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Ken Doherty

Doherty’s first season outside of the top 16 proved to be a real struggle as he plummeted 26 places down the ranking list to 44th place.
He won just two matches in eight ranking events in 2008/09 - one at the Northern Ireland Trophy where he beat Gerard Greene before losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 32, and one in the Maplin UK Championship where he saw off Liu Chuang 9-4 to qualify for the venue but lost by the same scoreline to Graeme Dott.
The remainder of the season yielded only disappointment as he suffered 5-0 defeats to Jimmy White and Judd Trump at the Welsh Open and Bank of Beijing World Snooker China Open qualifiers. His last chance of salvaging his season came in qualifying for Sheffield. However a 10-5 reverse to Gerard Greene put paid to any hopes of moving back up the rankings and leaves the popular Dubliner with it all to do in the 2009/10 season.
In 2007 Doherty appraoched the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship with a great chance of taking the official world No 1 spot.
But so sharp was his subsequent decline in his results and performances that he dropped out of the top 16 at the end of the following season.
A 10-5 defeat to Liang Wenbo at the Crucible in 2008 confirmed his relegation from the elite for the first time in 16 years.
The Dubliner did fare much better in invitation tournaments. He beat Shaun Murphy in the final of Pot Black, snooker’s ever-popular one-frame knockout tournament, and reached the semi-finals of the Masters. Doherty beat Mark Williams and Murphy at Wembley before being denied a place in the final by Mark Selby.
He went one step further at the Malta Cup, making his way through the group phase and beating John Higgins before losing to Murphy.
His last silverware came at the same location as he won the Malta Cup in 2006 – his first ranking success in five years. Wins over Joe Swail, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott put Doherty through to the final at the luxurious Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso. In a see-saw final, he led John Higgins 5-2 but then lost six frames in succession and looked sure to lose 9-5 until Higgins missed a simple red at a crucial point of the 14th frame. Seizing his chance, Doherty stormed back to 8-8 then snatched a memorable victory with a tremendous break of 63 in the deciding frame.
"This is my most important tournament win since the (1997) World Championship," he said. "I never doubted my ability and that I would win a title again, but I’m not getting any younger and the longer time goes on the harder it gets.”
The crowning glory of his career to date came in 1997 when he ended Stephen Hendry’s five-year unbeaten stint at the Crucible with an 18-12 victory in the final. He became the first player to win the world title at junior, amateur and professional level as well as the only overseas player other than Cliff Thorburn to lift the famous trophy.
He was welcomed home by some 250,000 fans on the streets of Dublin, voted Ireland’s Sports Personality of the Year and given the chance to parade the trophy at Old Trafford, home of his beloved Manchester United.
Doherty was back in the Crucible final the following year but lost 18-12 to Higgins. His third final was in 2003 when he made a remarkable comeback against Paul Hunter in the semis, winning 17-16 from 15-9 down, only to go down 18-16 to Mark Williams.
Doherty is married to Sarah, an Australian psychiatrist, and they have a son called Christian, born in December 2007. His hobbies include visiting art galleries and watching opera.

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