Irishman lets snooker talk as he reaches York final

For during this last week at the williamhill.com UK Championship at the York Barbican he has provoked controversy after a foul-mouthed rant at World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn.

He called for Hearn to quit and said the many changes to the game were not to the benefit of Allen or his playing colleagues.

That prompted action from World Snooker, who are to investigate his comments, and the threat from Hearn of possible legal action.

Allen then turned up at his next media conference in York with black tape over his mouth, claiming he was just expressing his point of view. Unfortunately, the obscenity had distorted his initial message.

But there was no distorting his semi-final performance on Saturday night as he stormed back from 5-3 down to see off qualifier Ricky Walden 9-7 and clinch a place in yesterday’s final against Judd Trump.

Northern Ireland’s Allen produced the goods when it counted to win six of the last eight frames against Walden and reach the final of a ranking event for the first time. Allen had lost all five of his previous ranking semi-finals so was relieved to get that monkey off his back.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders to get to a final after losing so many semis,” admitted 25-year-old Allen. “Even if I said it hadn’t been playing on my mind, I had been thinking about it.

“Ricky played brilliantly to go 5-3 up and I didn’t feel I had done that much wrong. After the first session I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I was on the practice table and I said to (coach) Terry Griffiths that I was in a bad mood and someone was going to get it. I was so determined not to lose.

“There was no way I was losing the first mini-session (on Saturday night). I wanted to win at least three frames and I managed to win all four. I produced when my back was against the wall.”

Walden, who was playing in his first ranking semi since he won the Shanghai Masters in 2008, said: “I’m gutted, devastated.

“He came out flying in the second session and I didn’t play my best. At 5-5 I felt a bit flat because he had kept me off the table. I missed the brown when I had a chance to win that frame.

“It had been a great break until then and I should have knocked it in.”