It was his fourth title of the season, but his first since he won the Stan James British Open last October.

Now Higgins has his sights firmly set on the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where the world championship gets underway on April 20.

Higgins, the 1998 world champion, believes the huge injection of confidence will considerably help him as he shoots for the £260,000 world jackpot.

‘‘I never used to take the Irish Masters seriously because the hospitality is so good and I used to enjoy myself,’’ Higgins said.

‘‘But I realised it would be a good tournament to do well in with the world championship so close.

‘‘I can now go to the Crucible full of confidence. I haven’t played well for the last few months and I wouldn’t have wanted to go to the world championship without a win under my belt.

‘‘Winning there isn’t easy when you’re not sure of your game but this is a real boost for me.’’

Higgins began the 2000/01 campaign by winning the Champions Cup, Regal Masters and Stan James British Open, the first player to capture the opening three titles of a season.

His latter success coincided with the birth of his first son, Pierce, and he opted to help wife Denise with the chores rather than maintain his intensive practice regime.

Higgins paid for this with a glut of bad results, and when he lost 5-3 to Matthew Stevens in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Masters earlier this month, he announced he was no longer enjoying snooker.

‘‘I was emotional when I said that,’’ Higgins now admits. ‘‘I was missing my family so much. I was away for nearly three weeks, which was the longest I’d been apart from Pierce since he was born.

‘‘Having them with me in Dublin was a real bonus and must have helped my snooker because I felt so at ease.’’

Higgins now heads the season’s money list on £414,300, with the Regal Scottish Open in Aberdeen, which starts on April 6, the last event before the game’s top stars head for the Crucible.