Irish Professional Championship 1982

Irish Professional Championship 1982 Smithwick’s Irish Professional Championship
Tournament type:	Non-ranking
Attendees:	8th
Venue:	Riverside Theater , Coleraine , Northern Ireland
Opening:	March 9, 1982
Endgame:	March 13, 1982
Defending champion:	Dennis Taylor
Winner:	Dennis Taylor
Finalist:	Alex Higgins
Highest Break:	129 ( Dennis Taylor )
← 1981   1983 →

The 1982 Smithwick’s Irish Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament with no impact on the world rankings to determine the Irish professional champions. It was played from March 9 to March 13, 1982 as part of the 1981/82 season at the Riverside Theater of Coleraine in Northern Ireland . The winner was defending champion Dennis Taylor , who defeated Alex Higgins 16:13 in the final of the tournament, which was held for the first time with more than two players . Taylor also played the highest break of the tournament with a 129 break.

Prize money

Increasing the number of entries from two to eight tripled the prize pool to £ 8,500 , of which approximately one two-fifths went to the winner. For the second time in tournament history since 1979 , Smithwick’s Brewery sponsored the tournament.

Tournament course

For the first time in tournament history, the Irish champions were not determined in a challenge match, instead a total of eight players competed against each other in three rounds and a final. First four tournament participants competed against one of these before, in the second round, Jackie Rea, the long-time winner, and Patsy Fagan, a player who had lost three times in previous editions, were added. The two winners from these games met in the third round against ex-world champion and multiple winner Alex Higgins as well as the winner of the last two editions, Dennis Taylor . Up to this round, all games were played in the best of 11 frames mode before a maximum of 31 frames could be played in the final.

First round best of 6 frames

Second round best of 6 frames

Semi-final Best of 6 frames

Final Best of 31 frames

Tommy Murphy

6th

Billy Kelly

1

Tommy Murphy

6th

Patsy Fagan

2

Tommy Murphy

0

Dennis Taylor

6th

Dennis Taylor

16

Alex Higgins

13

Eugene Hughes

6th

Dessie Sheehan

1

Eugene Hughes

6th

Jackie Rea

0

Eugene Hughes

2

Alex Higgins

6th

final

Dennis Taylor had taken over the title in 1980 from Alex Higgins , who had won the previous three editions, and defended it against Patsy Fagan in 1981 . Now there was a new edition of the final game from 1980 and 1978, when Higgins had defeated Taylor 21: 7.

Taylor got better into the game and took a 2-0 lead before Higgins cut it to 2-1 and 3-2. Taylor, however, extended his lead to 7-2 and after a frame gain by Higgins to 9-3. After Higgins cut to 9: 4, Taylor restored the old gap before Higgins cut it again, this time to 11: 8. Taylor then extended his lead to 14: 8, before his opponent won five frames in a row to 14:13. With an 81:18 Taylor prevented Higgins from equalizing shortly afterwards and with a 56 break in the next frame, which he won 75:48, he won the match and for the third time in a row, but also overall, the tournament.

Finale: Best of 31 Frames Riverside Theater ,  Coleraine , Northern Ireland , March 12th and 13th, 1982
Dennis Taylor	16 : 13	Alex Higgins
66 : 53, 80 : 18 (80), 11: 90 , 85 : 53, 64: 68 , 65 : 63, 130 : 7 (129), 109 : 35 (61), 95 : 30, 15: 72 , 82 : 22, 76 : 0, 24: 73 , 28: 72 , 67 : 59, 55 : 22, 12: 54 , 55: 71 , 0: 114 (74), 78 : 23, 60 : 34, 63 : 6, 15: 77 , 39: 58 , 37: 71 , 33: 79 (53), 39: 65 , 81 : 18, 75 : 48 (56)
129	Highest break	74
1	Century breaks	-
4th	50+ breaks	2

Century Break

During the tournament, three players each played a century break .

• Dennis Taylor : 129
• Alex Higgins : 108
• Tommy Murphy : 101

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Ron Florax: 1982 Irish Professional Championship. CueTracker.net, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: 1982 Irish Professional Championship - Finishes. CueTracker.net, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Turner: Irish Professional Championship - Non Ranking Event open to professionals from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland only. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on April 18, 2016 ; accessed on April 8, 2019 .