Stephen Maguire won his first ranking title in more than seven years after an accomplished performance proved too good for his close friend Mark Allen.

The Scot ended his long wait for major silverware by beating the former Masters winner 10-6 on Friday – his first major ranking trophy since lifting the Welsh Open in February 2013.

His success continues a brilliant 2019/20 season so far which has seen him win the Six Red World Championship, the World Cup with John Higgins and reach the final of the UK Championship.

And this latest feat is somewhat remarkable given that Maguire initially did not qualify for the event and was only invited due to Ding Junhui’s withdrawal. Had Ding entered as planned, Maguire would have been watching the tournament on the TV.

But the Glaswegian certainly took his opportunity by beating Neil Robertson, Judd Trump and Allen to take home the trophy and the £150,000 winning prize.

The victory also gave him the Coral Cup and meant an additional prize of £100,000.

Stephen Maguire. Picture by Monique Limbos

And if that wasn’t enough he managed to take the highest break prize of £10,000 as well, making it a pay day of £260,000 – his biggest to date.

So what to do with that money? Homes, villas, cars or yachts? Well not quite – Maguire joked he was happy to spend it on socks.

He told Rob Walker before collecting the trophy: “I think everyone is after socks and shoes so we’ll get some stuff like that.”

But more seriously, Maguire was delighted to be back winning a trophy again – something he believed would never happen again while being stuck in the snooker wilderness.

He said: “It’s nuts, I don’t know what to say because, obviously not being in the tournament, I wasn’t good enough to be here but I’ve managed to fluke my way to the title.

“I think over the last couple of years I’ve just accepted that I might never win a tournament again and it has kind of eased my expectations.

“I won’t be getting carried away because I’ve won one trophy but it’s a great feeling, unreal.

“I’ve had a great season and this just tops it off and I’m excited about Sheffield (the World Championship) because I can’t have any more confidence going into Sheffield this year.”