Read the report from the final:

Here are some O’Sullivan numbers, courtesy of the Press Association:

• 986 - Career centuries come the end of the UK Championship.
  
• 0 - Players to have reached 1,000.
• 775 - Centuries made by the retired Stephen Hendry, the player closest to O’Sullivan’s mark.
• 34 - Ranking titles won.
• 5 - World titles in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013.
• 7 - UK Championship titles, the first of which came 25 years ago in 1993. He has more than anyone else.
• 15 - Maximum breaks of 147.
• 320 - Seconds to make the fastest maximum of all time, against Mick Price at the 1997 World Championship.
• 101 - Career finals (won 67 of them).
• 43 - Age O’Sullivan turned on December 5.

More from R O’S: “I played very well today and I was still having to convince myself to believe that I could win because that’s how hard a match it felt.”

And here he is.

O’Sullivan wades into the crowd and selfie-seeking men crowd around him with their phones. He seems genuinely delighted, which seems an odd thing to remark upon for a player who’s jus statistically become the most successful player of all time, but it’s not always the case for him.

O’Sullivan lifts the trophy, and ticker tape falls from the ceiling.

The trophy is presented by a bloke called Alan Algar, who works for sponsors Betway, who I was on a podcast with a couple of years ago. He’s come a long way.

“It’s fantastic...y’know...it’s amazing...y’know.” O’Sullivan seems slightly lost for words. He regains his composure enough to say some very nice things about Allen - he says he’d be amazed if Allen doesn’t win the world title at some stage.

O’Sullivan pours water over his head. “Hopefully he pisses off to this breakaway tour,” japes Allen.

Frame 16: O’Sullivan 9-6 Allen Teeth gritted, this is in the bag. Allen needs snookers.... O’Sullivan 73-0 Allen

Frame 16: O’Sullivan 9-6 Allen This could be some hall of fame level fate-tempting, but everything is going bang in the middle for O’Sullivan...O’Sullivan 46-0 Allen

Frame 16: O’Sullivan 9-6 Allen O’Sullivan has a look in his eye. In the time it’s taken me to write this entry he’s sent three reds and blacks away. Suspect this might be over in smart time. O’Sullivan 24-0 Allen

Frame 15: O’Sullivan 9-5 Allen Allen ekes out some skin-of-the-teeth positional shots and a couple of pots that ‘wiped their feet’ on the way in, but he’s on for another fra...oh no! He misses a relatively straightforward red and O’Sullivan is back at the table. He has half a pocket to aim at with a red, and makes a complete trousers of things. Allen was fortunate there, but he’s well on the way to another frame now. O’Sullivan 9-78 Allen

Frame 15: O’Sullivan 9-5 Allen Ooof, O’Sullivan runs out of position and is left with a choice of a few reds, none of them ideal, but he opts for one to the middle right and misses. Having already cleared that brown from over the pocket, things are now opening up for Allen... O’Sullivan 9-12 Allen

Frame 15: O’Sullivan 9-5 Allen O’Sullivan sinks an extraordinary long red and somehow threads the white through the pack. Position is a struggle: he puts away the yellow, but after the next red the cue gets away from him a bit and ends up in the pack, snookering himself save for half the black. Instead he nominates the yellow off the top cushion...but misses, and Allen has a free ball. But he gets a kick! He turns away in disgust, and what’s more, the brown covers the top left pocket. We could be here for a while in this frame. O’Sullivan 4-4 Allen

Frame 14: O’Sullivan 9-4 Allen Ach, Allen is on for a 147 but tries to force the tenth red and it rattles the middle pocket. He’s 76 ahead with 75 on the table - and O’Sullivan only belatedly realises he only requires one snooker. The frame continues. O’Sullivan 0-76 Allen

Frame 14: O’Sullivan 9-4 Allen Still, he’s started that task quite well. An iffy safety is taken advantage of and Allen is four blacks in with the reds nicely positioned. O’Sullivan 0-36 Allen

Frame 14: O’Sullivan 9-4 Allen I have no idea how you would psychologically approach a task like this, if you’re Mark Allen: you require each of the remaining six frames to beat the greatest snooker player of all team, meaning you basically can’t make a single mistake for about another two-and-a-half hours. And that’s the best case scenario. Like pushing a bowling ball up a ten-mile, 45 degree hill with a toothpick. O’Sullivan 0-4 Allen

Frame 13: O’Sullivan 8-4 Allen O’Sullivan is back. Superb stuff as he cleans up the reds and now has the colours to take him to within one frame of victory... O’Sullivan 36-59 Allen

Frame 13: O’Sullivan 8-4 Allen Oh lord. Allen gets an unfortunate canon as he tries to gently develop a few reds - his break ends, but - accidentally or not - he sticks the black on the top cushion, and with a 58-point lead (after O’Sullivan takes a red but no more) it will take some effort for O’Sullivan to win the frame from here. O’Sullivan 1-59 Allen

Frame 13: O’Sullivan 8-4 Allen Allen looked on for a big score, but ran out of position on a red, the black just stopping his path through. The sort of mistake he can’t really afford, given the position he’s in. But wait! Another slightly careless O’Sullivan safety leaves a long red which Allen drops in, and he’s back among the balls. O’Sullivan 0-30 Allen

Frame 13: O’Sullivan 8-4 Allen O’Sullivan misses a tricky long red, Allen misses a much easier long red, but O’Sullivan opts for caution rather than going for another effort from downtown. But it doesn’t work: his safety is nothing of the sort, leaving Allen with one more or less over the pocket and he doesn’t ask twice before sinking it. O’Sullivan 0-8 Allen

Frame 13: O’Sullivan 8-4 Allen We’re saved a re-rack by a touching ball, as both men trade nudges into the pack. A blessed relief, and Allen plays a nice safety shot into baulk. O’Sullivan 0-0 Allen

The players are back out: this could be over in about half an hour, it could last deep into the night.

