Irish Masters 1979

Irish Masters 1979 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1979
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	6th
Venue:	Goffs, Kill , Ireland
Opening:	1st February 1979
Endgame:	4th February 1979
Defending champion:	John Spencer
Winner:	Doug Mountjoy
Finalist:	Ray Reardon
Highest Break:	121 ( John Spencer )
← 1978   1980 →

The 1979 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters was a professional snooker invitation tournament for the 1978/79 season . It was held from February 1st to 4th, 1979 in the Goffs of the Irish village of Kill . The winner was last year's finalist Doug Mountjoy , who defeated Ray Reardon in a decider in an all-Welsh final . Defending champion John Spencer lost to Reardon in the semifinals, but played the tournament's highest break with 121 points in the group stage .

Prize money

The prize pool increased by £ 4,300 compared to last year , with a third of the £ 6,000 going to the winner. In addition, for the first time all participants received prize money.

	Prize money
winner	£ 2,000
finalist	£ 1,200
Semi-finalist	£ 800
Group third	£ 500
Highest break	£ 200
All in all	£ 6,000

Tournament course

Compared to the previous year, the number of participants has increased from five to six.

Group stage

A group stage was played before the knockout round . In two groups of three, each player competed twice against the other two on the first two days of the tournament.

Group 1

space	player	G	U	V	Frames
1	Ray Reardon	3	0	1	6: 2
2	Alex Higgins	1	2	1	4: 4
3	Cliff Thorburn	0	2	2	2: 6

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Ray Reardon	20: 20	Alex Higgins
2	Ray Reardon	02 : 02	Cliff Thorburn
3	Alex Higgins	1: 1	Cliff Thorburn
4th	Ray Reardon	02 : 02	Alex Higgins
5	Ray Reardon	02 : 02	Cliff Thorburn
6th	Alex Higgins	1: 1	Cliff Thorburn

Group 2

space	player	G	U	V	Frames
1	Doug Mountjoy	2	2	0	6: 2
2	John Spencer	1	2	1	4: 4
3	Patsy Fagan	0	2	2	2: 6

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
1	Doug Mountjoy	02 : 02	John Spencer
2	Doug Mountjoy	02 : 02	Patsy Fagan
3	John Spencer	1: 1	Patsy Fagan
4th	Doug Mountjoy	1: 1	John Spencer
5	Doug Mountjoy	1: 1	Patsy Fagan
6th	John Spencer	02 : 02	Patsy Fagan

Semifinals and finals

The mode in the final changed to Best of 11 frames , but the semi-final mode remained the same. The semi-finals were played on February 3rd and the final on February 4th.

	Semi-final best of 5 frames				Final Best of 11 frames
	Doug Mountjoy	3
	Alex Higgins	1
					Doug Mountjoy	6th
					Ray Reardon	5
	Ray Reardon	3
	John Spencer	2

final

The favorite Ray Reardon took the lead with clear results with 0: 3, before Doug Mountjoy equalized to 3: 3 with sometimes relatively tight frames. Reardon won the next two frames, but Mountjoy saved himself with the 5-5 equalization in the decider . Mountjoy won this with 53:34.

Finale: Best of 11 Frames Goffs ,  Kill , Ireland , February 4th 1979
Doug Mountjoy	6 : 5	Ray Reardon
37: 77 (66), 28: 86 , 10: 68 , 106 : 5, 69 : 48, 70 : 53, 53: 66 , 43: 65 , 66 : 36, 82 : 38, 53 : 34
-	Highest break	66
-	Century breaks	-
-	50+ breaks	1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ron Florax: 1979 Irish Masters. CueTracker.net, accessed July 7, 2019 .  
2. ↑ Ron Florax: 1979 Irish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed March 20, 2019 .