Ben Lowry: Rory McIlroy dislodges Dennis Taylor for providing us with the most exciting drama in Northern Ireland sporting history

(Click here to read Ben Lowry’s main column on the trans court ruling)

The snooker player from Coalisland’s black ball finish to defeat the gifted but charmless English star Steve Davis to win the world championship in April of that year was a stunning piece of sporting history. I was aged 13 then and my dad was so engrossed in the spectacle that he let me stay up with my brothers after midnight. It turned out the next day that everyone in my then school (Sullivan in Holywood) was bleary-eyed too, having also been allowed to stay up. We were all still delirious in joy, discussing the previous night.

It turned out it was not just a moment of ecstasy for Ulster folk. It was being watched across the UK. In fact, Taylor’s stunning win is still the most watched BBC Two audience ever and the most watched UK after midnight audience (18 million).

Rory McIlroy’s breathtaking Masters victory on Sunday might even dislodge the excitement of Taylor’s win. The audience back in the UK and Ireland will not, sadly, have been quite so big given that it is on a pay per view channel. But the achievement is as big as it gets, as Jeff Johnston writes in sport (click here).

Incidentally, I get a kick out of the fact that I went to the same school as Rory, Sullivan, although he had not even been born when I left.

• Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor