Northern Ireland Open 2024: Home favourite Mark Allen stunned by Oliver Lines, Jimmy White’s run ends v Martin O’Donnell
There were a couple of big-name casualties in the third round of the Northern Ireland Open as home favourite Mark Allen and veteran Jimmy White both crashed out.
Allen, the world No. 3, was beaten in a decider by Oliver Lines, while White lost 4-2 to Martin O’Donnell in Belfast. Stream the 2024/25 Northern Ireland Open live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Mark Allen’s hopes of landing a maiden Northern Ireland Open title were brought to a halt by world No. 83 Oliver Lines.
The Northern Irishman fell 1-0 and 2-1 behind but battled back to lead 3-2, before Lines produced the goods to clinch a 4-3 victory on Eurosport and discovery+.
He sets up a meeting with either Neil Robertson or Wang Yuchen in the last 16. Lines had already beaten Ricky Walden and Wu Yize and has now added the scalp of the world No. 3 to his run in Belfast.
Lines battled back to take a tight opening frame, before a break of 87 saw Allen level at 1-1.
A 73 in the third put Lines back in front before Allen displayed the kind of tenacity that has seen him become something of a winning machine of late.
The Northern Irishman picked off the fourth and fifth frames to move within one of victory, but he could not get over the line.
Another half-century from Lines set up a decider, and he did enough to seal a momentous win.
On the other table, Jimmy White’s run was ended by Martin O’Donnell, who recovered from twice falling behind to beat ‘The Whirlwind’ 4-2.
White, 62, came through a dramatic encounter with Hossein Vafaei in the previous round and gave himself every chance of reaching the last 16 when he claimed two of the first three frames in the race to four.
But O’Donnell found some fluency when he needed it to reel off three frames in a row and set up a clash with Pang Junxu in the next round.
The opener could have gone either way, but it was White who edged it to move 1-0 ahead.
O’Donnell responded with a break of 57 to level at 1-1 before White restored his slender advantage after another closely-fought frame.
A brilliant O’Donnell century in the fourth made it 2-2 as the 38-year-old discovered the kind of form that saw him reach a maiden ranking final last season before confusion reigned at the end of the fifth frame.
On the verge of moving ahead in the match, O’Donnell presented White a chance to respond, only for the veteran to miss a simple red and then wander out of the arena, to the bewilderment of the referee and his opponent.
Undeterred, O’Donnell sealed a 4-2 victory when White returned to progress into the next round.