BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2026 Day Two Evening
Shock results continued at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open as Martin O’Donnell, recovering from a neck injury, edged out Judd Trump 4-3 to reach the last 32.
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World number three Trump joins Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Barry Hawkins, Chris Wakelin, Xiao Guodong and Ali Carter as the top-16 ranked players already knocked out in the opening round at the Waterfront Hall. A record four-time winner of this event since 2018 – and runner-up in each of the last two seasons – Trump falls early this time and remains without a ranking title since the German Masters in February.
O’Donnell had lost all eight of his previous meetings with Trump but the former Welsh Open finalist took one of the biggest scalps of his career as he set up a clash with Luca Brecel.
World number 56 O’Donnell won the opening frame with a break of 64 before Trump levelled with a 91. The next two were shared then O’Donnell regained the lead with a 52 before Trump’s 94 made it 3-3. The decider was a fragmented affair but it was controlled by O’Donnell, winning it 87-5.
“I was really looking forward to the game tonight,” said the 40-year-old. “We play behind closed doors at qualifiers a lot so it was exciting to play in a great occasion like this against Judd, who I believe is the best player in the world. It was a great opportunity to test my game against his and thankfully I finally got one over on him. It’s up to me to put myself in these situations more often, getting the job done in the qualifiers and then I can enjoy it at the venues.
“Over the last ten days I felt I was starting to hit the ball really well and I’m delighted that showed tonight. When you beat Judd you feel you can have a deep run, but the results over the last two days show the strength in depth on the tour – everyone is tough.“
O’Donnell was recently diagnosed with a prolapsed disc in his neck and has battled through pain in several matches this season. “It’s not great – I don’t know if it will ever go back to normal without an operation,” he said. “I am doing everything I can, I have had physiotherapy, acupuncture and injections.
“I am managing it and not practising as much – just doing enough to feel competitive. I love this game and when it gets taken away from you for a while it’s tough. It might be a good thing for me at my age. Maybe six hours a day for six days a week is not going to be right for me going forward.”
Jak Jones top scored with 103 in a 4-1 victory over Tom Ford, boosting his hopes of a third ranking title this season having already landed the Championship League and British Open.
Stuart Bingham registered the 1,000th professional match win of his career, only the sixth player to reach that tally, as he beat Yao Pengcheng 4-2 with a top run of 68. Zhang Anda scored breaks of 64, 110 and 72 in a 4-2 defeat of Liam Pullen.
WST is at it again with the “shock results” expression. The truth is that there are nearly no shock results anymore. The general level in snooker is now really high. Lower ranked players are no more overwhelmed playing top players at venues in front of fans because they do it all the time. The qualifiers played in cubicles with no one watching are a thing of the past. And, of course, the “class of 92” generation are now in or approaching their fifties, and are still dangerous. That kind longevity was not even conceivable 20 years ago. We should (try to) ejoy them while they are still playing, without entertaining unrealistic expectations.