STEVE Davis kept his cool last night to retain the Benson & Hedges

Irish Masters snooker title at Goffs, County Kildare, when he beat

Scotland's Alan McManus 9-8 in the final.

The Scot, beaten in three previous finals by the Londoner, looked set

for an early disappointment when he lost the first four frames, trailed

5-2 at the end of the first session, and 7-4 at the interval.

A clearance of 101, his third century of the tournament, took Davis

into a four-frame lead again at 6-2.

McManus, for the second time, promptly won two frames in a row. He had

a break of 77 in the ninth and a clearance to the black of 45 enabled

him to reduce the lead to 6-4.

But the holder, with another half-century, took the eleventh frame to

lead 7-4, just two short of victory and the first prize of #48,000.

However, breaks of 72, 87, and 69 helped the Scot to take four frames

in a row to lead 8-7 before Davis levelled up a 8-8 to force a deciding

frame.

Davis, looking for his eighth Irish Masters crown, had raced into a

4-0 lead in 75 minutes. He fired in breaks of 105, 65, 54, and 48 during

an explosive opening spell in which McManus potted only nine balls

accumulating 31 points.

However, the Scot won the next two with breaks of 49 and 118, and

after another run of 49 should have cut the first-session lead to a

single frame, but missed a blue and Davis compiled a clearance to the

pink of 69 for 5-2.

In the semi-finals, the Scot had overcome Fergal O'Brien, who had put

out world champion Stephen Hendry 6-4. McManus, the world No.6,

appearing in his twenty-first major semi-final, found O'Brien a tough

proposition despite leading 2-0 and 4-2.

Davis had beaten Jimmy White 6-5. White had fought back from 4-2 down

with the help of breaks of 80 and 56, but Davis drew level at 5-5 before

applying the killer-blow.