Player of the Month: January: Shaun Murphy

Today sees the start of my Player of the Year series, where I countdown the best players of the year on a month by month basis, before deciding who the best player has been over the course of 2015. Naturally, the countdown begins in January with one man and his very special performances...

January in the snooker world was hectic with Championship League action, but in terms of the majors there was only the Masters from the Alexandra Palace. There were some great performances throughout the Masters, but there was one man who was truly dominant and that was Shaun Murphy. Given the lead up to the event for Shaun, the performance in my opinion was even better, and here were the highlights of the Masters for Murphy.

Shaun Murphy 6-5 Mark Selby – Coming into the first match Shaun had been ill with quite a bad chest infection, forcing him to pull out of the Championship League in the week leading up. Practice was limited as he didn’t really feel up to it until the final few days before the match. A match against world champion at the time and a man that’s got such a good record in the Masters as Mark Selby is tough enough without not feeling 100%.

Selby started the match with a century, but then Murphy became dominant with some good breaks and incredible long potting to take all of the next five frames in the match. Runs of 92, 56 and 55 helped put Shaun 5-1 in front to the surprise of many but not myself. As always, Selby came back into the match with breaks of 120, 92 and 54 on the way to winning four frames in a row as Murphy missed a couple of chances to take out the match and before we all knew it we were waiting for the deciding frame at 5-5. In the decider Shaun knocked in some good balls and dominated the frame to end the match (and restore the nerves of his fiancé Elaine who was there to watch for the first time). To hold Mark off there on the first Sunday afternoon was a fantastic performance.

Shaun Murphy 6-2 Mark Allen – The performance Shaun gave in this semi-final was one of his best of the week. Mark Allen had him under pressure early on by taking a 2-0 advantage by taking advantage of a couple of mistakes from Murphy with breaks of 83 and 62. Shaun soon hit back though taking the next two with an 80 in the fourth levelling at 2-2 at the interval. Murphy really hit his stride towards the end of this match, seizing his opportunity to get into the Masters final. Runs of 83, 76, 102 and 60 bagged him the next four frames and there was little Allen could do.

Shaun Murphy 10-2 Neil Robertson – This may well be the best moment in the career of the Magician. After a 7 year wait from winning the UK Championships to completing the triple crown, losing to Neil Robertson in the 2012 Masters final and the 2013 Masters semi-final to get his own back and win the Masters title was incredibly special, especially as his Mum came to watch him live for the very first time that week and his fiancé Elaine. He started the match in style by taking a 5-0 lead in the match, with breaks of 64, 76 and 127. An 80 gave Robertson his first frame, but 69 from Murphy made it 6-1. Neil won a tight final frame of the session to make it 2-6 at the end of the session and just about hanging on.

The first frame of the evening session was the key one in the contest I believe. Neil Robertson had chances to win the frame on the colours but some good pots from Murphy gave him the frame and a 7-2 lead which you felt was unassailable. Murphy made a break of 127 to move 8-2 in front and was soon 9-2 ahead before a 60 clinched the match.

You could see from Murphy’s reaction and his interview with Hazel Irvine at the end of the match showed you what it meant to him to finally win the Masters and complete the Triple Crown. Shaun is one of the hardest working players in the game, as well as being one of the greatest ambassadors for the sport. Often his passion for change with table conditions and other issues can be perceived by some as complaining but he really only wants what is best for the sport of snooker as he feels that kicks and everything else are ruining the game. Shaun is clearly in the prime of his career, following the Masters victory by coming close to winning both the German Masters in February, a 2^nd World Title in May and the Paul Hunter Classic in August and I would be surprised if he didn’t continue to win a big title every season for the next few years. Right now, Shaun is consistently in the top 3 players in the modern game and is fully deserving of a player of the year nomination as January’s monthly winner.

 

There you have it. Shaun Murphy is the first contender for Player of the Year and he will certainly take some beating after the 2015 that he is enjoyed. Come back tomorrow to find out who the nomination will be for February.