In front of a packed Ighten Leigh including Preston-based professional Ian McCulloch, O'Reilly had things pretty much his own way throughout as Colne Snooker Club's Nolan failed to find the form that had swept him to the final.

Home cueist O'Reilly received 10 points per frame on handicap and, with the colours badly placed, made the first telling visit of the opening frame with a run of 20 to lead by 19.

The remainder of the frame was cagey until Nolan required snookers with the last five colours on, but O'Reilly took 18 to the pink to win 72-28.

Both players had runs of 26 in the second frame, but Nolan was guilty of a bad miss on the blue and, although he got back in front with the colours remaining, O'Reilly again had a run of 18 to the pink to win 56-44.

The third frame was the most one-sided of the night as O'Reilly went 32-0 in front before two runs of 22 saw him home 76-0.

Hopes of a Nolan fightback looked dead and buried as O'Reilly had breaks of 20 and 25 to lead the fourth frame 55-0.

But Nolan had the night's best break with a visit of 35 and then added 26 to lead 61-55.

The players then shared the early colours before O'Reilly crown himself champion with the last three colours and a 76-68 frame win.

O'Reilly had also had the highest break of the competition, a run of 72, and as well as the £400 first prize he pocketed an extra £50 for that effort.

Nolan won £2 a point for his 35-break and a £200 runners-up prize. The high-break prizes were sponsored by Club Fruit Services.

The beaten semi-finalists, James Waddington and Gary Brelsford, each received £100 and there was a £50 pay-out for quarter-finalists Tony Arnott, Nikki Murtaugh, Peter Roach and Lee Taylor.

All the prizes were presented by David Grant, managing director of Moorhouse's, without whose generous sponsorship the event would not have been possible.

Special thanks go to the Ighten Leigh Social Club, and especially Neil McGovern, for the impressive running and staging of a competition which had not been contested for 16 years.

Thanks also go to referee David Howe, markers Chris Durkin and Neil McGovern, all the players and clubs for participating and to G.R. Billiards for recovering the table for the final and providing the large scoreboard for the event.

The 2008-09 event will be launched soon, and full details can be found in this newspaper and on our website.