O’Sullivan hits a 147 in NI Trophy
9th November, 2007
Ronnie O’Sullivan hit a maximum 147 break on the way to a 5-2 victory over Ali Carter in the quarter finals of the Northern Ireland Trophy. The break took all of eight minutes and three seconds and was one of five breaks over a hundred in the match. It was the seventh maximum clearance of his career, and the 59th ever in professional snooker and third this season.
Despite breaks of 108, 122, 107, 147 and 129, O’Sullivan insists he is not happy with his form in Ireland, playing his chances of winning the £200,000 event down. He said: "I got lucky because Ali made it easy for me because he missed a lot of balls. Once you get down to the last red there's a lot of pressure because you've come so far and you don't want to mess it up at the end. I got on the green and I got a big bounce off the cushion. I left myself a really difficult brown, but I hit it really sweet. Then it was just a question of keeping position. I can't face practising at the moment because I'm playing rubbish. It's nice to get 147s, though, it's a good feeling."
He will now face Peter Ebdon, who thrashed crowd favourite Steve Davis 5-0 in Belfast. Ebdon now finds himself 9/1 with Betfred for the title, whilst O’Sullivan is the favourite at 11/8, also with Betfred.
