Northern Ireland Open snooker 2024 LIVE – John Higgins in action after Mark Allen and Jimmy White crash out

John looks to make the most of a rare error from Hawkins and his confidence soars when a brilliant positional shot off two cushions via a rasping pot on the green to its own pocket lands him bang on a red to the right corner.

A black to the left corner leaves him needing a special pot on a red up to the green pocket, but he can’t execute it and his break ends on 20.

Higgins finds himself in a pickle up in baulk and his initial attempt at the escape sees him foul and miss.

His second is just unlucky as he clips the blue on his way back to baulk and sees the cue ball make a beeline for the yellow pocket.

Hawkins rubs salt in the Scot’s wounds with a three-ball plant from the Dee and then a super yellow, but he can only manage three when a cut on a red down to the right corner misses by some distance.  

Hawkins crunches down the penultimate red from left to right, screwing back for the black.

He’s almost too high on the black as he needs a fine cut to guide it to the left corner.

The final red needs a similar cut from a high position, but he sinks it nicely and knocks the yellow to its home pocket twice in quick succession to once again take charge on the remaining colours.

He recovers position for the brown after knocking in the green with the rest and when the blue follows to middle, it’s all over once again.

The Hawk pops in the pink and doesn’t bother with the black as he moves two frames to the good.

Higgins calmly gets into a bit of rhythm but is soon faced by another situation with a plant.

This time he executes it brilliantly, nudging home a red via the rest down that left rail.

He’s faced by a similar shot with the rest on one red down that same flank seconds later, but this time he can’t find the pot and his run ends abruptly just when it seemed he had his mojo flowing.

Barry coolly knocks in an opening red and rolls a blue to middle left to tee up a red to the left corner via the extended rest.

It’s routine red and blacks from there as he takes advantage of an inviting table to leave John with an unhappy sense of deja vu.

Hawkins’ positional play has been superb, but it goes wrong when he needs to produce a fine cut on a red that leaves him with awkward cueing on the black to the right corner.

It doesn’t go down and now Higgins has an opportunity to regain the impetus.

A miscalculation on a safety from Hawkins allows Higgins to spy a pot on a red that he follows with a yellow up to its home pocket.

The Scot quickly runs out of position and a delicate cut on a red to the right corner still doesn’t enable him to rescue it.

A brilliant cut on the yellow across to the green pocket leaves him in the lap of the gods with a couple of cannons off stray reds south of the pack.

There’s still nothing simple on, but he soon changes that with a splendid long red up to the yellow pocket that finally has him perfect on the black to the right corner.

Red and black follow to the left corner but he comes up short on 26 when a plant on a red to the right corner doesn’t pay off.

The Hawk takes advantage of Higgins’ sloppy snooker that didn’t even sit behind the black as intended, firing a beauty of a long red up to the yellow bag.

He knocks in the final stray reds and is careful with a black to the left corner that allows him to attack a red in the centre of the remainder of the pack. He gets the ricochet he wants via the pot to the right corner and a frame-winning position begins to present.

Higgins can only watch on as Barry polishes off the final reds, working his way to the brown that effectively seals the steal via a pot to the yellow pocket.

Hawkins doesn’t stop there, clearing up with a run of 86, leaving Higgins to rue that poor attempt at the snooker.

It’s the Wizard of Wishaw who shows first in this showdown as he makes good use of the extension to jab away an opening red.

He changes his mind on the green and opts to screw back off a pot on the yellow to its home pocket to land on a red to the middle left.

A routine black to the left corner moves him into double figures and he stays on course with a careful red up to middle left form near the black spot. It leaves him well-placed to knock in the black and pick off the final stray red shy of the pack.

The pot allows him to cannon up into the pack to bring a few more reds into play.

He makes quick work of those but his bid to push beyond the half century goes awry when a cut on a black down to the right corner doesn’t provide the split he was hoping for.

There have been quite a few meetings over the years across all competitions with Higgins edging the match-up 9-7.

John Higgins takes on Barry Hawkins.

The two-time champion and home favourite is OUT.

Allen knocks in a red but misses a wild black to the left corner by some distance. It leaves a red on, but he’s had enough and offers the handshake.

It’s a superb win for Lines with the World No.83 edging out the World No.3.

Allen can’t hide his dismay when a safety attempt to play in-behinds the pink on the left cushion goes wrong.

