Editing Irish Masters (section)

==History==
===Early events===
The event started out in 1975 as the '''[[Benson & Hedges]] Challenge Match''' between [[Alex Higgins]] and [[John Spencer (snooker player)|John Spencer]]. The match initially carried a £250 prize for the winner and £150 for the runner-up, but both players agreed to a "winner-takes-all" format. Spencer scored two centuries (a 121 and a 109) and despite Higgins leading 7–5, Spencer won four frames in a row to win.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002318/19750526/328/0017|title=Spencer "breaks" Higgins|date=26 May 1975|work=Belfast Telegraph|page=17}}</ref> In 1976 and 1977 it was expanded to a four-man invitational event, called the '''Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament'''.

===Irish Masters===
In 1978 the tournament was renamed the '''Irish Masters''' and continued as an ever-present fixture on the snooker calendar until 2005. [[Benson & Hedges]] continued their sponsorship with the tournament being played at Goffs, [[County Kildare]]. After tobacco sponsorship was outlawed in the Ireland in 2000, the Irish government funded the event from 2001 and it was subsequently relocated to the [[Citywest Hotel]], [[Saggart]], County Dublin. The tournament was staged on an invitational basis for most of its existence but became a [[Snooker world rankings|ranking]] tournament from the [[Snooker season 2002/2003|2002/03 season]]. The event was dropped from the calendar in the [[Snooker season 2005/2006|2005/2006 season]].<ref name="Irish Masters">{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Chris|title=Irish Masters|url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/irishmast.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216155735/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/irishmast.html|archive-date=16 February 2012|publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive|access-date=18 November 2010}}</ref> In [[2007 Irish Masters|2007]], a three-day invitational event known as the '''Kilkenny Irish Masters''' was staged with 16 players. It attracted a strong field with 9 of the world's top 16 players taking part, with [[Ronnie O'Sullivan]] winning the title.<ref name="Kilkenny Irish Masters">{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Chris|title=Kilkenny Irish Masters|url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/misc4.html#Kilkenny|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216155703/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/misc4.html#Kilkenny|archive-date=16 February 2012|publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive|access-date=18 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=O'Sullivan drives Hawkins to drink|date=12 March 2007 |url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0312/snooker.html|publisher=[[RTÉ Sport]]|access-date=18 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070328130117/http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0312/snooker.html|archive-date=28 March 2007}}</ref>

The tournament was dominated most of all by [[Steve Davis]], who won it eight times. It was won by Irish players on two occasions, [[Alex Higgins]] in 1989 and [[Ken Doherty]] in 1998. Doherty claimed the title despite losing in the final 3–9 against [[Ronnie O'Sullivan]], as O'Sullivan subsequently failed a drugs test after testing positive for [[cannabis]].<ref name=IT1998-07-07a>{{cite web|title=O'Sullivan stripped of Irish title|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/o-sullivan-stripped-of-irish-title-1.170751|publisher=The Irish Times|author=Ian O'Riordan|date=7 July 1998|access-date=21 November 2017}}</ref> There was only one official [[maximum break]] in the history of the tournament. John Higgins made it in the quarter-finals of the 2000 event against [[Jimmy White]].<ref name="Irish Masters"/> There has been one further maximum break in 2007 by O'Sullivan,<ref>{{cite news|title=O'Sullivan notches 147 in Ireland|date=10 March 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/6438505.stm|publisher=[[BBC Sport]]|access-date=20 December 2012}}</ref> but it is not included in the list of official maximum breaks, as the table was not to the required standards used on the professional circuit.<ref>{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Chris|url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Max.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210111304/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Max.html|archive-date=10 February 2013|title=Maximum Breaks|work=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk|publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive|access-date=2 April 2010}}</ref>