O'Sullivan wins Premier League for eighth time - 03/12/2008

Ronnie O'Sullivan 7-2 Mark Selby (best of 13)
121-11 (O'Sullivan 93), 82-8 (O'Sullivan 62), 74-18 (O'Sullivan 31, 39), 83-14 (O'Sullivan 83), 83-48 (O'Sullivan 62), 58-60, 105-13 (O'Sullivan 105), 0-84 (Selby 84), 74-20 (O'Sullivan 74)

Ronnie O'Sullivan (left) and Mark Selby before the start of the final

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN is the 2008 PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker Champion.

O’Sullivan lifted the trophy after a 7-2 victory over Mark Selby in the final at the Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk.

It means O’Sullivan becomes the first player to win the prestigious event, which was broadcast live on Sky Sports, five times in a row.

Selby had been in sensational form to thrash Stephen Hendry 5-0 in his semi-final on Saturday, while O’Sullivan had clinched his place in the final with a nerve-jangling 5-4 victory over Joe Perry.

O'Sullivan was bidding for his fifth title in a row and was given an early opportunity in the first after a loose shot by Selby.

But, after scoring 28, O'Sullivan missed a red into the centre pocket to give Selby another chance. However, he then failed to pot a red, although he was hampered by having to cue over the pack of reds and use the rest.

That gave O'Sullivan the opportunity he needed and a break of 93 made it 1-0. He doubled his lead soon afterwards after Selby, who had hardly made a mistake on Saturday in the semi-final, again could not sink his attempted red while using the rest.

Once again that proved costly as O'Sullivan fired a break of 62. Selby came back to the table needing a snooker but failed to get it and the frame was soon over.

O'Sullivan, the winner of the Premier League in each of the seasons where a shot clock has been employed, took another step closer to continuing that run by winning the third frame.

He made a break of 31 before he lost position on a loose safety but a terrible contact for Selby led to his targetted red not going into the pocket and O'Sullivan's subsequent break of 39 made it 3-0.

His domination of the early stages of the match continued in the next frame as Selby had only scored 14 before O'Sullivan again showed his class with a run of 84 as the scoreboard now showed 4-0.

Selby looked like winning his first frame of the match in the fifth as he accumulated a 48-point lead. However, his attempt to slow roll a long red into the top corner failed and that gave O'Sullivan another chance, which he took with a break of 62 to now lead 5-0.

The sixth frame was the longest of the weekend by far and one of the longest of the tournament as it lasted more than 40 minutes.

Both players produced some exceptional safety play before they made several errors in what was looking like a critical frame.

Selby, leading by two points, fouled when he hit the black instead of a red but O'Sullivan later made a bizarre mistake when he potted the yellow but instead of playing for position on the green, played again for the yellow.

This lack of concentration proved costly as he now had to play safe instead of finishing off the frame. O'Sullivan still had one further chance but a missed cross double on the pink let in Selby to steal a tense frame by two points.

Selby hoped that might prove to be a turning point but it was not the case as he made an unforced error earlier in the seventh before O’Sullivan raced to a 105 break and was now one from victory.

Just when Selby needed something special, he produced it in the eighth with a break of 84, his best of the contest so far to pull a frame back and make it 6-2 to O'Sullivan.

But a break of 74 gave O'Sullivan the victory and his eighth Premier League Snooker title.