Harold roars back to stun Ebdon

PETER EBDON lost his grip on the Irish Masters title in Dublin last night. The 2002 world champion lost 5-4 in a gruelling match against Dave Harold after being 4-1 up.

A Citywest semi-finalist two years ago, Harold took a 46-minute decider 80-39 to clinch a meeting with Jimmy White.

“At 4-1 I thought I was going home,” admitted the world number 34.

Stephen Hendry has never won the Irish Masters title at the Citywest Hotel but he is looking forward to putting the record straight on Sunday night.

The 36-year-old scot coasted to a 5-1 win over Finland’s Robin Hull.

But he expects a tougher test next time out tonight against 47-year-old English rival Steve Davis.

The highlight of Hendry’s win was a third frame break of 135 - a total also reached at the same stage of his match against Ian McCulloch by Chris Small.

Stephen Lee produced his “best snooker for three years” to earn a last-16 meeting with local favourite Michael Judge.

Lee, the 1999 Irish Masters runner-up, trailed Thailand’s James Wattana 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

But the 30-year-old hit back with breaks of 90, 53, 67 and 85 to win 5-3. He also knocked in 95 in the first half of the match.

Ian McCulloch survived a 51-minute decider to edge out Scotsman Chris Small 5-4 in what is likely to be the longest best of nine frame match of the tournament.

Grand Prix runner-up McCulloch came from 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 down to snatch the contest on the last four colours.

Preston left-hander McCulloch now meets Welshman Matthew Stevens for a place in the quarter-finals.