On his Ultimate Pool debut, Karl O’Donoghue made a big statement as he won Week 21 of the Masters and qualified for the next phase of the tournament.

The highly-rated Irishman was recently announced as a professional for the 2023 season, and O’Donoghue lived up to expectations and the hype with a brilliant performance across the evening at the Players Pool & Snooker Lounge.

Arguably the tie of the first round, O’Donoghue faced defending champion Phil Harrison in the opening match of the night.

However, former world champion Harrison – who won this title last year via a dramatic 6-red shootout in the final against Simon Fitzsimmons – was resigned to his seat for long spells as O’Donoghue constructed four break clearances and two reverse clearances in a resounding 8-2 victory.

Next up were Challenger Series players Tom Church and Rikki Jones whom contested an entertaining match which ended 5-5 when the buzzer went after Jones claimed the final two frames to force a 6-red shootout.

Both competing in their first shootouts, Church went first and registered a quick time of 21.13 seconds - a target that Jones could not better.

In the weekly final, there was a scrappy start before both players settled down with clearances. The biggest moment of the encounter probably arrived in frame six.

Leading 3-2 at the time, O’Donoghue unexpectedly missed a pot on the 8-ball for a reverse clearance but was not punished by Church who missed a double on the 8-ball to level up.

From that point, former world under-21 champion O’Donoghue dominated, winning four of the next five frames for an 8-3 success.

With another four break clearances in that final, O’Donoghue finished the night with an incredible record. From his 11 breaks across both matches, he made a ball off eight of them, and then went on to break clear every single one.