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Mark Allen

After a patchy start to his first season among the top 16, Mark Allen came good at the end of the 2008/09 season and showed the true extent of his talent.
The Ulsterman enjoyed a fine run to the semi-finals of the Bahrain Snooker Championship, equalling his best performance ina ranking event. He beat Judd Trump, Michael Judge and Barry Hawkins before losing to eventual champion Neil Robertson. “There are a lot of positives to take from the week as I’ve got some wins under my belt,” said Allen.
He got to the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Trophy and last 16 of the Maplin UK Championship, but he also lost in the first round of four of the first seven ranking events of the campaign.
Going into the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, Allen had to win his first round match against Martin Gould to be sure of his top 16 status for another season, and he duly managed that with a 10-6 defeat of Martin Gould. That set up his first ever match against Ronnie O’Sullivan – a mouth-watering clash between two of the quickest players on the pro Tour. Allen produced arguably the best performance of his career to score a 13-11 victory and send the world No 1 and defending champion out of the Crucible exit door.
“I loved every minute of it,” said the gifted youngester from Antrim with a belligerent style of play and a pumped-up attitude around the table. “Just being out there with Ronnie, probably the most talented player the game has ever seen. To play one of your heroes at the World Championship, it’s a dream come true. But where a lot of players may have crumbled, it inspired me. Even when Ronnie was making breaks, I was thinking, I’ll get you the next frame. That’s why you play this game, to play the best players in the world and on the best stage in the world.”
Allen went from strength to strength, with a 13-11 defeat of Ryan Day to reach the third ranking event semi-final of his career and his first at Sheffield. He seemed to struggle with the unfamiliarity of the one table set-up against John Higgins, and was in danger of an empahtic defeat when he trailed 14-4. Allen then launched a fantastic fight-back and had Higgins on the ropes when he got to within three frames at 15-12. But a vital missed red in the next, as well as a missed blue at 16-13, proved Allen’s downfall as he lost 17-13.
"I’m only just beginning to show what I’m capable of,” said Allen. “It’s up to me to keep putting the work in over the summer, come back sharp and show I’m not a flash in the pan after one good tournament. John shook my hand and said don’t worry about it, you’ll definitely win this one time. For someone like John to say that to me is a very big compliment.”
It didn’t take Allen long to prove that he is no flash in the pan, as he went out to China for the 12-man invitational Wuzhou International Jiangsu Classic, and came home with the trophy after beating Ding Junhui 6-0 in the final in Wuxi.
“Although this isn’t a ranking tournament, it still means a lot to me, to get my first professional title under my belt,” he said. “I’ve shown that I can handle myself on the big stage and I hope that this title is the start of things to come."
Allen took just three seasons on the professional Tour to break into the top 16. His first ranking semi-final was at the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy when he beat Rod Lawler, Graeme Dott, Ryan Day and Gerard Greene before losing to Fergal O’Brien.
He made a sensational Crucible debut in 2007, beating former champion Ken Doherty 10-7 before losing 13-9 to Matthew Stevens.
The most gifted player to emerge from Northern Ireland since the days of Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins, Allen won three of the biggest titles in amateur snooker before turning pro.
In 2004 he won the European Championship in Austria, beating Malta’s Alex Borg in the final. He went on to become IBSF World Amateur Champion, beating Steve Mifsud 11-6 in the final in Holland. He dedicated victory to his parents, who sold their house to help fund his career.
In 2005 he added the European Under-19 Championship crown, beating Chris Norbury 6-5 in the final in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
He is a former Northern Ireland champion at under-14, under-16 and under-19 level.
The father-of-one, who has a daughter called Lauren with ladies World Champion Reanne Evans, is a single-figure handicap golfer and a keen Manchester United fan. He enjoys the music of Michael Jackson.

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