O’Brien into Dublin semis
Fergal O’Brien held his nerve to clinch a place in the vcpoker.ie Irish Professional Championship semi-finals in Dublin today.
The Dubliner defeated Antrim’s Mark Allen 5-4 after compiling a break of 69 in the deciding frame.
The match had been a closely-fought affair which stood at 2-2 at the interval before O’Brien potted a respotted black to edge the fifth frame.
Allen, the world number 29, compiled breaks of 50 and 52 to move 4-3 ahead but O’Brien came from behind to win the eighth and clinched the decider in one visit.
O’Brien, a former world number nine, rose nine places to 37th at the end of last season – his first climb up the rankings in seven years.
He was helped by a run to the last 16 of the World Championship at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.
“Going up in the rankings gave me a boost because it meant I started the new campaign in a positive frame of mind,” said O’Brien, the 1999 British Open champion.
“Other players would have been aware of that as well so are maybe not as keen to play me this year as they were last season.”
Ken Doherty, the defending champion, faces the North’s Gerard Greene in Saturday’s first semi-final.
