Ken Doherty has introduced his retirement from skilled snooker, bringing the curtain down on one of many sport’s most enduring and common careers.
For greater than three many years, the Dubliner has represented one of the vital acquainted faces on the World Snooker Tour.
Whether or not competing on the highest stage, entertaining crowds together with his persona, or later offering skilled evaluation within the commentary field, Doherty turned one of many recreation’s most recognisable figures.
A world champion, six-time rating occasion winner, and former world quantity two, Doherty loved a profession that many gamers might solely dream of.
As skilled snooker says goodbye to one in every of its most beloved rivals, let’s look again at a few of the defining moments and achievements from his profession.
Doherty’s first rating title
Doherty arrived on the skilled circuit in 1990 with a powerful repute already behind him.
The Irishman had loved an excellent novice profession – profitable the Irish Nationwide Championship twice, the World Below-21 Championship, and the World Newbie Championship earlier than making the leap to the skilled ranks.
It didn’t take lengthy for him to start making an influence on the principle tour.
Doherty reached his first rating occasion last on the 1992 Grand Prix, though he was denied a maiden title in a deciding-frame thriller by Jimmy White.
Lower than a yr later, nevertheless, Doherty captured the maiden rating crown of his profession by beating Alan McManus within the last of the Welsh Open.
It represented an necessary breakthrough and offered a glimpse of what was to come back.
One of the best of the remainder
One of the vital spectacular facets of Doherty’s profession was his longevity on the high of the sport.
His Welsh Open success helped him break into the world’s elite 16, and he would stay there for round 15 years – a lot of it ranked close to the highest.
That achievement turns into much more notable when making an allowance for the gamers he was competing towards.
Doherty’s profession spanned two ‘Large 4’ eras dominated by a few of the best gamers the game has ever seen.
He first emerged throughout a interval when Steve Davis, Jimmy White, John Parrott, and Stephen Hendry had been among the many recreation’s main stars.
But he remained a serious power as Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, and Mark Williams rose to prominence and commenced rivalling Hendry’s Nineteen Nineties dominance to gather titles of their very own.
Doherty was proper up there as the most effective of the remainder.
Whereas others usually dominated the headlines, the Ranelagh man persistently put himself in rivalry on the largest occasions.
He received prestigious invitational tournaments such because the Scottish Masters and the Premier League, whereas his document within the Triple Crown occasions was particularly spectacular.
In actual fact, Doherty reached eight of those main finals between 1994 and 2003 – sufficient to place him into the highest 15 on the all-time record of most Triple Crown finals.
That tally alone highlights simply how recurrently he challenged the game’s most interesting throughout one of many strongest durations in snooker historical past.
Again-to-back rating titles in 2001
Doherty’s document in main finals maybe doesn’t do full justice to how good he was at his peak.
Competing in the identical period as Hendry, the Class of ’92, and others made gathering silverware a troublesome process.
Certainly, Doherty misplaced seven of the eight Triple Crown finals he reached and was overwhelmed in 11 of his 17 rating occasion finals total.
But there was a spell in 2001 when he regarded nearly unstoppable.
The Dubliner claimed the Welsh Open title for the second time after beating Paul Hunter within the last earlier than following that success with victory on the Thailand Masters, the place he defeated Hendry.
Profitable back-to-back rating tournaments is a uncommon feat in snooker, and it positioned Doherty in unique firm.
He then very practically made it a hat-trick, reaching the Scottish Open last solely to be denied a 3rd on the trot in a detailed 9-7 reverse to Peter Ebdon.
The interval could not obtain the identical consideration as his World Championship triumph, nevertheless it arguably represented the best sustained run of type of his whole profession.
Reaching a career-high of world quantity two
Doherty spent greater than a decade ranked among the many world’s high eight gamers, underlining the consistency that turned one of many hallmarks of his profession.
At the same time as youthful challengers emerged and the competitors intensified, he continued to compete for the sport’s largest prizes.
One of many final nice highlights of his rating profession arrived in 2006, when Doherty beat John Higgins within the last of the Malta Cup to safe the sixth and last rating title of his profession.
The victory helped him climb to a career-high rating of world quantity two, albeit he agonisingly got here inside one results of going even higher.
Had he overcome Marco Fu within the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Championship, he would have risen to the coveted world primary place.
Nonetheless, changing into world quantity two throughout one in every of snooker’s best eras was an amazing achievement and additional proof of his standing among the many recreation’s elite gamers.
Profitable the 1997 World Snooker Championship
There have been different memorable moments throughout his spectacular profession, however Doherty’s crowning achievement after all got here in Sheffield.
He made his Crucible debut in 1991 on the finish of his very first season as knowledgeable, and 6 years later he was beating Stephen Hendry to assert the game’s blue-riband prize.
Hendry had received the earlier 5 world titles and 6 of the final seven, and lots of had written Doherty off earlier than a ball had even been struck.
However the ‘Darling of Dublin’ produced a powerful efficiency throughout the ultimate to beat Hendry 18-12 and delight a nation again house.
Virtually 30 years later, he stays the primary and solely participant from the Republic of Eire to grow to be world snooker champion.
The 1997 success was the top, nevertheless it wasn’t Doherty’s solely memorable journey in Sheffield.
He returned to the ultimate the next yr and got here near breaking the Curse of the Crucible solely to fall simply quick towards Higgins.
Then, in 2003, he produced one of many best Crucible comebacks ever.
Trailing Paul Hunter 15-9 within the semi-finals, Doherty fought again to win 17-16 and attain a 3rd World Championship last – this time lacking out on the title in a dramatic defeat to Williams.
Whereas additional Triple Crown glory in the end eluded him, these runs strengthened his particular relationship with snooker’s most well-known venue.
Each nice profession wants a defining second.
For Ken Doherty, it got here on an unforgettable day in 1997 when he toppled the sport’s dominant power and have become world champion.
It doesn’t matter what adopted, his identify was without end etched onto the sport’s most prestigious trophy.
Featured photograph credit score: WST
