There's more than one Barnsley - the 2019-20 snooker thread

[Duncan Gardner]

Allen won 6-5 front 1-4. Sexy snooker from the big Ulster man

[Discordant Resonance]

More stumbling across the line after midnight, but never mind the quality, it's the result that counts. Ronnie turns on the afterburners this afternoon, after Murphy had been playing comparatively well at 2-3, and rattles off the final three frames in fairly short order to triumph 6-2. Given how both Carter and Allen rather plodded through yesterday, O'Sullivan starts as favourite to take the first two legs of the seasonal Triple Crown, which he has never achieved (the last time the UK and the Masters were won back-to-back was 2012/13), and Williams was the last to accomplish in 2002/03.

[longeared]

Carter progresses after an entertaining safety tussle in what turned out to be the final frame. Him and Ronnie don't get on at all ("I've got a lot of respect for Ronnie as a snooker player" he said on the telly just now, followed by a slight grin) so that should provide some entertaining needle tomorrow if we don't get a contest. Mind you Carter has also said "I'm not going to get beat ten nil" which I shall file away for reference.

[Duncan Gardner]

I have enjoyed this albeit quality was patchy

[Jah Womble]

Carter progresses after an entertaining safety tussle in what turned out to be the final frame. Him and Ronnie don't get on at all ("I've got a lot of respect for Ronnie as a snooker player" he said on the telly just now, followed by a slight grin) so that should provide some entertaining needle tomorrow if we don't get a contest. Mind you Carter has also said "I'm not going to get beat ten nil" which I shall file away for reference.

Well, he isn’t now.

Good for the game if Carter prevails.

[longeared]

Carter is a Farage fanboy if that affects your opinion of him at all.

Ronnie's let his chimp out so far, he's playing the wrong shots, his body language in his chair isn't great, and he's turned up wearing trainers - he's been allowed to do this in the past because of foot problems although there's always the suspicion he's just being Ronnie. He'll still probably win 10-5 or similar mind.

[Duncan Gardner]

Hope O Sullivan loses to Fanboy

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Enjoyed seeing Ronnie pull it back from 3-6 to 6-6. So hope he wins.

[longeared]

Heading for 9-7 Ronnie now. Seen this final many times before, Ronnie just finding another gear in the evening and rattling frames off in quick time - indeed, it's similar to how he beat Ding in the UK last month.

[longeared]

There we go, Ronnie 10-7. He needed a couple of chances in that final frame but Carter had lost all his confidence by then, needing to play no miss snooker and missing easy pots. Carter was probably the better player over the week and much of the match, but Ronnie's winning mentality kicked in and it felt inevitable from a long way out. So on we go to the Crucible where he'll go for the season Triple Crown (something he's never achieved, surprisingly) and the outright record eighth Worlds. Roll on April.

[nmrfox]

Indeed. Roll on Ronnie and April. He can be an absolute prick at times, but having been fortunate to see him play live a few times, he's untouched against all of the snooker greats I've seen play. Hoping the luck of my tickets and the Crucible draw sees another chance to see the GOAT.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

So chuffed to see Ronnie win. Funny how obvious it was from the post-match interviews that they really don’t like each other.

[longeared]

Yeah, there were no words exchanged when they fist bumped at the end and Carter's "he's beginning to annoy me" joke fell flat (it's what White famously said after Hendry beat him in the 1994 world final.) I genuinely think Ronnie would have more respect for Carter if he actually came out and said "I don't like the guy, never have" rather than just making snidey remarks. Vafaei went completely over the top with his trash talking at the Worlds last year then Ronnie pumped him 13-not many and was all smiles and respect after.

I know he's a professional and winning is what he does but I wish Ronnie would enjoy it all a bit more sometimes. I don't think he actually lifted the trophy.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Plenty of afters between the two men:

Ronnie O'Sullivan: Masters winner responds angrily after being criticised by Ali Carter - BBC Sport

Who knows the truth, eh? Without knowing the truth, I am happy to take Ronnie's side on the grounds that Carter is a Brexit-supporting, COVID lockdown sceptic, Farage-loving arsehole. He can absolutely go f*** himself.

[longeared]

It's not a brilliant look for the sport, mind. I can guess how this will all play out from here. Carter will get reminded about his conduct on and off the table, again. World Snooker will fine Ronnie a few grand for swearing in the press conference, there's precedents for that. Then we'll go through a tiresome dance of him saying he doesn't need snooker and threatening not to play at the Crucible - he's already said he's not going to play anything between the World Grand Prix this week (he's up against Pang Junxu imminently) and April, whether that turns out to be the case remains to be seen. Then he'll enter the Worlds anyway. With any luck Carter will move up or down the rankings sufficiently to end up in the same half of the draw as Ronnie and they might meet there in the quarter finals.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I'm prepared to believe Carter's accusations about Ronnie. He does look the sort of scrote who'd snot on the floor in a public area (especially as he's spent the week saying Ally Pally is a dump anyway). But I also dislike Carter for just being the GB News arsehole in the first place. I hope they meet again in the final in Sheffield in May.

