By Jonathan Rawcliffe BBC Sport at The Crucible

McManus held his nerve to edge out Doherty

With the match level at 8-8 going into the final session, Doherty won the first two frames of the evening, but McManus replied to make it 10 each.

Doherty won the next, only for McManus to again hit back to go 12-11 ahead.

In the final frame, Doherty began well, but missed a straight-forward black off the spot and McManus stepped forward to win the match with an 81 break.

McManus later explained that turning in a successful performance over three sessions meant a lot to him.

"I've not won a best of 25 frame match in a long time," he said. "I knew before I would be happy as long as I gave it my best.

"I'm not a massive results person. I just want to do myself justice.

"I love playing at The Crucible, but at the same time it's horrible out there. Your head's going through the mincer constantly, but you still love it."

Doherty gave credit to McManus after the Scot's tactical play knocked him out of the tournament.

"Alan's safety is excellent," Doherty said. "He's one of the best safety players I think I've ever played.

"He played some really really good match snooker and made some good breaks from nothing.

"I'm disappointed, particularly with missing a black when I had a chance in the last frame. It would have been nice to have gone to the wire."

K DOHERTY (Irl) 11-13 A McMANUS (Sco)

9-62 22-87 (57) 56-6 0-126 (104) 0-131 (103) 51-47 96-26 (59) 37-64 86-14 99-0 37-87 (87) 18-107 (107) 45-61 101-0 (101) 98-28 72-45 (67) 73-17 (73) 80-51 (53) 15-59 0-91 (63) 63-37 1-91 (59) 5-70 (70) 24-85 (81)