Ronnie remains at war with Williams

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN was in no mood to extend the olive branch to Welsh rival Mark Williams as the bad feeling between the pair erupted again last night.

O'Sullivan followed Williams into round two of the Citywest Irish Masters with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Stuart Bingham and it was not long before he took another verbal swipe at his one-time stablemate.

Responding to comments in O'Sullivan's autobiography in which the Rocket said he knew of no one in snooker who likes Williams, the left-hander from Cwm said: "Stupid people say stupid things."

O'Sullivan hit back: "Mark should be thankful and feel privileged that he's mentioned in my book.

"They certainly won't be writing books about him. You only get books written about you if you're great and interesting.

"Mark is big and ugly enough to take it on the shoulders. I'm cool about it - maybe he's not so cool.

"I know I am a champion of my own life. I have come through a lot of trials and tribulations and survived."

O'Sullivan had to work hard for his opening win as Bingham led 2-0 with a break of 139 in frame two. Even after levelling at 2-2, he did not pot a ball in the fifth as Bingham hit back with 78.

But the world number one produced some vintage snooker in the final three frames firing in runs of 75, 71 and 75.

"I'm not expecting miracles this week," added the 2001 Irish Masters champion.

In contrast, Peter Ebdon moved almost unnoticed into round two.

The world champion defeated world number 42 Brian Morgan 5-1 with a final flourish of 12.

In doing so Ebdon, trying to peak in time for the defence of his world title, overtook Williams in the lead for a high-break prize.

"Ronnie is a phenomenon, but I'm just happy to go about my own business quietly and without fuss," he said.

Ebdon now plays Australian Quinten Hann for a place in the quarter-finals - while O'Sullivan faces Ali Carter, the provisional world number 19.

Glaswegian Stephen Maguire piled on the agony for the North's Joe Swail with a 5-3 first-round victory.

Swail has dropped from 16th to 30th on the provisional rankings and is in danger of exiting the top 32 at the end of the season.