O'Sullivan powers to Premier League title - 28/11/2010

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN claimed his ninth PartyCasino.com Premier League title in 14 years as he ran through Shaun Murphy at Potters Leisure Resort to claim the magnificent trophy and £59,000 of prize-money.

The match never lived up to the fireworks of yesterday’s two superb semi-finals where O’Sullivan and Murphy disposed of Neil Robertson and Marco Fu respectively with superlative displays.

The final was a re-run of last year’s where Murphy triumphed 7-3 to end a run of five successive O’Sullivan victories, but the Manchester-based potter was never at the races this evening.

After the walk-ins in front of an 800-strong crowd, O’Sullivan started where he left off the night before as he rattled in breaks of 74 and then a superb 123 to open up a quick 2-0 lead.

O’Sullivan misjudged a plant in the next when on 23 and it gave Murphy a chance for some table time. The defending champion though missed a long straight red when on 29 and that gave O’Sullivan the opportunity to extend his lead to 3-0 with a break of 59.

Murphy had another chance in the next when O’Sullivan missed the black but failed to capitalise. Another run, this one of 35 was enough to give the Rocket a 4-0 lead as he looked on course for a 7-0 whitewash.

4-0 became 5-0 as O’Sullivan cashed-in on an out-of-sorts Murphy but the defending champion got the boost he needed when the won the final frame before the mid-session interval.

That was to be his only contribution to the scoreboard as runs of 68 and 51 sealed the win for ‘The Rocket’.

“It was tough and congratulations to Shaun on a great defence of his title,” said O’Sullivan.

“I’m pleased to be able to play well, get among the balls and win the game. I’m now going into the UK Championship with some confidence as I have beaten some good players here.

“I need to improve my game in different areas for December but I’ve got a chance to win. I’d love to get four, five or more World Championships but that competition is tough and I will keep trying.”

Murphy, who claimed £36,000 for his runners-up finish said, “I came here playing well but it wasn’t my day. I had a good chance in the first frame but missed a pink that I should never have missed and that set the scene for the whole match.

“Ronnie is the bench mark. I know he isn’t ranked No.1 but when he is on song, he is the top guy.”