The 2026 Northern Ireland Open final goes ahead on Sunday, October 25, with two sessions scheduled for 2pm and 7pm UK time. The winner takes home £100,000 and the Alex Higgins Trophy, named for the Belfast-born world champion who died in 2010.
The tournament has produced more talking points off the table than on it this week. Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump both went out early, leaving defending champion Jack Lisowski, John Higgins and Mark Williams among those still chasing the trophy as the rounds progressed through the week.
Where to watch
Country | Channel or service | Free or paid ---|---|--- UK | TNT Sports (via HBO Max) | Paid UK and Ireland | WST Play (table one only) | Paid US | WST Play | Paid China | Huya | Free
TNT Sports carries the tournament in the UK through its HBO Max channel, which requires the TNT Sports plan. WST Play, the World Snooker Tour's own streaming service, covers table one for UK and Irish subscribers and the full tournament for subscribers in the US.
There is no free stream available in the UK or the US. Viewers in China can follow the action without a subscription on Huya.
Fans without a broadcast subscription can follow scores and clips through the World Snooker Tour's own channels, including its Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok accounts, though these are not a substitute for live coverage.
What happened this week
The story dominating this year's Northern Ireland Open has little to do with the scoreboard. Mark Allen, the Northern Irish former world No. 1, broke down during an interview with TNT Sports presenter Rachel Casey after losing 4-2 to his close friend Jordan Brown in the first round on Tuesday, October 20.
Allen told Casey he had spent 10 weeks receiving mental health treatment before deciding to check himself out and play in the tournament. He said he was in a "bad place" and questioned whether he could keep playing the sport. Casey hugged him on camera during the interview, which has since circulated widely among snooker fans.
With O'Sullivan and Trump eliminated early and Allen out in round one, the back half of the draw opened up for players including Lisowski, the defending champion, along with Higgins and Williams, as the tournament moved through its quarter-final and semi-final stages before Sunday's final.
The Alex Higgins Trophy itself honors a player whose story echoes some of this week's themes. Higgins won two world titles and transformed snooker into appointment television in the 1980s, but struggled with personal battles for much of his life before his death in Belfast at 61. His career is detailed in Bill Borrows' unauthorized biography "The Hurricane: The Turbulent Life and Times of Alex Higgins."
Sunday's sessions at 2pm and 7pm UK time will decide who lifts the trophy this year.
SDFiled by The Software Desk
Apps, platforms, operating system releases, security fixes and the features arriving in them.
More from this desk →
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.