Shots? Shots. Get them round this lot.

And that’s the mid-session interval: Allen really needed at least three of those frames and, while he scrapped nicely to take two, it surely won’t be enough. There are potentially another seven frames left, and O’Sullivan only requires two of them.

Frame 12: O’Sullivan 7-4 Allen We are in a phase best described as ‘attritional’. Safeties, escapes, tucked up shots, slight mistakes...and the latest is taken advantage of, as Allen carelessly leaves a red on to the middle left pocket which O’Sullivan sinks. O’Sullivan 47-1 Allen

Frame 12: O’Sullivan 7-4 Allen Bang! Brilliant long pot by Allen isn’t quite rewarded as it deserved, as it slipped just out of position on any colour. He tucks up behind the brown, O’Sullivan swerves out of it but that was a superb shot by Allen. O’Sullivan 46-1 Allen

Frame 12: O’Sullivan 7-4 Allen At least three times O’Sullivan looks in some peril, but on each occasion he pulls out a perfect positional shot to wriggle out of it...and then misses an easy black off its spot! Possible he got a kick, it might have been because he was hitting down on the cue a little, but it does at least bring Allen back to the table. O’Sullivan 46-0 Allen

Frame 12: O’Sullivan 7-4 Allen A mistake from an attempted Allen safety shot leaves O’Sullivan a red from the baulk cushion into the middle, which he sinks beautifully, even landing perfectly on the black. O’Sullivan 25-0 Allen

Frame 11: O’Sullivan 7-3 Allen Allen spends some time weighing up a three-ball plant, ultimately decides “Eff It” and goes all out. And he’s rewarded, finishing nicely on the blue and has a great chance to pull another frame back. O’Sullivan 30-13 Allen

Frame 11: O’Sullivan 7-3 Allen Crikey. O’Sullivan carelessly misses a straightforward red down the top cushion when looking set to fill his boots. These lapses are what Allen has to take advantage of. O’Sullivan 30-0 Allen.

Frame 11: O’Sullivan 7-3 Allen Allen makes a mistake from his first shot after the break, trying to rest on the back of the pack but flicking a different red half-ball. It gives O’Sullivan a decent chance of a big score, but his positioning is just a hair off from the first few pots... O’Sullivan 22-0 Allen

Frame ten: O’Sullivan 7-2 Allen Allen looks like he’s trying to play at a quicker pace, like a football or rugby team flying into the oppo to try unsettling them or get something going. It’s not especially fluent, and indeed his break ends as he tries to force in a pink, the white skips off the baize and he has to roll up to the pack. O’Sullivan 0-56 Allen.

Frame ten: O’Sullivan 7-2 Allen Allen pounces all over an O’Sullivan miss at the start of frame ten, and the balls are poised nicely for the underdog. Three reds, three blacks in, and he’s looking pretty good. O’Sullivan 0-24 Allen

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen O’Sullivan has to work a bit with the remaining reds, runs slightly out of position on a brown and in turn on the penultimate red, misses the latter and lets Allen back in. O’Sullivan 61-25 Allen

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen And again: this time Allen is unlucky as a long, ambitious red flaps between the jaws of top right, and leaves it right over top left. O’Sullivan sinks that, then a black, and should probably clean up from here. O’Sullivan 31-25 Allen

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen Ooof, Allen doesn’t look like he’s cueing right. He goes for a relatively straightforward red down the left cushion, but it rattles the pocket and goes out. Luckily for him, he hasn’t left anything of note on. O’Sullivan 23-25 Allen

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen V unlucky for Allen - he goes for a plant to break up the pack - he pots the red and breaks up said pack perfectly, but leaves the cue hiding among those reds and only able to see the green. O’Sullivan 22-25 Allen

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen Jinxed it: O’Sullivan sticks 22 away in quicksmart time, but tries to get rid of that red on the top cushion, it flicks said cushion and leave the red over the pocket. Now the table looks good for Allen...

Frame nine: O’Sullivan 6-2 Allen Allen goes for a mid-long range red into the right corner, misses and leaves the white near the blue. O’Sullivan sinks a red right into the middle of the other corner, and other than a red on the top cushion, things look nicely placed for a big ol’ break.

And we’re away. O’Sullivan - remember, leading 6-2 - breaks left-handed, the scamp.

And here’s Ronnie O’Sullivan, music choice ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ by naughty Manc rockers Oasis.

Mark Allen is introduced into the arena, accompanied - naturally enough - by Gala’s ‘Freed From Desire’.

The old, comforting BBC intro music begins. Here it is in full.

Fancy a spot of historical, pre-match reading? This, on what turned out to be the apex of Alex Higgins’s career, is excellent.