By Elliott West
Introduction
In 1988 at the Neptune Centre in Cork, Stephen Hendry was pitted against some of the rising amateurs of the game in a series of exhibition matches. These three opponents were Ken Doherty, Ireland’s 19 year old amateur champion, Anthony O’Connor, son of the promoter Liam and Stephen Murphy, who had won Irish titles at Under 19 and 18 levels. Each player would play four frames against Stephen apart from Stephen Murphy who would play three.
The Exhibition
Stephen Hendry received a round of rapturous applause as he entered the theatre for the series of matches with the Scottish legend acknowledging the crowd as he made his way to the table. Whilst Hendry basked in the glory of the audience, his three contenders looked clearly nervous at the prospect of having to play this potting machine. What could have been a demolition exercise, actually turned into a beautiful evening of snooker with all three amateurs playing well.
Hendry was under pressure to perform well and put on a show. This he did in commanding fashion. His first opponent was Ken Doherty. A whitewash looked on the cards when Hendry went two frames up in the match. Ken dug deep and managed to use his dignity and poise to win the third frame. To the backdrop of a baying crowd, urging Hendry to win the match, Doherty strangely felt alone in front of a home crowd. However this was no offence to Ken. Doherty wasn’t well known at the time and was actually unemployed at the time. Hendry was the hero and a familiar face on television and perhaps Doherty was perceived as the underdog. A gap bridged by experience.
Snooker runs in cycles and while this exhibition displayed the early shoots of skill by these amateurs, it wasn’t long before Ken Doherty was the hero of the baize beating Stephen Hendry in the 1997 World Championship final 18-12.
With Doherty still on the main tour and Hendry coming back from retirement, one can see the lure that snooker has for a player of any age. It is a sport or game, whichever you prefer to deem it as and it either retains your love and respect or in some cases, is cast aside and attempted to be forgotten.
Summary
The lure of playing Stephen Hendry in an exhibition, must have been daunting yet at the same time, exhilarating. Like so many of these amateurs players, some succeed and others fall by the wayside. Ken Doherty had and has natural skill and like any sport, it matures as the player endured more and more match play. Anthony O’Connor had a good career as a professional, reaching the last 32 of some major tournaments. Stephen Murphy reached the last 32 of the 1992 World Championship and represented Ireland alongside Ken Doherty in the 1996 World Cup, reaching the final.