It leaves it open for Oli to drill a red to the right corner.

He plays safe to baulk but Allen needs a minor miracle now.

He tees up a long red to the right corner with the rest. The ball is just to the left of the pocket. He only needs that to knock out the two-time champion … but he misses by some distance!

Oli knocks in a red and then comes up trumps on a tough, pressure blue down the left rail via the rest.

He slips a routine red to the right corner and ending topside of blue brings him back down for a well-spread lay of reds.

Nerves have been clear with both sets of players and he breathes a sigh of relief when he overcuts a red to the corner but sees it drop in off the far jaw.

He makes no mistake with a similar cut on the blue to middle right and when he follows another red with a black to the left corner, he just needs one more red.

However…. In-keeping with the match as a whole, a nasty ricochet means he’s blocked off on three reds to the right corner and has to play safe.

Close, and yet still so far for the underdog…

Mark guides a lovely red tucked just under the pink up to middle right and earns a ‘Come on’ from the home support.

It doesn’t give him the lift he needs and a pink up to middle left hits the far jaw and stays out!

Allen targets a thin slice of a red furthest east on the bottom rail but fails to nick it on his retreat back to baulk.

He’s surprised when the foul is called and thinks he hit it. He didn’t and Lines puts him back in.

The World No.3 gets a double kiss executing an escape on the second attempt and leaves a long red up to the yellow bag. Oli hammers it down but then misses the blue off the spot and Allen has a lifeline!

RESULT! – White 2-4 O’Donnell

RESULT! – Slessor 4-2 Long Zehuang

The stakes are high and it’s no surprise that it’s cagey for the first few moments of this decisive frame.

Lines has been superb with his long potting today, but he misses one here and thinks it’s crucial.

It isn’t. Allen fails to guide down a routine red up to the yellow pocket and instead the World No.83 gets a big chance to put together a lead.

He plays off the green a couple of times and is able to take care of some stray reds around baulk. The blue also has a nose-bleed up there and he uses the rest to nudge it to the green pocket and get it back on its spot.

He ends up on the far left behind the final red lost in baulk, but can’t guide it home to the green pocket. It was very make-able and the miss offers Allen a lifeline.

A bizarre foul and a miss on a routine safety from baulk from Allen makes it even more unlikely he’ll rescue this.

Lines steps in and nails another top-drawer long red before laying another trap.

Allen’s focus appears to dip and another foul leads him to concede.

Oli is still in with a big shout of the upset here as we head into a one-frame shoot-out.

Oli breaks another cagey impasse with a well-paced long red to the left corner.

There’s nothing on beyond that, so he plays the black safe to the left cushion and makes a comeback even more unlikely for Mark.

RESULT! – Slessor 4-2 Long Zehuang

Lines looks intent on taking this to a decider and produces a delicious, tough red down to the right corner to nudge ever closer.

He then plays safe, knocking the pink to the right cushion and retreating to baulk.

Allen knocks in the stubborn red and attempts to fizz into the pack off a black to the left corner.

It does not pay off as the cue ball rests in the middle of a pack that remains undisturbed and once again the frame develops into an attritional tussle.

Lines spies a long red up to the yellow pocket and guides it straight to the middle of the bag.

He then pings a pink to middle right and with a nice lay of stray reds around the reminder of the pack, an inviting situation begins to develop for him.

He methodically builds a decent lead but is hampered slightly by the fact the blue is now on the yellow spot with the pink where the blue usually resides.

He needs a fine cut on a green up to the yellow bag but misses the cannon into the pack that he was hoping for.

It looks like end of break, but he pulls off a beauty of a long red down the right rail to stay on course.

A simple red to middle left tees up the pink to the opposite pocket that takes him past the half century.

However, a red refuses to drop when he tries to tease it to the right corner via the rest.  

A face-off on the final red ensues with both players coming close to pots that jiggle with the jaws and stay out.

Lines’ miss proves costly as Allen manages to get enough of a cut on a the long red to the yellow pocket to take charge.

A pink tees up the yellow to its home pocket with the green following suit in the opposite direction.

The brown secures a tense frame with Mark clearing up to the black to move within a frame of victory.

RESULT! – Slessor 4-2 Long Zehuang

There’s a lengthy impasse until Lines cuts a belter of a long red to the right corner.

It doesn’t pave the way to an end to this gruelling frame, however, as he can only manage a break of five.

