Doherty - runaway 9-2 victory in Cardiff. (Allsport)

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Ken Doherty stormed back to snooker prominence by cruising to the Regal Welsh Open title at Cardiff International Arena.

The 31-year-old Irishman, who originally broke through by winning the tournament in 1993, secured his fourth ranking event success with a runaway 9-2 victory over Paul Hunter.

It was the first time that Doherty, in the doldrums for the opening four months of the campaign, has got his name engraved on a trophy since he triumphed at the Rothmans Malta Grand Prix last February.

"The most important thing for me is to be a winner again," said a delighted Doherty, whose path to the title saw him get the better of Stephen Hendry, the seven-times world champion, and Mark Williams, current holder of the game's blue riband, in the quarter and semi-finals.

"It's been eight years since I had this on my mantelpiece and its great that it's going back there after all this time.

"Beating Stephen was a real boost, I pinched a few frames out there, scored quite heavily and I'm back on the rostrum. I couldn't be happier."

Doherty, due to marry fiance Sarah Prasad - an Australian born, Dublin-based psychiatrist - this summer, added: "She's a major part of my life and I can't wait to celebrate with her."

It was his first world ranking event win on British soil since he ended Hendry's 29-match unbeaten record in the final of the 1997 Embassy World Championship.

By taking the opener 63-1, Doherty scored five more points than the meagre 58 he managed to scrape together during a 5-0 drubbing by Hunter in the last 16 of December's China Open.

A 71 break pushed him 2-1 ahead but Hunter, a Regal Welsh specialist having battled through to the semi-finals in 1996 as a 17-year-old and champion two years later, then tied the scores at 2-2.

However frame five proved vital as Doherty audaciously potted the blue, doubled the pink to a middle pocket and added the black for 3-2. It was to be the launch of a seven-frame winning burst to the line.

By reaching the final, the 31-year-old was forced to withdraw from a charity football engagement in his native Dublin where former Irish defender Paul McGrath and Boyzone member Keith Duffy were to be among his team-mates.

But Doherty was not complaining as he controlled a scrappy sixth frame to prise open a two-frame gap at 4-2.

Hunter was presented with a clear-cut opportunity to halve that deficit in the next but he expensively missed a testing last red to a top corner bag and Doherty, growing stronger and more self-assured by the frame, cleared to the blue.

And 5-2 swiftly became 6-2 as Doherty, back to form with a vengeance after a low-key first half of the campaign, finished the afternoon in considerable style with a 125 break.

There was to be no relief for Hunter on the resumption as Doherty edged the first frame of the evening on the blue, compiled breaks of 43 and 56 for 8-2 and put the lid on a satisfying result with a run of 69.

The session lasted only 48 minutes and Hunter offered no excuses for such a heavy defeat.

"I missed too many easy balls, it was as simple as that," said the 22-year-old from Leeds.

"Things just wouldn't go my way and I didn't cue as well as I've been doing.

"The turning point was the fifth frame. I should've won it but it slipped away and after that I didn't get into the match.

"Ken didn't play his best but he was solid enough to beat me. Its all part of the learning experience."