Back in 2021, Antrim’s Mark Allen described winning the Northern Ireland Open as a ‘dream come true’.

This is a player that had already won one of snooker’s Triple Crown events, The Masters, which helps to explain the magnitude of the moment at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall for the home favourite.

Allen has gone on to achieve other great things in the sport, which include clinching another of the Triple Crown tournaments at the UK Championship.

As the 38-year-old shapes up for the business end of the 2024/25 season, however, he will be left rueing an early defeat in his beloved Northern Ireland Open.

Worthy Contender

When the UK Championship returns to York’s Barbican Centre in November, Allen will be expected to go well once again.

The left-hander is priced at 10/1 in the UK Championship snooker odds, behind the likes of joint favourites Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan (7/2).

Those snooker betting odds are also bullish about the chances of the wily Mark Selby (7/1) and the resurgent Neil Robertson (9/1), although holes can be picked in the case of each of those leading contenders.

Trump, the world number one, has been hoovering up ranking titles for fun in recent times. But his record in the ‘majors’ isn’t that great, relative to his talent: one world title, plus two Masters trophy lifts and a solitary UK Championship crown, is not enough for a world-class player that has now turned 35 years old.

O’Sullivan has been operating on a lighter schedule this season, not playing a single competitive frame since losing in the English Open first round in September. He withdrew from the Northern Ireland Open in October on medical grounds.

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Selby clinched the British Open title in September – his ranking event victory in the best part of 18 months, while Robertson franked his own return to form by lifting the English Open trophy earlier this season; his first crown in more than two years.

So it’s clear that opportunity knocks for Allen at the UK Championship…

Nerves in the North

A two-time winner of the Northern Ireland Open, the 38-year-old was looking to make it a hat-trick of triumphs on home soil in October.

His campaign certainly got off to a strong start with a comprehensive 4-0 win, in which he rattled in three frame-winning breaks of 70+.

But Allen, who admitted his surprise at ‘feeling edgy’ at a venue he has enjoyed so much joy at before, would suffer a shock defeat to Oliver Lines in the last 32.

“It was a poor performance and Oli deserved to win. I felt edgy today and I’m not sure why. I had more than enough chances, but I wasn’t good enough,” the Irishman admitted.

It would have come as a huge disappointment to Allen to lose so early in the tournament, although the silver lining is that at least he won’t have to wait too long to put things right – such is the nature of the hectic snooker tour.

There’s the International Championship in China and the Champion of Champions events in November, which both act as a tasty appetiser for the UK Championship at the end of the month.

Plenty of time for Allen to put his home discomfort behind him then, with the ultimate target of a third Triple Crown triumph firmly in his sights.