The final of the Northern Ireland Open takes place inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Sunday and for the third year in a row the two top ranked players in the game will battle it out for the title when Judd Trump meets Ronnie O’Sullivan.
That means we have the defending champion taking on the world champion in what should be a fantastic exhibition of snooker over the course of two sessions and what could be as many as 17 frames to determine the winner of the second Home Nations title of the season.
Judd Trump
Such has been the excellence with which Judd Trump has been performing recently, he is looking to win this title for a third time in a row and he is also looking to secure back-to-back Home Nations titles having won the English Open earlier in the season. That all tells us that he knows how to come through these events and it would be something of a surprise if he doesn’t win this final even allowing for the fact he is up against the best to have picked up a cue.
Trump has looked pretty good this week. You could argue he hasn’t had the toughest draw in the world given that he is yet to meet a top 16 player but Martin Gould and Luca Brecel are good enough to be in that bracket and he brushed them aside with the minimum of fuss. He has scored well and waited patiently for his chances and deserves to be in this final. His last two performances have been assured and very good so you sense he’s ready for this match.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
It hadn’t been the best of starts to the season for the world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan heading into this week but there has been a sense that he has wanted this title since he walked into the building. Often in the early rounds of these Home Nations events he smashes the balls around and takes his chances but there was none of that this week. Another sign of that is how he has played on in frames he has been dead in to find an action that is capable of getting the job done on that particular day.
Unlike Trump though O’Sullivan has had to dig himself out of a few holes this week. He was 2-1 down to Stevens in the last 32 and should have been 3-1 down but the Welshman missed a black and then Ding Junhui should have had him 3-1 down in the quarter final. He was 3-1 down to Ali Carter in the semi-final before reeling off five frames on the spin but you sense if he falls behind here he might not reel Trump back in so a big start feels essential for the Rocket in this final.
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Head to head
These two have met on 23 previous occasions and it is O’Sullivan who holds a lead in their record 12-11 but if you look at the frame count Trump trails by eight at 143-135 which offers up an insight that when O’Sullivan is on it Trump can’t live with him whereas the world number one tends to win their closer matches. Nine of those 23 matches have been in finals and it is Trump who has the upper hand in that regard. He has won six of their previous finals including the last two in this tournament. Trump has also won three of their last four so there might be a shifting of the guard so to speak.
Betting
I think Ronnie O’Sullivan is up for this week but I expect Judd Trump to deny him here. I say that because to an extent they are very evenly matched in their games but Ronnie’s long game has been absence without leave this week and if he isn’t getting in from distance he either has to wait for his chance, and with Judd’s potting ability he could be waiting some time, or he has to go for a ball he doesn’t fancy and if he misses he is likely to leave himself exposed.
Trump now has a safety game that can create chances against Ronnie and I was interested in him saying after his semi-final win how he is in a place that he feels relaxed playing O’Sullivan. Trump has been the better player of the two to me this week. I’ve felt like Ronnie has been there for the taking but nobody has had the bottle to put him out of his misery. I don’t think Trump will wilt should that opportunity arise. I’ll take the defending champion in what will hopefully be a great final to watch.
Tips
WON – Back J.Trump to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back him here:
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