'Shocking' World semi-final miss still hurts Allen

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• Published1 hour ago

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen admits it "hurts too much" at present to watch back the missed shot which ultimately cost him a place in this year's World Snooker Championship final.

Needing one more frame to reach the decider for the first time in his career, the Antrim man missed a spotted black and was punished with China's Wu Yize taking the semi-final to a deciding frame he went on to win on his way to the title.

The 40-year-old says it's "been a rough few weeks" since, but throwing himself into charity events through his own foundation has helped him move on "or else I may not have left the house".

However, while the heartbreak still lingers, Allen also feels there are "positives" to take from his run to the last four at the Crucible Theatre.

"I hadn't seen my daughter Harley for three weeks and when I picked her up from school, she jumped into my arms and the first thing she said was 'how did you miss that black, daddy?'," Allen told BBC Radio Ulster's Sportsound.

"I have been asked a million times since and don't know what the answer is. It was a shocking miss, but I tried my best and it just didn't work out on that day.

"There were positives to take from the two weeks in Sheffield. I know I played well although I was disappointed with how it ended, but it's the closest I've got [to a final] and that's something I have to take."

'I had my chances and blew it'

Allen was commended for his immediate reaction to the semi-final loss when he paid tribute to 22-year-old winner Yize while acknowledging "I had my chances and blew it, so there's no point in being a bad loser".

He hopes he has "many more chances to do it [win a world title] and won't be remembered for one shot", but feels there are similarities between his quest to complete snooker's Triple Crown and Rory McIlroy's odyssey to finally completing golf's career Grand Slam at last year's Masters.

Allen would welcome the opportunity for "a chat with Rory to see how he felt and what he did differently" as he seeks to reach his own carer target.

While his missed black may be an enduring moment of the semi-final, there was another earlier in the match when frame 14 lasted over 100 minutes.

Allen held the lead when eight reds were left covering the black over the right corner pocket, with no ball potted for 55 minutes.

With Allen reluctant for a re-rack, the situation was only resolved when he nudged the black into the pocket for a foul with Wu going on to win the frame, a situation he felt was "handled badly" from a number of angles.

"You're not really worried about what people are thinking, but just thinking about winning the frame," Allen reflected.

"I think it was handled badly at the time with the crowd involvement and commentary team didn't help.

"In hindsight, I'd probably have just taken the re-rack, but I felt I was dominating and had the patience to stay there and win the frame, but it didn't turn out that way."

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