Irish Professional Championship 1978 (April)
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Irish Professional Championship 1978 Benson & Hedges Irish Professional Championship 1978 
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| Tournament type: | Non-ranking tournament |
| Attendees: | 2 |
| Venue: | Ulster Hall , Belfast |
| Opening: | April 13, 1978 |
| Endgame: | April 13-15, 1978
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| Defending champion: |
 Alex Higgins
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| Winner: |
Alex Higgins
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| Finalist: |
 Patsy Fagan
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| Highest Break: | 78 ( Alex Higgins )
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← 1978
1979 →
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The 1978 Benson & Hedges Irish Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament as part of the 1977/78 without affecting the world rankings. The tournament was played as a second edition in 1978 as a challenge match at Ulster Hall in Belfast , Northern Ireland . The winner was defending champion Alex Higgins , who defeated the Irish challenger Patsy Fagan 21:13. Higgins also played the tournament's highest break with a 78 break.
The game
31 years after first running in 1978, the Irish Professional Championship was still designed on a challenge basis. With only one interruption, the tournament was dominated by Jackie Rea for 25 years , but he lost the title to Alex Higgins in 1972. After Dennis Taylor failed in February 1978, the Irish Patsy Fagan tried his luck as a challenger.
The Higgins-Fagan game, sponsored by Benson & Hedges , took place in Belfast's Ulster Hall from April 13-15, 1978 . The game was played in the best of 41 frames mode. Fagan had the better start and took a 4-1 lead. In the following a cat-and-mouse game developed, because Higgins always came close to Fagan, but Fagan was able to defend his lead again and again and briefly expand it. Only when the score was 8: 9, Higgins was able to take the lead himself after the equalization and expanded it to 13: 9. In the following, Fagan only occasionally won a total of four frames, while Higgins won one frame after the other. In the end, the defending champion won 21:13.
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Final: Best of 41 Frames Ulster Hall , Belfast , Northern Ireland , April 13-15, 1978 |
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Alex Higgins
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21 : 13 |
Patsy Fagan
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77 : 22, 58: 69 , 20: 63 , 31: 80 , 2: 85 (56), 70 : 41, 79 : 35, 55 : 46, 8: 53 , 52: 70 (F. 50), 88 : 22 (53), 46: 60 , 66: 67 , 112 : 15 (50, 62), 46 : 44, 54 : 38 11: 68 , 89 : 27, 82 : 25, 62 : 45, 111 : 8 (78 ), 75 : 9, 30: 84 (69), 107 : 24 (53), 60 : 50, 64 : 40, 34: 67 , 74 : 37, 110 : 23 (64), 56: 76 (F. 51 ), 56 : 39, 97 : 22, 13: 83 , 82 : 16 |
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| 78 | Highest break | 69 |
| - | Century breaks | - |
| 6th | 50+ breaks | 4th |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chris Turner: Irish Professional Championship - Non Ranking Event open to professionals from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland only. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on April 18, 2016 ; accessed on July 16, 2020 (English).
- ^ Ron Florax: 1978 Irish Professional Championship. CueTracker.net, accessed on July 16, 2020 .