[Capybara]

I just made the mistake of watching a film from Eurosport that purports to explain the 'golden ball' rule. It doesn't explain the rule at all, and just shows players saying what a great rule it is before turning into a 7-minute advertisement for Saudi Arabia. Ronnie O'Sullivan "loves the Middle Eastern culture" apparently. Sorry if it's reported elsewhere but I couldn't find it. I won't post a link.

[Discordant Resonance]

Not so much a shock given his recent form, but Neil Robertson will be absent from the Crucible after losing to Jamie Jones in the final qualifying round. All rather predictable otherwise, though a curious stat depends on the O'Connor/Selt result in the last tie - if the former loses, it will make 2024 the first Championship without a debutant.

[nmrfox]

Not so much a shock given his recent form, but Neil Robertson will be absent from the Crucible after losing to Jamie Jones in the final qualifying round. All rather predictable otherwise, though a curious stat depends on the O'Connor/Selt result in the last tie - if the former loses, it will make 2024 the first Championship without a debutant.

O'Connor prevailed at 23:30 to be the only 2024 debutant. Got tickets for the morning session on Tuesday and for the second year in succession, it'll be Kyren Wilson on one table and Ding Junhui on the other. Wonder if I'll get to see a 147 again.....

[longeared]

That final frame in O'Connor - Selt went on for the thick end of two hours. Good on O'Connor for winning though, he made a breakthrough last season and didn't really kick on this. He's from Leicester, think he practices with Selby, and, well. Robertson losing was both a surprise and not a surprise, he's been playing rubbish for ages now but finally found some form in that recent tournament in China where he reached the semis. He's something like 36th on the season rankings and it's going to take a while for him to get back to the top, particularly now that many events are going back to tiered draws (hurray) next season, given what he's got to defend it's not unreasonable to wonder if he'll have to qualify for the Crucible again next year.

There were various other stories in qualifying, Dominic Dale reaching the Crucible for the first time in a decade, Anthony McGill missing out for the first time in the same timeframe. Si Jiahui got to the semis here last year, he should have lost to Ben Mertens who was 50-odd points up in the decider then was 4-0 down to Wu Yize before winning ten on the bounce. Stuart Bingham found some form to drag himself through. Draw's been made this morning:

Luca Brecel v David Gilbert
Robert Milkins v Pang Junxu
Ali Carter v Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy v Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby v Joe O'Connor
Kyren Wilson v Dominic Dale
John Higgins v Jamie Jones
Mark Allen v Robbie Williams
Judd Trump v Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford v Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda v Jak Jones
Mark Williams v Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui v Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson v Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins v Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jackson Page

Looks as wide open as ever really. Brecel has been poor all year, Gilbert's not what he was a few seasons back but I think Luca's defence will be over on Saturday night. Ronnie is being held back until Wednesday to start his quest for title # 8 and the triple crown, he's already been shooting his gob off saying that the event should move to China or Saudi, coincedentally he became an ambassador of some sort for the latter the other week. Selby played so badly in the recent Tour Championship he threatened to retire. That were won by Mark Williams who demolished Ronnie in the final, although to get there he had to make an incredible clearance of a really unpromising table in a first round decider against Tom Ford. Judd Trump has been player of the season but tends to be a flat track bully and Vafaei is an horrible draw for him. Mark Allen is provisional world # 1 though he's never really got on with this event in the past, he reached the semis last year for the first time in aeons, could see him repeating that and I'd expect him to beat anybody from the top quarter by then. An outside bet would be Gary Wilson - won the Scottish and Welsh Opens this season and he's much improved in front of big crowds, though his draw could be kinder.

[Duncan Gardner]

Could it be Allen's year?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Ronnie to win his eighth, for me, Stephen Hendry's face to drain of all remaining colour, then Ronnie can retire and go off to play pool on superyachts against LIV golfers in the gulf (probably for more money than he's ever earnt in Preston or Sheffield) and the rest can carry on next year.

[nmrfox]

Mark Allen for me as my tenner is on him at 11/1.

[longeared]

Went to see the studio earlier, I trust you all saw me behind Hendry and his creased collar. Steve Davis had a very reluctant selfie with some beered up lads. A kid who was about the size of the cue potted all the reds on the table in no time at all and got a round of applause from the audience.

[longeared]

Obviously he can't fight the Crucible Curse, but Brecel has spent the last hour playing as if he spent the whole afternoon in the pub. There's also a bloke sat directly behind him who looks to be courtsiding.