Allen plays a safety behind the blue now close to the bottom rail. It’s not that tricky to escape but Oli makes a hash of it and suddenly it’s The Pistol in the driving seat.

He works his way through a succession of reds but blows the penultimate one along the bottom cushion and his run ends on 16.

Oli cuts it in but opts to play a snooker up in baulk, behind the line of the pink.

Allen swerves his way out of trouble for now, but with one red left this frame remains in the balance.

It’s so tight out there with very little coming easy.

Allen knocks in a red and then a black to the left corner, but can’t develop anything further.

It’s 2-2 and one point in it, you can’t get much closer right now.

Allen gobbles up a far more routine red to the corner and then tickles down a pink before attempting a plant on a red to the left corner.

Lines had turned that down thinking it wouldn’t go, and he was right. Allen can’t find the angle for the pot and the two share a grin and a quick word about it.  

Lines seizes the initiative, popping in an opening red and then making intelligent use of the rest to angle the black to the left corner.

He moves ahead on the board but gets an unfortunate nick off a red jabbing down one to the left corner via the extension and his hopes of landing on the black collapse.

He surveys the table and takes on a stonking long blue to the yellow pocket that is surely the shot of the match so far.

He needs another big pot to keep going but can’t drill a red to the left corner after being hindered in his cue-action by the cushion.

Allen sizzles down a long red to land neatly on the blue across baulk. He jumps back in fear of a miscue but it’s a reaction that has Neal Foulds puzzled on Eurosport comms as it slides gracefully to the green pocket.

The Northern Irishman clearly isn’t too happy with how things are going this afternoon and he can only manage a run of 15 as a bad miss on a routine red to the right corner sums up his game at present.

Mark cuts the final red to the middle right. It pretty much seals the frame so his ensuing miss on the yellow is academic.

It’s two apiece and finely poised, but Lines will feel he had his chances to pull clear there.

It’s gone scrappy again.

Lines fluffs his, er, lines when he fails to clip a blue to the right corner. It was a tricky pot and the miss was all the more disappointing as it left a red on for Mark.

The Pistol takes care of the reds up to the final one that is stuck to the left rail and leaves a lifeline for Oli.

Mark has to play safe behind the black as he moves the red clear, ending on a run of 29.

Lines tries to nudge a tricky plant off a red into the middle left and gets it horribly wrong.

It offers Allen a chance and he duly sinks the red and then pummels down a yellow with deep screw to work his way to a red loose of the pack.

An attempt to split a pack that has somehow moved below the black doesn’t quite leave him on a simple red and he needs a delightful pot along the bottom rail to the left corner to stay on track.

It’s a brief recovery as he follows that with a miss on an easier black to the right corner to come up shy on 22.

Oli flukes a long red to the right corner and gets a delicious nick off a yellow that tees up a simple pot to its home pocket.

He screws back with pace to come down the table and land on a red across to the left corner.

It’s a brilliant cut with power that takes him back up towards baulk where he again feeds upon the yellow, navigating off the upper left cushion to finish nicely on a choice of reds to the right corner.

His position goes awry then and he needs to attack a pink with pace to the middle right. It duly pops back out and his work only pays out a measly run of seven.

Allen needs the snookers, but it’s Lines who produces a beauty, tight behind the black.

Mark plays up to the two remaining reds now in baulk, but leaves one on down to the middle right.

Oli duly sinks it and that’s enough for Allen to concede.

Is there an upset brewing here for the Irishman in front of his home crowd?

It’s a mountain to climb for Allen but he’s game.

Slowly, but surely he begins to eat into Lines’ lead, earning a gasp from the crowd as a slow-paced red to middle right just about makes it and drops.

He offers a cheeky smile and then looks for his first snooker with a safety in-behind the green in baulk.

There’s a shake of the head from Mark as a red up to baulk catches the far jaw of the yellow pocket and pops out.

On Eurosport Comms, Neal Foulds questions whether he was actually attempting a pot there. In any case, he leaves a simple pot on for Lines, who pops away the pink to work his way down to the pack and a black to the right corner.

A delightful pot on the blue to middle left allows him to nudge the cue ball into the pack and develop a very tidy split.

It’s there for the World No.83 to pull clear but as he passes the half century he catches a red after sinking the black to the right corner and needs to pull off a beauty of a red up to middle left to regain position.

