Stephen Maguire ends five-year ranking title drought with Championship League final victory against Joe O'Connor - 'I'm over the moon'
Published 23/07/2025 at 23:07 GMT+1
Stephen Maguire made a winning start to the new snooker season with an impressive victory at the Championship League in Leicester's Mattioli Arena. The former UK champion earned £33,000 and a place in the Champion of Champions event at the same venue in November. The victory also marked the seventh ranking event triumph of his career following his success at the Tour Championship five years ago.
'Surely not?' - Maguire has Carter chuckling with 'unbelievable' long red
Video credit: TNT Sports
Stephen Maguire ended his five-year wait for the seventh ranking title success of his elite 27-year career on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Joe O'Connor in the Championship League Snooker final in Leicester.
The 2004 UK champion finished in style, slotting a superb long red followed by an imperious break of 89 to claim the first major trophy of the new season, a first prize of £33,000 and a return to the city's Mattioli Arena for the Champion of Champions event in November.
"Just relieved, it's been a long month and a half," said the no-nonsense Glaswegian professional. "Up and down that motorway all the time. Good to win in the end.
"Coming into today, eight players and two groups left, it felt more important because we knew someone was going to be going away with the trophy.
"To be the last man standing, so early in the season as well...listen, I'm over the moon.
"It gives me a start to get in the other tournaments, and a little bit of confidence. It's not the biggest tournament in the world, but I'll take it."
Maguire was happy after using two separate cues during the event, and joked: "People that say you can't use different cues are full of nonsense."
Maguire last won a ranking title at the delayed Tour Championship in 2020 when he defeated Mark Allen 10-6 in a final played behind closed doors during the pandemic.
The man dubbed 'The Maverick' made the early running in the final with some stout matchplay skills being backed up by a reliable scoring game as breaks of 85 and 61 helped him move 2-0 ahead with his opponent restricted to only 32 points.
A fine safety shot by O'Connor in the third frame helped him launch a recovery as Maguire missed a tough red to right centre with last season's World Open finalist responding with a classy 99 run to close the gap to 2-1.
But he was frozen out in the fourth frame of a possible five with Maguire dominant in wrapping up the title, 21 years after he defeated Jimmy White to lift his first at the 2004 European Open in Malta.
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O'Connor had earlier won Group 1 in fine style with victories over Ricky Walden (3-1), Xu Si (3-1) and fellow Leicester player Tom Ford (3-0), seeing him coast through as unbeaten winner of the section, five points clear of Walden.
Maguire also did the heavy lifting early on in topping Group 2 with wins against Matthew Selt (3-0) and Ben Mertens (3-0), ultimately rendering his 3-1 defeat to Pang Junxu meaningless with Mertens finishing second, two points behind the Scotsman.
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