Mark Allen has been crowned Northern Ireland Open champion for the first time following a fantastic comeback victory against John Higgins.

Allen, who hails from Northern Ireland, fought back from 8-6 down against the four-times world champion to get his hands on the Alex Higgins Trophy for the first time after years of trying.

In what will go down as one of snooker’s great finals, Allen – buoyed on by an electric Belfast crowd – played determined and gutsy snooker just when he needed to after Higgins looked at one stage to be destined for what would have been his 32nd ranking title.

Allen also takes home a cheque for £70,000 which places him back inside the top 10 of the world rankings.

His major success came a week after he recorded a superb 147 maximum break in his opening round match.

More to follow……