John Higgins was the defending champion of the tournament but was eliminated in the quarter-finals following a defeat by Peter Ebdon.

In the semi-finals, O'Sullivan defeated Ebdon and Hendry beat defending world champion Mark Williams.

O'Sullivan made a century break of 137 in the second frame of his quarter-final match with six-time world champion Steve Davis, the highest of the tournament.

[2] It featured a 12-player draw that occurred at the Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Dublin, between 27 March and 1 April 2001.

[2] The competition went ahead as scheduled in the wake of concerns about the spread of foot-and-mouth in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

[7][8] The eight highest-ranked players in the world rankings and four wild cards were invited to play in Ireland.

[10] Jimmy White, the 2000 British Open finalist, lost 6–4 to world number six Alan McManus in a 3-hour, 7-minute match.

He went on to claim another two frames to earn the first quarter-final spot and achieve his second victory in Ireland since reaching the final of the 1994 Irish Masters.

[17] 1995 Irish Masters winner Peter Ebdon played the final first round match with world number five Stephen Lee.

[10] The first quarter-final was between three-time Irish Masters champion Stephen Hendry and fellow Scot McManus.

[23] The third quarter-final was between British Open champion Ebdon and 2000 UK Championship winner Higgins.

[26] In the first frame, O'Sullivan looked set to achieve a maximum break before a spectator's ringing mobile phone distracted him while on 72 points.

He went on to win five of the next eight frames including a 137 total clearance and a break of 136 to defeat Davis 6–3 for the last semi-final spot.

[9] O'Sullivan prevented Ebdon from scoring in the ninth frame to win the match 6–3, clinching the second spot in the final.

O'Sullivan took 20 minutes to accumulate 136 points from breaks of 60 and 76 as he won the next three frames to go 4–0 ahead before the mid-session interval.

[9][37] It was O'Sullivan's first Irish Masters win; he had defeated Doherty 9–3 in the 1998 final but was disqualified, as he tested positive for traces of cannabis.

[35] He won his fourth tournament of the season following the Champions Cup, the Scottish Masters and the China Open,[33][35][38] though this was his first in 2001.

[2][9] The bold text in the table indicate winning frame scores and denotes the player who won the game.