How Murphy reminded the world that he is one of snooker’s greatest showmen

Shaun Murphy was twice forced to confront a menacing wasp at the Alexandra Palace over the weekend before delivering the perfect sting in the tail at the 50th Masters.

“Don’t do anything, it will get aggressive,” advised a concerned referee Olivier Marteel amid a hive of activity ahead of the showpiece final.

He might as well have been speaking to world champion Kyren Wilson, who would soon join the wasp in failing to muzzle Murphy’s quite majestic charge to a second title at snooker’s greatest invitational event.

It was a rousing triumph for self-belief as he clasped the Paul Hunter Trophy with as much relish as he drains long pots, and one that perhaps also stirred a reawakening in his own senses that there could yet be more days like these if he wants them badly enough.

“You’ve got to come with the goal of winning,” Murphy told Eurosport.

“If you’re not thinking of winning the tournament, then don’t come. I was never going to sit here and say I was happy with a quarter-final or semi-final. I wouldn’t have been.

“I think you can see that. You can see how gutted Kyren was at the end, turning out and putting a good performance in. He’s desperate to win, as was I.

“I’m over the moon, I can’t believe it. I’m as shocked as everyone else.”

The natural ability has never been in any doubt as Murphy dusted down all of his greatest hits to remind us how he became world champion as a 150-1 qualifier at the age of 22 with a taut 18-16 win over Matthew Stevens in 2005.

A figure dubbed ‘The Magician’ from Northampton was the outstanding player on show all week as one of the game’s all-time greatest showmen produced seven centuries and the sixth 147 in Masters history on his return to glory.

There is more than a touch of the theatre about Murphy at the table.

His fist pumps are not for everyone, but they work well alongside Murphy’s awe-inspiring levels of play.

“I really rate Shaun Murphy as a player. He’s a good all-round power player. I love watching him,” said seven-time world champion O’Sullivan when Murphy reached the 2021 Crucible final. “He’s one of the few players I would actually watch.”

Interestingly enough, it was a point O’Sullivan had brought up when Murphy defeated Trump 13-11 in the quarter-finals during his run to the Crucible final four years ago.

Welcoming such a public airing of desire and the flurry of impassioned fist pumps that greeted every key moment, O’Sullivan said: “When he beat Judd, he gave it that, and you could see it meant a lot to him. I think he has to stop being a good loser.

“When you get it in your mind that you have to be a gracious loser, it’s not really a good thing as a sportsman.

“Losing has to hurt because that has to motivate you to not want to lose. If that makes sense. It was really nice to see that from Shaun.”

Comparable to snooker GOAT O’Sullivan and world No. 1 Trump in peak potting form – you could also throw Luca Brecel and Mark Williams into that company – Murphy is a joy to watch, reminding millions why they first fell in love with the old green baize.

Like Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins and Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White mesmerising the masses in the 1980s and 1990s, he is one of the few players in the modern history of the sport who can win and entertain in equal measure.

“He has just got such a fantastic cue action,” said White. “He can make difficult shots look simple.”

Murphy makes a fiendishly difficult game look astonishingly easy such is his technical brilliance with cue in hand.

Like O’Sullivan in full flow, Murphy can make snooker feel like a cathartic experience, almost like there is a greater meaning to all of this than merely potting balls.

“He’s one of the best players to ever play this game. That doesn’t change just because I disagreed with him over a few things. He’s a great player, great for the sport and he just played better than me today.

“So absolutely no animosity, and I said that to him at the end. I wished him all the best for tomorrow, I hope he does well, because whenever Shaun’s playing like that, potting those long ones, he’s frightening to watch and really good for our sport.”

A figure who speaks honestly and openly, one recalls speaking to Murphy at length few years ago at the Crucible when he explained how a teacher told him to forget about snooker, a period in time when he was bullied at school.

Time on the table has been time well spent.

Snooker’s ‘Class of ’92’ of O’Sullivan, Williams and John Higgins continues to be celebrated, but there is not so much known about the ‘Class of ’98’ when Murphy and Robertson turned professional.

Only he will know why a second world title and greater riches in the game have remained elusive with such elevated stature.

Which is not bad when you consider he has so far produced 694 career centuries, the seventh highest of all time, has lifted 12 major ranking trophies and collected £6.2m in career prize money.

He also completed the only 147 at the Shoot Out in only seven minutes and 35 seconds, a feat of genius which has to be seen to be believed.

Perhaps a loss of concentration or focus has prompted his downfall in previous years that saw him lose three times in world finals to Higgins (18-9) in 2009, Stuart Bingham (18-15) in 2015 and Mark Selby (18-15) in 2021.

Becoming only the 10th multiple world champion of the modern era to join an iconic club that includes O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Ray Reardon and Steve Davis must be of high priority.

His performance in London was full of capital gains, taking his cue from former glories that are suddenly fresh memories.

Next time it won’t be such a shock to the system.