The fans in Northern Ireland are lovely, says Kyren Wilson after snooker star lifts the Alex Higgins trophy

Wilson thrashed Judd Trump 9-3 in the final to lift the trophy at a packed Waterfront Hall.

32-year-old Wilson raced into a 7-1 lead in the opening session and sealed a comprehensive victory in the ideal fashion with his only century of a surprisingly one-sided contest.

The venue and facilities offered at the Waterfront Hall continue to impress the players and that was something not missed by Wilson, who earned a winner's cheque of £100,000 for his success.

He told the News Letter: "I'm buzzing...what an amazing venue, what an amazing crowd and to come out on top is the icing on the cake.

"It's been a fantastic week for me and to win another title, notch it up on my CV, makes it even more pleasing.

"For every single round there's been good crowds.

"The fans are lovely and I love hearing their stories, their heritage and they love where they come from and I love hearing the stories of Alex Higgins.

"To then experience the one table set-up from the semi-final and it ramped up for the final was amazing."

Wilson said he wasn't surprised to find himself in a commanding position after the opening session due to his scoring power.

He made breaks of 58, 81, 77 (twice) and 88 in the first session, but also crucially stole the second frame by clearing the colours after having needed a snooker.

The seventh frame also came down to a safety battle on the brown, which was won by Wilson to make it 7-0, before Trump made sure of avoiding a whitewash with a break of 83.

"Big leads can happen as momentum is absolutely massive in snooker," he added.

"If you can grasp the momentum early, settle very early and get on a run, anyone is hard to stop like myself as I score very heavily.

"I'm not afraid to win tournaments and I proved that recently, so we've all of that, it's a tough recipe to deal with.

"It's very pleasing that I managed to win it in style.

"My mindset was to just not get complacent this evening.

"Judd's so good and so hungry to keep winning, there was no way he was going to lay over and let me walk it.

"I knew he was going to come out all guns blazing, I knew the crowd was going to get behind him because people want to see a close match, so I had to prepare myself for that.

"I got here an hour early, prepared on the practice table to get the job done."

Next up for the World Snooker Tour is a trip to China next week, with several more high-profile events on the calendar before the start of the New Year.

Wilson said of his chances: "Lots of big tournaments ahead, with one in China next week and then you've got the Champion of Champions followed by the UK Championship.

"It's big event after big event and then you've got the golden ball tournament in Saudi Arabia, so what a time to be a professional snooker player.”