Ronnie O'Sullivan v Shaun Murphy: Re-live the frame-by-frame of the UK Championship final

So there we go: Ronnie O'Sullivan is good.Thanks for your company, and all being well, I'll be back in the New Year for the Masters.

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Ronnie accepts and raises the trophy; he looks pretty pleased. More pleased than you or I have ever looked and will ever comprehend, I shouldn't wonder. Two of the three majors for Ronnie this year, but can he rustle up another world? from 5-5 to 10-5, HE MISSSED ONE BALL!

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Ronnie says they can both play better, Shaun had a bit of bad luck, and neglects to note his overwhelming genius. "I try to express myself, I try to attack the game and play it the way I think nit should be played ... you get a few battle scars and think not to attack too much, but I love playing the game, I love competing."

We are privileged to be living in his time.

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A what can you do interview from Shaun Murphy, who says he wanted to play his best tonight, but Ronnie is Ronnie.

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You'll be telling your grandchildren about him. They'll be desperate to hear about him.

There's not much in the world that's better than watching Ronnie O'Sullivan when he's on one, and dearie me, he's on one tonight. It's just so easy for him, and he's starting to showboat; even Murphy smiles when he rattles home the last red. AND RONNIE O'SULLIVAN HAS WON FIVE FRAMES INA ROW TO WIN HIS SIXTH UK TITLE, EQUAL WITH STEVE DAVIS, AND HIS 18TH TRIPLE CROWN TITLE, LEVEL WITH STEPHEN HENDRY! WHAT A RIDICULOUS, WONDROUS HUMAN BEING HE IS!

Murphy can only leave Ronnie a taxing red into the yellow pocket; "Is it there? ... Of course it's there!" This is DONE.

Ronnie thunks home a black and cannons the cluster of reds, but incredibly, it doesn't go to plan. He's forced to stick the chwhite close to the top cushion, and Murphy comes to the table 59 behind with 59 behind, 83 remaining, and three reds up in baulk.

76, 86 and two tons in the last four frames; Murphy has had chances, but there's not much anyone's doing about that. Hendry, who could knock balls about himself, says if there's ever been a better sportsman he's not seen him, and Taylor says he reckons Ronnie overtook him a couple of seasons ago; what a brilliantly bizarre conversation to be having!

"Shaun knows that every shot could be his last," says Hendry, and Murphy duly misses a red to leave O'Sullivan a simple enough starter, cut home from near the middle pocket. In it goes, and along comes a kindly kiss to facilitate a pink to middle. The balls are now spread, and the end is nigh; of the match, not the world (hopefully).

This is just so, so very magically good. O'Sullivan has absolutely blitzed Murphy this evening, and he's one away! A break of 76, another one gone, and Shaun is eyeing up a feast of dust.

Ronnie overscrews one; he copes. and what a shot shortly afterwards, taking the opportunity to screw back off a straight red and flick the remaining tricky one away from the cushion. he is purring; drink him in, for ye'll never see the like.

MURPHY MISSES A STRAIGHTFORWARD CUT OF THE BLACK WITH THE REST! Was he thinking 147? He's going to lose another frame because of it, I shouldn't wonder.

Murphy has six reds and five blacks, along with an insurance red close to the middle pocket. He goes into the bunch again, and it's gone altogether well ... he's got an oblique one into the middle, a different one ... and it's there!

Wonderful red from Murphy - he'll need to be pretty much perfect from here to even get close. He takes the black, then another red and black, before a long red into the green pocket. Ito the cluster off the next black, and here we go! Surely he can't....

The truth is, this is no more than Murphy's tan shoes deserve. Ronnie racks up yet another on - 104 - to remove all the balls, and he's very nearly hame now! I think he's quite good at snooker!

An error from Ronnie, failing to go into the bunch off a red near the top cushion, and now he has to either do so off the black or find one to pick off. There are none, so he forces into the cluster and just about leaves to the middle ... that he rattles in because that's what he does. I hereby supplicate that this frame is over, and Murphy will be feeling ill in contemplation of that missed red.

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Murphy can feel himself drowning here, leaving the white short and allowing Ronnie a good go art a red maybe a foot from the corner. But he jaws it and this is a chance Shaun really must take, a red to the top-right to which he's pretty close ... AND HE MISSES! He is in tremendous trouble now.

Oh dear. Murphy taps in a black and needs a full-ball cannon for guaranteed position, only to slide off the pink and run out of it; he's forced to play safe.

And Murphy is first in, stroking the cue ball straight to cut an opening red into the top left. If he loses this frame, he's done for, so needs to take proper care with how he consolidates.

