A kind of magic

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Today we turn our attention to the other semi-final with Mark Allen up against his good friend of the green baize, Shaun Murphy. On paper, it looked like at the start of this match that Allen was the clear favourite, having won the title last year. However snooker is a game within a game and prides itself on unpredictability. Rather like a play, these two friends would have to adopt a part of for the duration of this match, that being one of a foe. Perhaps the pressure of this meeting and the fact that it was his path to attempt to retain the title, got to Matk. Natural burnout is prevalent in these long events and especially when the players have to travel long distances from home. Not an excuse but definitely a fact.

Perhaps Mark should have had an energy drink before this match because it was his eyes that were forced to work on overdrive as Shaun dominated the table and left Allen urgently requiring a mental pit stop. Allen ran on empty for what seemed like for ages and before long , Murphy had a  5-0 advantage, not bad for someone celebrating his birthday today. It was evident that Mark would have to dig extremely deep if he was to avert a whitewash or a devastating defeat. However, Allen wasn’t ready to role over yet and so decided to play this game style of play and in the it payed, earning 2 frame to make the chasm between, shorten to a more healthy 2-6 score line but on the flip side of the coin, leaving him with the dark reality that Shaun was only three frames awry from the final. A precipice that few players are capable of climbing. Despite this quandary. Allen definitely had planted the seeds of losing in his opponent’s brain.

They say an interval can make or break a player and so the same could be said of this match. Murphy looked a different player after the break, retracting into his shell and missing easy balls. Allen sensed this change and pounced on it, taking little time to make it 7-4. Perhaps this flicked a switch in Murphy’s brain because he started to string a break together but disturbances in the crowd, caused him to miss the pink. Perhaps the man in the front row who constantly waved at the camera, didn’t help things too! However Murphy managed to get back into the frame and did enough to capture it, needing just one more frame to progress to the final, 8-4.

Allen, not phased by his opponent’s surge, cut his deficit down by another by making it 5-8 and then it seemed that the floodgates were opening for Mark as Shaun’s lead got slowly eroded but in the end, made the final break and let Murphy clear the table to the blue but missed the pink down the cushion , shaving Murphy’s lead to 8-6. The last was eventually won and so took his place in tomorrow’s final, 9-6.



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