Championship League final: Luca Brecel holds off Ben Woollaston in dramatic Milton Keynes finale

Despite the absence of Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan from Thursday’s final, the last act of what has been a landmark event in the history of the sport, indeed in the history of all sport, didn’t disappoint with three of the four remaining players still in with a chance of lifting the trophy going into the penultimate match.

By that stage, Ryan Day – who had arguably been the most impressive player of the competition coming into the final – found himself out of the running for the title having failed to match the excellence that saw him outgun the likes of Trump and Barry Hawkins only 24 hours earlier.

Instead, it was Brecel who rose to the challenge best as he took home the first prize of £30,000 and, crucially, earned himself a ticket to next season’s lucrative Champion of Champions.

Often charged with being an unfulfilled talent, a supremely gifted operator whose single ranking title success failed to do justice to the raw materials at his disposal, Brecel’s natural, fluent style has been perfectly suited to the demands of this unique, short-format event, and he kicked off the day with a classy 3-0 whitewash of Stuart Bingham.

The Belgium Bullet conceded just 12 points and stroked in two centuries as he put Bingham to the sword in rapid time, breaks of 105 and 106 helping him score 211 unanswered points and immediately take pole position.

A hard-fought 2-2 draw with Day, who had earlier lost to Ben Woollaston, kept Brecel firmly in the ascendancy and, after Bingham's own hopes had been ended, he only needed to draw the final match with Woollaston to be crowned champion.

Woollaston has been one of the surprise packages of the championship, making three consecutive century breaks against Tom Ford earlier in the week, but despite a herculean effort against Brecel, he just fell short of pulling off a brilliant comeback as the day came to a crescendo with some exceptional snooker worthy of any final.

A template for Brecel’s victory had been his fearless and remarkably consistent potting and he got up and running in frame one thanks to more of the same, a brilliant long blue paving the way for a run of 67 that left Woollaston facing mission impossible.

However, the tide quickly turned as a huge fluke on the pink early in frame two kept Woollaston alive and he certainly made the most of his moment of good fortune, clearing the table with an otherwise flawless break of 141 that levelled the scores and left Brecel shifting in his chair just a little.

Brecel looked on with even greater concern moments later as Woollaston turned to match on its head with yet another three-figure contribution, this time a fabulous 126 putting him 2-1 in front and meaning the final frame of the tournament had become a title decider.

Woollaston finally blinked when missing a tough red early and Brecel stepped up in typical fashion, firing in a stunning opener before working his way round the table with surgical precision as he surged over the line with a sublime run of 111 - the third century of a wonderful and most fitting finale to a championship that might be remembered as one of the most defining in snooker’s recent history.

It certainly has the potential to prove a turning point in Brecel’s career, one which might yet go on to reach the great heights predicted not so long ago, when he became the youngest player ever to reach the Crucible.

Still just 25, perhaps this victory will spur him on further. Whatever happens, he will go down in history as the first champion of snooker's return, one which has been an undoubted success.

A thrilled Brecel told ITV Sport afterwards: "Unbelievable. That was probably the biggest test of my career, that frame, because Ben was playing so well in the circumstances. To win a title, it's just amazing.

"Most of the time I'm pretty cool under pressure but this time I was very nervous; I was shaking on every shot. As soon as I got to 50, 60, I knew I wasn't going to miss anymore but before that it was a struggle.

"It maybe didn't look like it, but it was. I'm over the moon.

"That's what made this final more special - knowing the winner would get to the Champions of Champions. It's a massive bonus for me and I'm really looking forward to that already."

Final group results

1. Luca Brecel (W) P 3 W 1 L 0 D 2 FD +3 Pts 5
2. Ben Woollaston P 3 W 1 L 1 D 1 FD 0 Pts 4
3. Stuart Bingham P 3 W 1 L 1 D 1 FD -1 Pts 4
4. Ryan Day P 3 W 0 L 1 D 2 FD -2 Pts 2

*Luca Brecel wins the Championship League

• Stuart Bingham 0-3 Luca Brecel
• Ryan Day 1-3 Ben Woollaston
• Ryan Day 2-2 Luca Brecel
• Stuart Bingham 3-1 Ben Woollaston
• Stuart Bingham 2-2 Ryan Day
• Luca Brecel 2-2 Ben Woollaston