Ken Doherty

And the pubs around Dublin, the homes around Ireland...

The atmosphere at this moment must be incredible.

There's no better feeling in the world.

So Ken Doherty thoroughly deserves...

I've never played Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Crucible in all the years that I've been playing here.

He actually, in 1997, he got the 1-4-7 in that five minutes and eight seconds that same year.

Actually, I thought he was going to win the World Championship that year because I'd been practising with him in Ilford for the previous two weeks.

And he was playing so well that I thought, wow, this guy is going to win the world championship.

No doubt the way he's playing.

And yeah, he got the one for seven, but got knocked out in the second round by Darren Morgan.

And then I went on to win it that year, you know.

So he sort of helped me in a way because he sharpened me up.

No end in those couple of weeks leading up to the world championship.

yeah absolutely yeah and particularly when you're playing an individual sport um you uh if you're playing someone as good as that uh you need to be sharp because otherwise you're just picking balls out like a referee you know what i mean so uh yeah it was quite and actually you know we hadn't like he used to play on one table i'd play on the another in ilford and we've sort of uh we'd sort of fallen out a little bit we hadn't spoken even even though beyond the other table and i

went and I said to him look I said let's have a cup of tea let's have a chat let's get ready for the world championship together let's practice together you know and put our differences aside and just try and sharpen each other up and he said okay no problem he said we shook hands and then every morning 10 o'clock in the morning we were there playing best of 19 and then best of 19 in the afternoon and for two weeks leading up to the world championship I never knew that what had you fallen head over?

Ah, I can't remember.

It was silly things, like, you know.

I think I...

And in the snooker club, if I won a tournament, the owner would put my name up, congratulations, but he wouldn't put it up for him, you know, because he was a bit naughty at times, you know.

So he used to piss him off and then he started blaming me for it, you know.