Northern Ireland Trophy
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The Northern Ireland Trophy is a professional snooker tournament. It began as an invitational event introduced for the 2005/06 season and was contested by 20 players. From the 2006/07 season, it is a full ranking event, attended by the world's top 32 players plus 16 qualifiers.
The event is the first ranking tournament to be held in Northern Ireland and has been staged as part of World Snooker's continuing efforts to popularise the game in more territories.
The tournament currently takes place at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. It has been the opening event of the season, other than in 2007 when it was held in November. Prize money for 2006 totalled £200,500 ($387,586) with the winner receiving £30,000 ($57,992).
In the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy Ronnie O'Sullivan, broke a world record during his semi-final against Dominic Dale. He won the match in 53 minutes of play, which was the fastest ever time in best-of-11 match.
[edit] Winners
| Year | Winner | Opponent | Final score | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| non-ranking | ||||
| 2005 |  Matthew Stevens |
 Stephen Hendry |
9 - 7 | 2005/06 |
| ranking | ||||
| 2006 |  Ding Junhui |
 Ronnie O'Sullivan |
9 - 6 | 2006/07 |
| 2007 | Stephen Maguire |
 Fergal O'Brien |
9 - 5 | 2007/08 |
| 2008 | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
Dave Harold |
9 - 3 | 2008/09 |
