here. I love playing here. The table is so reactive."

Final

The final was played on 27 October as the best of 17 frames, played over two. World number one Trump faced world number two Wilson. At the end of the afternoon session Wilson led Trump 71, having taken the first seven frames. Wilson went on to win the match 93. After the match Wilson said: "We all know Judd is capable of reeling frames off in a row. It was about doing the right things. I turned up an hour before this evening's session when nobody would have blamed me for turning up ten minutes before thinking it was won. You can't allow that to happen against Judd." Trump said: "I want to thank everyone for their support tonight. It was always going to be difficult to come back from 71 down, but I got an amazing reception. Kyren was too good today. The way he has bounced back after winning the World Championship is inspiring. I hope we can have many more battles."

Main draw

The results of the main draw are shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding and players in bold denote match winners.

Top half

Bottom half

Final

Qualifying rounds

The results of the early rounds are shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding, an "a" indicates amateur players who were not on the main World Snooker Tour, and players in bold denote match winners.



Century breaks

Main stage centuries

A total of 38 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament in Belfast.
  • 143, 141, 128, 125, 112, 105 Judd Trump
  • 143 Mark Williams
  • 139 John Higgins
  • 137 Ma Hailong
  • 135, 119, 110 Kyren Wilson
  • 131, 112 Anthony McGill
  • 129, 129, 118 Pang Junxu
  • 121, 101 Stuart Bingham
  • 119 Long Zehuang
  • 118, 104, 103 Shaun Murphy
  • 117 He Guoqiang
  • 115 Lei Peifan
  • 113 David Gilbert
  • 112 Rory Thor
  • 111 Zhou Yuelong
  • 110 Robert Milkins
  • 108, 105, 103 Stan Moody
  • 107, 105, 100 Neil Robertson
  • 103, 103 Martin O'Donnell
  • 103 Elliot Slessor

    Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 22 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Sheffield.