But the 38-year-old showed only glimpses of the form which took him to the final of the British Open last September and to the semi-finals of the Grand Prix a few weeks later.

White's 6-4 defeat by Glaswegian Alan McManus means he now has only next month's Scottish Open to play for after failing to qualify for the final stages of the Embassy World Championship.

"I just want to go up to Aberdeen and get the season out of the way," groaned the Whirlwind.

"I love playing in Ireland but not qualifying for the Crucible made it very difficult for me. I'm going on holiday as soon as the world championship starts because I can't bear to watch on television.

"But if Ronnie O'Sullivan gets into the semi-finals I will go up and watch him."

McManus, a member of Scotland's triumphant Nations Cup side, never looked back after taking control of the early stages.

He won a high-scoring first frame and comfortably took the second for a 2-0 advantage. White, who gained his only Irish Masters wins in 1985 and 1986, flickered into life to capture frame three.

But he again trailed by two at the mid-session interval as McManus rolled in the first century of the 12-man competition - a 102 - to lead 3-1.

White's 51 when the match resumed was matched by McManus's own half century to leave the score 4-2 with five to play.

Trailing in the seventh, the six-times world championship runner-up potted the last red up to the last blue to again trim his deficit to just one.

But world number eight McManus refused to yield the initiative. The next two frames were shared until the Scot's contribution of 81 took him through to the quarter-finals of the £195,000 event.

Seven times world champion Stephen Hendry, a Masters winner at Goffs two years ago, stands between McManus and the last four.

"Jimmy didn't play well," acknowledged McManus. "He made quite a few mistakes and I took advantage.

"You can tell Jimmy is gutted that he's not at Sheffield but I just had to concentrate on my own job today."