Ronnie O’Sullivan with his son at the Crucible Theatre, last night.

Ronnie O’Sullivan lifted the World Championship trophy for a fifth and perhaps last time last night as he capped his comeback with Crucible glory.

Out of snooker for almost a year, O’Sullivan rolled up in Sheffield without any competitive match practice and proceeded to tear through the draw, culminating in an 18-12 triumph against surprise finalist Barry Hawkins.

Hawkins, the 34-year-old world no.14 from Kent, emerged from their tussle with huge credit, having performed terrifically well.

It was comfortably the biggest match of his life and he met the challenge head on.

His reward was £125,000 – more than treble the size of his previous highest pay cheque – and the respect of his opponent and the watching millions.

But O’Sullivan magisterially took the title.

He did so in record-breaking style too, with his six centuries one more than any player has managed before in a World Championship final, and with his career total of three-figure Crucible breaks now four ahead of former front-runner Stephen Hendry’s haul.

He finished with a brilliant 86, and just like last year brought his son, Ronnie Jr, out to share in the celebrations.

Will it be his swansong to the tournament?

He says so, but where O’Sullivan retirement threats go, scepticism follows. He first warned he could quit as a teenager, yet even in recent days has professed his love for snooker.

Should O’Sullivan depart, he would be quitting at the peak of his powers.

On this evidence he is irreplaceable and the sport’s authorities must be desperate to keep him in the game.

Following breaks of 103, 106, 113 and 100 on Sunday, O’Sullivan ploughed in 133 and 124 yesterday.

Only Mark Selby has made six centuries before, in a second-round match against Hendry two years ago.

The record for a world final previously stood at five, shared by John Higgins, Matthew Stevens and Hendry.

O’Sullivan has been whittling away at Hendry’s records, going beyond his total of 127 centuries in the World Championship and yesterday pushing his tally to an impressive 131.

He may not intend to chase the Scot’s haul of seven titles, but the manner of his latest run suggests he could quite easily take 11 months off again before returning for another shot at success on snooker’s most famous stage, and then do the same again for the 2015 champion-ship.

In finishing off Hawkins from 15-10 ahead before the last session, O’Sullivan became the first man since Hendry in 1996 to successfully defend the world title.

They flock to watch O’Sullivan in action.

In the audience for the closing day were the actor and presenter Stephen Fry, who once labelled the champion “the Mozart of snooker”, together with O’Sullivan’s artist friend Damien Hirst and darts champion Phil Taylor.

Taylor’s dominance of his sport, with 16 world titles, perhaps puts O’Sullivan’s achievements into some context. But nevertheless no player has dominated snooker like O’Sullivan this century.

World champion in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012, the way he carved a route this time, casting aside Marcus Campbell, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump, has perfectly exhibited the staggering natural ability that puts him head and shoulders above his rivals when in the mood.