Newly crowned Northern Ireland Open champion Mark Williams says linking up with new coach Steve Feeney is one of the reasons why he is playing his best snooker in years.

The Welshman ended a long six-year wait for a world ranking title on Sunday when he came back from behind to defeat 17-year-old Yan Bingtao 9-8 in Belfast.

The final was a thrilling contest and will go down as one of the matches of the season so far.

But speaking after lifting the Alex Higgins Trophy for the first time, two-times world champion Williams said Feeney had played a huge part in finding consistency once again.

Steve Feeney (right) with 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham

Feeney is known as the inventor/creator of SightRightUK – a revolutionary coaching method used in snooker, golf and darts which develops players’ eye-coordination with aiming.

And Williams has certainly found more consistency in his game since joining up with Feeney earlier this year. So far this season the Welsh number one star has made at least the quarter-final stages on six of the eight major ranking titles held so far. He has also won the Six Red World Championship and ended last season on a high reaching the final of the China Open.

Feeney has worked with several snooker stars and in 2015 played a huge part in Stuart Bingham’s career transforming him from a decent player into a world champion.

Williams said: “Up until six or eight months ago I thought I was never going to get another title. I have changed coach to Steve Feeney and he has helped me loads.”

Previously Williams said: “Stephen’s SightRight tests and the things we have talked about and put in place in my game have made huge sense. I soon found out that Stephen’s technical knowledge is extensive and the results in practice using SightRight Methods have been fantastic.”

Here in a World Snooker video filmed after Williams’s win over Neil Robertson in the European Maters, the Welshman explains how Feeney has improved his game.