Mark Allen on 147: ‘I wanted to do it for the fans’

It was the Pistol’s second career maximum break in competitive play.

Mark Allen said he was thinking of his fans when he completed his remarkable 147 break during the Northern Ireland Open on Sunday in Belfast.

The home favourite compiled the perfect break in the final frame of his 4-1 victory over Si Jiahui at the Waterfront Hall to send the partisan crowd in attendance into raptures.

“That’s honestly right up there with anything I’ve felt in the sport,” Mark Allen told the World Snooker Tour soon after wrapping up the round of 128 success with a superb 147 break.

“Not just to make a 147, but to do it here in a tournament that means so much to me in front of my family and friends and people who have supported me all my career – to give them that buzz as well – it’s a memory I’ll hold for a very long time.”

“I had a couple of tricky ones on 73 and then 80, and then I kept good control until the last black when I went up for the yellow, and I over hit it by two feet.

“I potted a good yellow and even from there it wasn’t plane sailing, I had a horrible brown, and at the last you can only really fall apart on that black.

“I felt I had to hit it at some point as I couldn’t stop shaking, so I just let the arm go through to see what happens and I potted it – I can’t believe what I’ve actually done.

Without doubt the biggest buzz I’ve had playing snooker. The adrenaline rush the whole way through that break was ridiculous. Positional play is overrated😂😂 So glad to give the home fans something to cheer about #147 let’s hope there’s more to come

— Mark Allen (@pistol147) October 10, 2021

“To be honest, it’s not about the idea of making a 147 – I’ve probably made about 800 or 900 147s – so it’s not the nerves of doing one but the nerves of making one in such a big arena in front of your home fans.

“I was thinking that as the break went on, I wanted to do it for the fans as I haven’t given them anything to cheer about here since we came back in 2016.

“To give them something back for all their anguish of watching me for years, it means a lot to me. I don’t remember Alex Higgins or Dennis Taylor ever doing it – and Jordan Brown will never do it – so it’ll be nice to be that one person from Northern Ireland to actually do it, especially in his home arena.”

Elsewhere on day two, the held over matches from the preliminary stage were all but wrapped up as the big names dominated proceedings in what is the first European Series event of the campaign.

Joining Allen in the first-round proper were defending champion Judd Trump and world champion Mark Selby, in addition to other heavy-hitters such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, and Mark Williams.

The players are competing for the third ranking title of what has been a disjointed 2021/22 snooker campaign, and with it a top prize worth £70,000.

Live coverage in Ireland and the UK continues on Eurosport and Quest TV.

Click here to view the draw (Times: CET)

Featured photo credit: WST