Driven by an unquenchable pride in his craft, Stephen Hendry fought back from deficits of 5-0 and 8-4 to capture top prize of £75,000 in the Benson and Hedges Irish Masters at Goffs last night. In beating wild-card Stephen Lee by 9-8 in a pulsating final, the 30-year-old Scot repeated his triumphs of 1992 and 1997.

It is a long-established truism of competitive snooker that the most difficult frame can be the one that secures the title. And there was to be no comfortable route to victory for the former English Amateur champion, who was given a painful lesson in competitive excellence.

In the process of closing last night's gap, Hendry had back-to-back century breaks in the 15th (123) and 16th (104) frames. And as the final went to the last frame as it had done for the Scot's 1997 victory here, the job was completed with a break of 85.

"Stephen blew me away in the early frames and obviously I'm delighted to have come back the way I did," said Hendry afterwards. "You always hope you have a chance I just hung in there. Fortunately I got three great breaks to win the last three frames."

Meanwhile, the week's activities were also notable for strong indications that after a distinguished past, Ireland's leading snooker tournament is heading for an uncertain future and may have to be abandoned within three years, unless a new sponsor is found.

In response to a European directive on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, legislation is currently being finalised by the Department of Health. And a white paper is expected to be published within the next two months which could sound the death-knell of the annual pilgrimage to Goffs.

It is understood that each relevant sport will be given its own time-scale and in the case of snooker, the expectation is a deadline of 2002, at best.

At the moment, the game's ruling body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, is a major beneficiary of tobacco sponsorship from Benson and Hedges for the British Masters and the Irish Masters and from Embassy for the World Championship.

Against that background, there was an inescapable irony about bumper attendances at the Co Kildare venue. But the gallery yesterday afternoon might have felt somewhat cheated when the seven-frame session lasted only 97 minutes, an average of 14 minutes per frame.

It was a remarkable session for the fact that Lee took the opening five frames against a nonplussed opponent. An extension of that dominance would have left last night's patrons wondering whether it was worth making the journey to Kill.

But salvation was at hand. After scoring the modest total of 128 points in the first five frames, Hendry knocked in a break of 123 in the sixth, with a clearance to the black. It was the 19th century of the season for the game's current, most prolific scorer. And he would bring that tally to 21 before the evening was out.

The timing of these efforts was all the more notable for the fact that in the 10 frames he needed for a semi-final victory over Peter Ebdon on Saturday, Hendry's highest break was 86. In the event, the Scot closed the gap to 5-2 by the end of the afternoon, proving that while his game may lack the sharpness of his halcyon days, his competitive spirit is undiminished.

Crucially, Hendry went on to win the opening two frames of the evening session. Yet the battle seemed to be slipping inexorably away from him when Lee, still brimful of confidence, took a scrappy 12th frame to lead 8-4.

The seeming inviting challenge of adding one more frame for his second title of the season, turned into the stuff of nightmares. Just as had done so often in the past, Hendry imposed major alterations on the plot.

In the event, a break of 51 was enough to secure the 13th frame and after an 89 in the next, the gap was reduced to 6-8. Lee's fluency had now been replaced by an obvious anxiety as the unthinkable possibility of defeat began to eat into him.

Acutely aware of his opponent's discomfort, Hendry set about heightening the tension in the manner of a born fighter. And drawing on the priceless experience of 91 tournament finals, he went on to successfully complete a task that would later deliver his 69th title.