Ronnie O'Sullivan clinched a dramatic last-frame win in the Irish Masters snooker tournament at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin last night by defeating Stephen Hendry 9-8.

Hendry, three times winner of the title, forced a tense climax when he staged a stirring comeback against the mercurial O'Sullivan.

It was the 30th meeting between finely-matched players, who were seeking a top prize of £75,000. Invariably a difficult opponent, the Scot has always been at his most dangerous when coming from behind. Yet he had reason to be extremely wary of an opponent who beat him for the first time back in 1993 in the final of the UK Championship.

That was when O'Sullivan set new standards by claiming the title at the tender age of 17 years and 11 months.

Capacity crowds thronged the west Dublin venue for a duel to decide the destination of a top prize of £75,000. And they were not disappointed as the British pair produced sparkle to match suspense. Indeed the closeness should have been predictable, given O'Sullivan's slender lead of 15 wins to 14 in their previous meetings.

After a disappointing start to the match, Hendry's comeback involved winning six out of eight frames to bring the match level at 6-6. But O'Sullivan, who was appearing in the final of this event for a second time, then delivered a stunning response by winning the next with a break of 112, the highest of the final at that stage.

In a typical pose of straight back and folded arms, Hendry prepared mentally for the crucial, evening session by watching the Brazilian Grand Prix on television. And in terms of his form over the early frames, the sight of fellow Scot David Coulthard taking the chequered flag, seemed to have the desired effect.

The fact was that Hendry badly needed something special. During a largely bleak afternoon, he had gone into the mid-session interval at 4-0 down, to breaks of 41, 38, 60 and 76 from O'Sullivan in successive frames.

Indeed there was the prospect of an insurmountable deficit until the Scot took the last frame of the afternoon with a break of 76 to be 5-2 down at that stage.

Even then, Hendry would have been acutely aware of having lost their three previous meetings this season and that he had not beaten O'Sullivan since the semi-finals of the British Open in 1999.

But it would have been folly to write off a player of such wonderful competitive nerve as Hendry has proved over the years. And it was very much in evidence in the opening frame of the evening which he clinched with a clearance of 84 to the pink. Now the gap was only two frames.

In the event, there was no collapse from O'Sullivan, whose once fragile temperament made him quite vulnerable when in winning positions. And, after all, Ireland owed him a title, going back to 1998 at Goff's where he beat home favourite Ken Doherty in the final, only to be stripped of the Masters for failing a drug test.

So it was that the Londoner rallied to take the ninth frame with an impressive 76 break; then Hendry hit back once more to win the next with a break of 82. And it was at this point that an exemplary piece of sportsmanship from O'Sullivan seemed likely to influence the entire trend of the match.

On his second chance of compiling a break in the fateful 11th frame, O'Sullivan was in a strong position at the business end of the table, having potted red, brown, red, pink. He then faced difficult cueing, with the white tight up against a red. With elevated bridging, he seemed to make good contact with the white and succeeded in potting a red into a corner pocket.

With a frame-winning break in prospect, however, O'Sullivan suddenly stood back from the table, indicated to referee John Williams that he had played a foul shot and went back to his seat. The full impact of his decision became apparent when, hardly believing his good fortune, Hendry did what one would expect from a battle-hardened professional.

Getting into his stride with a red and black, the Scot proceeded to reel off four pinks and four further blacks en route to a clearance of 95. He had taken three of the first four frames of the evening, narrowing the gap to 6-5.

A frame later, the Hendry comeback was completed by breaks of 53 and 30 in the 12th , leaving the match finely balanced on 6-6.

Final (best of 17): Frame scores (Hendry first) - 57-69, 5-83, 28-99, 0-76, 76-6, 11-87, 76-0, 109-1, 31-76, 86-0, 99-25, 83-26, 9-112,