Ireland's Fergal O'Brien fell agonisingly short of making it to the Crucible as Liang Wenbo held his nerve in the deciding frame of their World Championship final qualifying round match to edge a seven-hour epic 10-9.

With the pair deadlocked at nine frames apiece, Liang rattled home a brilliant break of 141 to progress.

The Dubliner had battled back from 5-2 down to lead 8-7 and then forced a decider after the World No 34 claimed back-to-back frames to move 9-8 ahead.

It was very tough on 48-year-old O'Brien, who had kept his hopes alive with a gutsy 6-5 win against Luca Brecel on Saturday.

As it stands, however, reaching the fourth round means he may have secured his tour card for next season.

Liang will now make his seventh appearance at the Crucible and his first since 2017.

Antrim's Jordan Brown is now the last Irishman standing in qualifying and will face Wales' Ryan Day on Tuesday for a place in the tournament proper.

Mark Allen is the overall fourth seed.

Elsewhere on Monday, Elliot Slessor booked his first Crucible appearance with victory over Martin O'Donnell and revealed he must now keep his promise to marry girlfriend Stephanie.

Newcastle's Slessor, 25, reeled off the last nine frames to beat O'Donnell 10-3.

"We had a deal that if I qualified for the Crucible we've got to start making plans for the wedding and start booking places, so she'll be over the moon," said Slessor, who will pocket £20,000 for reaching the main event.

"I don't think she'll be too bothered about the snooker, just over the moon to start making plans to get married."

Slessor, who had trailed 3-1 in the first session and sealed his place on the big stage with a break of 111 in the final frame, is hoping to be paired with Ronnie O'Sullivan on his Crucible debut.

"I know a lot of people will say they don't want to play him," Slessor added. "But for me, if it's busy and spectators are allowed to come in, you want to play the main man on the main stage."

Alexander Ursenbacher became the first Swiss to reach the Crucible by edging out Andrew Higginson 10-8 and Norway's Kurt Maflin sealed his maiden appearance by cruising to a 10-1 win against Matthew Selt.

Alan McManus clinched his first trip to the Crucible since his run to the semi-finals in 2016 by beating Louis Heathcote 10-5.

On the penultimate night of qualifying, Thailand's Noppon Saengkham, Anthony Hamilton and Ashley Carty won through to the main event, which starts on Friday.