A red to the left corner and a routine black to the opposite bag leave Allen needing snookers, but he misses a red down the left rail and his run of 73 isn’t quite enough to stop Allen from returning to the table.

Here we go. This is more like it from Mark.

It’s his smoothest period of the match so far as he quickly moves through the gears, routinely despatching reds to move beyond frame ball and set his sights on a century.

The final red along the bottom rail refuses the invitation of the right corner bag, but it’s a minor irritation as a superb break of 87 sees him level the match.

Allen’s frustration may well be growing as he sees an early sighter on a long red jiggle the jaws of the bottom left pocket and pop out. He’s still first to show, however, but despite working nicely off the blue to middle left, he can’t develop much more and plays into the centre of pack after scoring just 14.

It’s more frustration for Allen. He will feel this frame should be over, but he blows another chance to seal it with a miss on a make-able red to the green pocket.

It leaves a long red on for Lines that he guides slowly to the left corner.

The clearance is on with just the colours remaining and when he rolls the brown across baulk to the yellow pocket, he’s nicely placed to cut the blue to the middle left.

A splendid pot on the pink to the right corner leaves him two points behind and he duly sinks the black to the same bag to pull off a fantastic steal from his point of view.

Oli spies a red to the left corner despite Mark thinking he’d left him in a pickle and the World No.83 nicks it into the bag. It’s a splendid pot that he follows with a green and another red before a pink down to the left corner provides him with some hope of developing a run for an unlikely steal.

The penultimate red to the right corner is cooly despatched and he jabs the pink to the opposite bag via the rest to land just behind the final red down the right rail.

He needs the rest again but can’t shunt it into the pocket. This time he grimaces. He knows he should have made that.

Lines can’t keep Allen at bay in a brief safety exchange and leaves a long red to the left corner that The Pistol fires down with aplomb.

The World No.3 then plays off the blue to tuck the cue ball tight to the baulk cushion behind the brown.

Argh. Lines just can’t get himself firing as he follows up a simple red with a miss-hit black that does find the corner, but it means the cue ball doesn’t drift high enough on two reds to the opposite flank.

It leaves him with a tough cut that he doesn’t negotiate and this opening frame is beginning to get a touch scrappy.

The Pistol nails a red and a yellow to come back down the table towards the remainder of the pack, but he loses position all-too-quickly and can’t cut a tricky red to that bottom right corner.

It’s a quick-fire tally of 10, but he’s not over the line just yet.

Oli gets off the mark with a beast of a long red to the right corner.

He’s got an awkward cut on the black with the rest and pots it perfectly, but then the cue slips in his hand and he knocks the cue ball.

It’s a foul that puts Allen firmly in the box seat in this opening frame.

Lines takes his sit smiling but it’s a rueful one!

Oli comes off the upper left cushion and lower right rail in his attempt to nick a red furthest east along the bottom deck. He just misses with the first effort, but adds pace on the second and avoids leaving Allen with anything simple.

It’s Allen who gets back in again, thundering a long red to the right corner, but the cue ball drifts beyond the baulk line and he opts for a safety in-behind the green.

Lines attempts a plant down the right rail but misses it by some distance. It opens the door for Allen to clip a simple red to the right corner via the rest before taking full advantage of a well spread pack.

A routine black and red take him topside of blue and the weight of shot to the right middle is perfect to move him directly on a red to the right corner.

He’s content to work off the blue, continually dropping down to knock down a succession of reds to that right corner.

He plays up to a red in the Dee and slots it to the green pocket before potting the green to its home bag to come back down towards the remainder of the pack.

This time the pace of shot is slightly too fast and his attempt to cut a fine red to the right corner catches the near jaw. He’ll be disappointed with that, he had a good opportunity to notch up a heavy score there.

Six players, three tables with World No.3 Allen featuring on Table 1.

This is the fifth meeting between Allen and Lines across every competition and The Pistol has had the upper hand, winning all four of the previous encounters.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 2024 Northern Ireland Open. We will be focusing on the R2 match between Mark Allen and Oliver Lines but will keep you updated with what’s going on elsewhere as veteran Jimmy White looks to build on his epic three-hour win over Hossein Vafaei against Martin O’Donnell.

Later, John Higgins locks horns with Barry Hawkins.

The boys are at the baulk from 13.00 BST.