Neal Foulds snooker column: ITV and Eurosport pundit with Northern Ireland preview and Hong Kong Masters reflections

After all the excitement of the Hong Kong Masters, the snooker season continues to gather pace with focus shifting to Belfast for the Northern Ireland Open.

This is the first of the Home Nations events this season and I have to say, my favourite, just ahead of the Welsh Open which was of course established long before the Home Nations Series began seven years ago.

I do think this one is number one, mainly because of the venue at Waterfront Hall which is the best venue in the city and always helps produce a brilliant atmosphere. Last year’s final between Mark Allen and John Higgins was a pulsating match and the crowd certainly played their part.

Higgins would eventually lose that match having appeared almost certain to come out on top at one stage, and that loss seemed to set the precedent for the rest of his season which saw him lose in three more finals.

Both he and Allen received plenty of support that night, though, and the tournament is very well supported every year. The people of Belfast love their snooker – and in the likes of Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins, Northern Ireland has produced some of the great stars of the sport – so I’m looking forward to another enjoyable week.

I’ll be very interested to see how Allen goes in his title defence, because he was the best player at the British Open until falling away in that final session against Ryan Day.

Allen played so well to beat the likes of Judd Trump and Mark Selby there and when he’s in that sort of form, we know what a good player he is. He can be devastating, particularly around the black spot, and having worked hard to lose some weight over the summer, I’m hopeful he can maintain his form.

Robertson on the radar

He looks to have an obvious chance again, but I must confess to being more interested in how Neil Robertson goes – for several reasons.

I think Robertson will be keyed up to do well this week, or at least he should be, because this is actually the first ranking event he will have contested all season.

He won the Mixed Doubles with Mink Nutcharut and was involved in a very good semi-final at the Hong Kong Masters last week, but he hasn’t picked up a single ranking point yet this term.

That matters because the Players Series on ITV – Robertson won two of those events and made the final of another last season – comes up after Christmas and Robertson needs to pull his finger out in order to qualify for those tournaments.

He certainly needs a deep run in a ranking event somewhere because those two wins last year don’t count for anything when it comes to qualifying again, and I also think it is significant that this is the only one of the Home Nations events to still elude him.

Robertson has won just about everything else in the game and I remember interviewing after winning last year’s English Open, when I thought I detected a glint in his eye when the conversation moved to the Northern Ireland Open and the possibility of him completing the Home Nations clean sweep.

He’s not a machine who can turn it on when he wants, but I think the Australian will be motivated to do well in Belfast.

Another man who always seems to be motivated to perform at Waterfront Hall is Judd Trump, winner of the Northern Ireland Open three years in a row between 2018 and 2020. He can’t beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 in the final this year, just as he did in each of those victories, with the pair being drawn in the same half this time.

I thought he looked in good form at the British Open where Allen halted his run with a dazzling display, though whether he’s in quite the same shape as when dominating this event a few years back, I’m not so sure.

O'Sullivan thrills in Hong Kong

Another potential clash with O’Sullivan is always something to look forward to, though, and it will be interesting to see what O’Sullivan we get in Belfast after he claimed the Hong Masters crown last week.

As always, put O’Sullivan on the big stage and he will come good – his record speaks for itself in that respect. Clearly some events don’t do it for him nowadays, and he has only won one Home Nations event, back in 2017, but he revelled in front of a massive crowd in Hong Kong.

He played some good stuff out there, too. His comeback win against Robertson, having had to watch his opponent make three consecutive centuries, was most impressive, and he came through that first real test of the season with flying colours.

And the final was no easy game against home favourite Marco Fu who was riding on the crest of a wave following his 147 maximum break against John Higgins in the semi-finals.

The century O’Sullivan made to close out the final was just superb, with pink and black tied up, but he’s back to business this week where, once again, everyone will be gunning for the biggest scalp in snooker.

As for Hong Kong, I thought the event was a resounding success. It was a landmark moment when you consider that China was hosting five events before the pandemic, and that this was the first snooker seen in that part of the world since.

The week had everything from record crowds, a maximum break, Fu’s renaissance, and then O’Sullivan thrilling fans in a way only he can.

It must have been a great buzz for the players to experience that, playing in front of 9,000 fans. I played my old mate Jimmy White in front of 3,000 fans in the final of this same event in 1988 and it was a real thrill. Jimmy won the match 6-3, but I’ve just about forgiven him now!

Before I sign off, I do want to touch on the Snooker Legends 900 which I’ve been covering this week.

I must say, it’s been so enjoyable to be involved with and I think it’s been a big boost to the amateur game which has been struggling a little bit over the last few years.

We’ve had such a diverse group of players, from 79-year-old David Taylor to Jasmine Bolsover, a very good female player who impressed.

Taylor did brilliantly to win a match, and then played an opponent 60 years his junior in another match. In fact, that opponent was Alfie Lee, son of former professional Stephen Lee who many will remember as being a top player.

It’s an unconventional format, but there is lots of interest in it and it has been great to be a part of.

We won’t have anyone quite as old as Taylor competing in Northern Ireland, but O’Sullivan continues to clock up the miles, and the trophies, though I do wonder if it will be Robertson who is the toast of Belfast City a week on Sunday.

Related links

• Richard Mann's Northern Ireland Open preview
• Neal Foulds on Ryan Day's British Open success