Northern Ireland Open 2026 Recap: Wilson Wins a Week of Deciding Frames

Kyren Wilson won the Northern Ireland Open on Sunday, beating Jak Jones 9-2 in the final at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. It was the 11th ranking title of his career, worth £100,000, and it moves him one clear of Jimmy White on the all-time list of ranking-event winners. The final was a rematch of the 2024 World Championship final, and it was one-sided, but the week that led up to it was anything but.

The final

Wilson led 6-2 after the afternoon session and needed only three frames in the evening to finish the job. According to Love Belfast's report, he made breaks of 101, 135 and 105 in that first session, with Jones replying with a 130. For Wilson it ended a wait of more than 19 months for a ranking title, and it was his second Northern Ireland Open in three years: he also won in 2024, beating Judd Trump 9-3.

A tournament decided in the last frame

The early rounds were first to four frames, and that short format did what it often does to the big names. On the first Monday, Ronnie O'Sullivan led Cheung Ka Wai 3-1 and lost 4-3, and Judd Trump went out 4-3 to Martin O'Donnell the same day. Both semi-finals then went the full distance at 6-5. Wilson came back from 5-3 down against Sam Craigie, and according to SnookerHQ, Jones recovered from 4-1 down to beat Mark Williams. TNT Sports' results show Jones also needed a decider to get past Scott Donaldson in the quarter-finals.

Put another way, the runner-up won his quarter-final and semi-final in a deciding frame, and the champion needed one in his semi-final too. A deciding frame is a different game from frame one: safety gets tighter, players take fewer chances on long pots, and the scoreboard matters on every visit, because the frame is the match.

What it means for the rankings

Wilson came into Belfast ninth in the world, having slipped from second, with talk of him being at risk of dropping out of the top 16. Winning back the title he was defending eases that worry. According to SnookerHQ, it also puts him narrowly ahead of Ali Carter in the race for the £150,000 Home Nations Series bonus, with the Scottish Open and Welsh Open still to come. We previewed the week in our Northern Ireland Open preview, and the next ranking stop is the International Championship in Nanjing.

What club players can take from it

• Short formats are honest about pressure. If your club nights are best of three or best of five, expect plenty of deciders, and practise the shots you play when the frame is the match: safety off the last red, and the colours in order.
• Know the numbers before you play the shot. In a decider, the real question is often how many points are left on the table and whether you need snookers. Working that out in your head under pressure is where mistakes creep in.
• Keep the score visible. A clear scoreboard stops arguments in tight frames and lets both players see exactly what is needed.

That last point is where SnookerFlow fits in. The referee pad keeps the frame and match score on a phone or tablet and tracks how many reds are left, so a tight decider has one score everyone agrees on. If you just want the numbers without scoring a match, the free snooker points calculator works out the points remaining and how many snookers a player needs.