12= Dominic Dale’s Shoot-out win (January) – As good as it
was to see the players like Dominic having a bit of fun during the Snooker
Shoot-out last year, you can’t class it as proper snooker as such and therefore
it was more just a bit of fun and can’t become a serious contender.
11= Neil Robertson thrills home crowd with consecutive home
finals (July) – For the second year in succession Neil Robertson was able to
thrill his home crowd in Australia by making the final of the Australian Open.
However, he wasn’t able to go one step further and win the whole of the event
and I wouldn’t even say that that was his best moment of 2014 so it can’t
really come close to being mine either.
10= Mark Selby wins in Riga with another epic comeback
(August)– Everyone loves a big comeback, and Mark Selby seems to produce them
far more often than anyone else does in recent years. Because of this however,
and with the fact it was only in a European Tour event it doesn’t make the
moment as special as it would’ve been if it would have happened in a full
ranking event over a much longer format.
9= Allen gets his revenge with awesome Shanghai fight back
(September) - When Mark Allen made his comeback over Selby, earning his
revenge, that was a more special moment because the it was in a full ranking
event and of course it’s a very special moment for a player when they can earn
some revenge over a player who has a put a few over on them.
8= Wildcard Xintong makes Wuxi Classic Last 16 (June) – This
moment in the summer again was a lovely moment to see a young Chinese amateur
come through the Wildcard qualifiers to reach the Last 16 of a full ranking
event. Although, this isn’t the first time Xintong has beaten some top
professional players and he has beaten more since so it hardly comes as a
surprise that he has managed to do this, and this would certainly have been
higher up on the final list if it would have been more out of the blue and
stunned the snooker world, but in the end it wasn’t stunning as much as it was
a slight surprise.
7= Murphy wins in Gdynia with 147 (February) – Back in
February when it took place this was an incredibly special moment for Shaun
Murphy to win his first title of any kind since November 2011 and to do so,
with a maximum 147 break in the earlier rounds but on the very same day
nonetheless. However, like Robertson’s run to the Australian Open Final, in my
view it wasn’t even his most special moment at a European Tour event in 2014,
and has to therefore be slightly lower down on my list.
6= James Cahill beats Ding on the way to UK Last 16
(December) – This was a fantastic run just a few weeks ago from the youngster
(18 at the time this took place) and he would’ve been absolutely thrilled to
not only beat Ding Junhui on the big stage under the TV lights, but also to
beat two very solid players in King and Higginson to get to this stage and
that’s what made it more of a special moment for me as this wasn’t so much of a
one-off. It was an epic encounter too with Ding Junhui and a rollercoaster of
emotions for Cahill throughout and that for me has to put it in the top half of
my countdown.
5= Wasley stuns Ding in Crucible epic (April) – In
comparison to Cahill’s run and his victory over Ding Junhui in a major ranking
event, I have to rate this one higher for a number of reasons. Firstly, to make
the World Championship Last 16 he had to win a total of four qualifying matches
(including one over Robert Milkins on a re-spotted black). He also had to go
and beat Ding Junhui on the television over a much longer format of best-of-19
frames and when the Chinaman was on a rich run of form making him an even
bigger favourite to beat Wasley in that match.
4= Ronnie O’Sullivan wins Welsh Open with a 147 to finish
(March) – Any Ronnie O’Sullivan 147 is special, but to make one in a ranking
event final, in the frame he needed for victory just puts this one right up
there with the best he’s ever made. Also, some of the shots that he had to pull
off towards the end of the break (the shot from last red to black a particular
highlight) and to finish by switching hands and grinning to pot the final black
left handed showed how much he enjoyed making the break and how much he was
just enjoying his snooker, and it was a great moment to watch on the TV as I
did, but an even more special one if you were lucky enough to be there.
3= Shaun Murphy’s crazy day in Mulheim (November) – This day
in the life of Shaun Murphy was an incredibly special one and possibly one of
the most exciting and topsy turvey days that we’ve ever seen in a European Tour
event making this moment all the more special. He showed great character to
come back from a missed final green and
a missed final blue on maximum attempts earlier in the day to make a great
maximum in the final under heaps of pressure and he played one of the best
maximum shots I’ve ever seen on the 15th black. To go with it all he
won the title, which was consecutive European Tour events for the Magician and
I may have the biased opinion (as a massive fan of Shaun’s) but it was easily
one of the best moments of 2014 and therefore had to make it high up on my
moments of the year list.
2= Robertson finishes the season with 103 centuries (May) –
When this moment took place, you knew that not only this was a very special
moment like all of the other ones on this list, but what makes this one unique
compared to the previous ones on the countdown is that when we watched
Robertson make the 100th 100 of the season we were watching history
unfold as the first man ever to do this (let’s be honest no-one else had even
come close) but it will take an even more special moment for this astounding
record to be broken, but who knows what the future will bring. In the here and
now this is an incredible moment just thinking about it, and one that deserved
to be in the top 2 of my moment of the year countdown.
1= Ali Carter wins on return in Hong Kong (October) –
Finally, my Moment of the Year for 2014 was that incredible moment when the
inspirational Ali Carter came back after treatment for Lung Cancer over the
months previous, competing in his first tournament of any kind to win the Hong
Kong exhibition Cup. What made this moment special is that he had to beat
seasoned professionals at the very top of their games in order for this to
happen, and the reaction it got from him and everyone else over social media
was amazing and I couldn’t have been happier to see it happen. In fact, to put
the whole thing into perspective for me, this moment was that special and sits
above the rest that much for me that when writing the original October moment
of the month piece on this and taking about how inspirational Ali is, it
honestly brought a tear to my eye. I really do hope that there are a lot more
moments like this for Ali to come, because after everything that’s happened he
deserves to have some happy times and a bit of luck for a change and I like to
wish Ali in particular all the best for 2015.
That’s all from me on my Moment of the Year countdown, and I
don’t think anyone can honestly argue with my winning snooker moment of 2014
being Ali’s comeback victory in Hong Kong, and if anyone disagrees I hope they
have a very good reason is all I can say. I’m sure there will be plenty more
magical moments in the game of snooker in the year to come, and if all goes to
plan you can expect this feature to return at the end of 2015.
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