We go again....

A run of 75 is enough for Ronnie - there's plenty left on the table when he misses, but Murphy has seen enough, and that's the mid-session. See you presently - and do make sure you return to lap up the staggering genius that has bestowed upon us.

This is perfect for O'Sullivan, lots of little stuns and run-throughs around the pink; only Ding does this kind of thing anywhere near as well. He is playing so very, very well - every contact with the white is perfection.

Left close to the bottom cushion and near the green pocket, Murphy plays dead slow towards the opposite corner - too slow to hit the red for which he was aiming but hitting the jaws of the pocket when to go in-off would've absolutely cleansed him. So he goes again and this time gets requisite pace, but also a double-kiss and O'Sullivan is right in amongst it. This is looking like a two-frame lead.

Murphy takes a while assessing his options before deciding that he has none and playing the pot, a red whacked to the bottom corner. He misses, but gets lucky thereafter, leaving nothing and forcing Ronnie to play into one of two reds on the bottom cushion.

Oh dear. Murphy glides home an opening red, pulls the white back ... and into the middle pocket! But he leaves nothing, so Ronnie caresses the cue ball around the table and tight on the bottom cushion.

Ronnie misses a green down the rail at 104, but that was stunning stuff nonetheless. Watching him play is a sensuous, sumptuous treat - enjoy him, because you don't know when he'll be gone.

This is the art. Ronnie is on for a maximum 143, which would beat Michael White's 142 ... but he takes a green. His control of the cue ball is something else - the cue ball has hardly moved, notes John Parrott.

Another magical run from Ronnie - he's judging the pace of his pots like an absolute boss; funny that, given that he is the absolute boss. It was around now that he missed in the last frame...

Murphy, put in a bind after Ronnie responded to his safety shot with an even better one, takes a while over a safety shot and ends up catching the jaw of the middle pocket anyway. But Ronnie cues beautifully to cut in a red close to the black spot from on the top cushion, and he's away again.

Lovely confident clearance from Murphy after Ronnie had done all the hard work getting rid of the tricky balls.

Key shot from Murphy is a red down the side - the last of the frame. He sinks it confidently, and will now boust his way through the colours. For those who did not grow up in north-west London in the 90s, "boust" means to drive quickly and recklessly.

Murphy quickly gets to 20 and is clearing the reds around the black spot. There are three close to the cushion, but he disturbs one and now looks a solid bet to level things.

It's quite some break, is this, this is, is this. But then what! After all manner of genius chicanery to set up the frame, Ronnie misses a straight red and Shaun is in!

At the moment it's Ronnie who's showing the greater consistency and a snooker behind the yellow allows him to take control of the frame. Again, he's rinsing around the table looking unbelievable, and he sinks a red into the green pocket with alarming confidence, then proceeds thereafter.

Murphy slides in a lovely long red, but gets an unfortunate kiss off the pink. Still, he rams through the green and screws back onto the top cushion ... but gets too much action on the ball, too low to force a pot, and so has to go back up to the bottom cushion.

A run of 75 is enough to clinch the frame, and O'Sullivan is closer to equalling Stephen Hendry's record of 18 triple crown wins.

Ronnie - we're boys, so I'm allowed to call him that - is on a run now, holding the cue ball with two delicate shots to the middle. It's impossible to see him missing, but that doesn't mean he won't.

Mistake from Murphy lets O'Sullivan in, playing a pot that wasn't on, getting nowhere near, and Ronnie quickly seeks to get to the business end of the table. But with the black out in the middle of the table, he has to enjoy some pink with his red.

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Murphy takes on a long red and misses by plenty, slightly odd for a first visit of the session, "but that's how he plays". And next shot, he bags a corker, only to finish adjacent to the green on the baulk line. He sticks Ronnie in behind it; Ronnie escapes and we're back on with a safety exchange.

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Ronnie gets us away, and in commentary, Ken Doherty reckons this could go all the way. Who could've predicted that?

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And here comes the Rocket, to Oasis' Rock n' Roll Star. Hopefully Noel Gallagher will be doing a stint in commentary to share his expertise with the masses.

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Here comes Murphy.

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On pure talent, and along with Neil Robertson, Murphy is probably closest to O'Sullivan. And now that we see O'Sullivan's brilliance less often and in smaller portions, he knows that if he plays his best, it'll probably be enough.

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Evening all, and welcome to what should be an absolute jazzer. It was enthralling stuff this afternoon, O'Sullivan in the ascendancy but Murphy just about staying with him, but in pinching the final frame of the session at the death, he'll be feeling good about himself as we recommence.