Mark Allen battles through tough opening round match on home soil at the Northern Ireland Open

The Antrim star trailed Milkins on three separate occasions but battled back each time and compiled consecutive century breaks at the end to set up a second round meeting with Ben Woollaston on Wednesday in the £550,400 tournament.

Former world number one Allen keeps alive his latest bid to complete a hat-trick of Northern Ireland Open titles having tasted back-to-back glories at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in 2021 and 2022.

Milkins went into Monday night's contest having defeated Allen in their two most recent meetings at the 2022 Gibraltar Open and the 2023 Welsh Open - events where he went on to lift the trophy.

In a struggle to preserve his professional status beyond this season after a plummet down the rankings in recent times, underdog Milkins began relatively well as he crafted breaks of 70 and 98 in taking 1-0 and 2-1 leads.

The 49-year-old was then within a few pots of extending his overall advantage in frame four but missed a fairly routine red which allowed an out-of-sorts Allen to conjure up a classy counter clearance of 52 to pinch it on the final black and restore parity again.

However, the pendulum swung once more as Milkins deposited frame five to reach the hill first at 3-2 up.

At the point of no return, 39-year-old Allen - who was roared on by a substantial crowd at the Waterfront - fashioned a break of 104 to force the fixture all the way before punishing a missed red from his opponent early on in the deciding frame by crafting a match-winning effort of 113.

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour after the match, Allen was delighted to get the win after an indifferent start: “I made some silly errors. I felt a bit edgy, but I still felt like I was committing to the right things. It just wasn't working.

“A few times I went into the balls and it didn't really pan out well. A few loose safeties here and there - it doesn't take long for things to go wrong, especially in the best of seven, but I managed to finish the match off really well.

“It's nice to finish off the match the way I did as I was getting a lot of support out there like I always do, and they didn't have much to cheer about. To finish it off and actually enjoy it a little bit towards the end was something that I'll sort of take through to the next round”.

Allen arrived in the capital city top of this season's Home Nations Series order of merit having ended an 18-month wait for a ranking event title after a thrilling deciding frame victory over Zhou Yuelong in the final of last month's English Open.

The cueist who earns the most cumulative prize money across all four of this season's Home Nations events will collect a £150,000 bonus.

The Home Nations circuit has proved to be a lucrative one for Allen down the years with four event titles to his name. He requires just the Welsh Open later this season to complete the 'full house' and he could be the first player to achieve that feat if Mark Selby - who would finish the set if he lifts The Alex Higgins Trophy on Sunday - doesn't complete the card before him.

World number eight Allen joins fellow countryman and practise partner Jordan Brown in the round of 32. Former Welsh Open champion Brown whitewashed reigning world champion Zhao Xintong on Sunday.

From south of the border, the Republic of Ireland’s number one Aaron Hill is also on track following an impressive victory over Lei Peifan during the afternoon session.

A relieved Gary Wilson wins on a black ball finish

There was plenty of drama and value for money throughout the evening session in Belfast as four of the five matches went to a deciding frame.

Three-time ranking event winner Gary Wilson seemed to be coasting to victory as breaks of 66, 68 and 60 helped him build a 3-0 lead over Chang Bingyu.

However, the Chinese youngster clawed his way back, forcing a deciding frame where he twice missed what was essentially match-ball brown. On the second miss, Wilson stepped in and coolly cleared up from brown to black to feel relief and advance.

Martin O'Donnell was only reunited with his cue ten minutes before his tie with former Crucible finalist Jak Jones after it wasn't loaded on to the plane for O'Donnell's flight over from London.

Jones led 3-1, but former Welsh Open runner-up O'Donnell recovered, starting his 4-3 comeback victory with a 103 in frame five.

Joe O'Connor went 2-0 up in his match before opponent Thepchaiya Un-Nooh rattled in runs of 65, 74 and 64 to take the front. O'Connor made a 118 for a deciding frame finish, but Un-Nooh got the verdict with the aid of a 66 in the seventh frame.

Jimmy Robertson was the other winner from the session as he saw off former world champion Stuart Bingham, 4-2.

Visit our tournament information centre here for details on the 2025 Northern Ireland Open including the draw, results, schedule and how to watch.