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Joe Swail

Swail suffered arguably the worst season of his 19-year career in 2009/10 as he won just one match in six ranking tournaments and tumbled 17 places to 39th in the world.

That solitary win was in the first event, the Roewe Shanghai Masters, as he beat Adrian Gunnell to qualify for the venue before losing to Mark Williams. But the next five tournaments brought no joy for the Ulsterman and the season ended with a 10-1 reverse at the hands of Ken Doherty in the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship qualifiers.

That was a far cry from the 2009 Welsh Open in Newport, where Swail reached the first ranking final of his career. After beating Marcus Campbell 5-3 to qualify for the venue, he saw off Mark Allen 5-3, Martin Gould 5-1, Stephen Maguire 5-4 and Neil Robertson 6-4 to book his place in the final.

"You have no idea what this means to me," said Swail. "After 18 years as a pro I’m in a final and I can’t believe it. I thought I’d missed the boat in the mid-90s after messing with my game, and all the parties and drinking. Now I’ve got a second chance. I’m 39 and I might never get another one so I’ve got to take it. It’s what I set out to do. I’ve got a monkey off my back now, people have been going on about how many semi-finals I’ve lost in for 15 years which has been annoying. I’m just so delighted.”

The Ulsterman looked in control of the final against Ali Carter when he led 5-2, but Carter turned on the style in the closing stages to run out a 9-5 winner and leave Swail clutching the runner-up cheque.

"When I did get a chance I’d had no table time so I was cold. On paper it looks as if I collapsed, but there wasn’t much I could do,” he said. "I wasn’t used to that scenario but it was an enjoyable kind of pressure. To have millions of people watching on TV and thousands at the venue including your family and friends - you’re out to impress. I’ve loved the week and it’s a pity it’s come to an end. In my eyes I’ve beaten three of the top six players in the world this week in Mark Allen, Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson. I may have lost tonight but I’ll try not to dwell on it."

The Belfast cueman is one of only two players to regain a top 16 place after dropping out of the top 32 (the other is Rex Williams) and still hopes to do so twice.

The player with the unorthodox but effective cue action won the Irish Professional Championship in 2005 for the second time in his career, beating Ken Doherty 9-7 in the final in Templelogue.

Nicknamed the Outlaw – a nod to the classic 1976 western The Outlaw Josey Wales – Swail appeared in nine ranking event semi-finals before his first final.

Two of those came at the Crucible. In 2000 he beat Paul Hunter, John Parrott and Dominic Dale before losing 17-12 to Matthew Stevens.

And a year later he enjoyed another fine run at Sheffield, knocking out defending champion Mark Williams, but went down 17-11 to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semis.

Swail, who captained Northern Ireland in the Nations Cup, is congenitally hearing-impaired but believes that may give him an advantage in snooker because it lessens the effect of crowd noise.

Click here for Joe Swail’s website

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