Doherty's chances look slim

IT LOOKS like being another tough week for Ken Doherty. The 27 year old Dubliner would dearly love to win a major tournament in front of his home crowd, but the circuit provides just one opportunity and the draw for this year's Benson and Hedges Irish Masters hasn't exactly done him any favours.

Overall, this hasn't been a bad season for the former World Amateur champion, with three ranking semi final appearances under his belt and just one first round exit, to Mark J Williams in the German Open.

Still, as one of the most talented players in the world, Doherty knows that he is capable of better. Having proven himself to be one of the most solid players in the game over the past few seasons he feels that he is entitled to yearn for a little more from time to time.

"Obviously the consistency is great to have but I'd like to think that I can be a regular winner at tournaments. It's good to get to semi finals, but I think on my day I can beat any of the other players and I'd like to do it in finals."

Tomorrow evening Doherty takes on Steve Davis at Goffs, and while on current form the Irishman may start a slight favourite to progress on from the first round clash, there would be few brave enough to back against the six time World Champion.

Davis is officially ranked number 10 in the world these days and continuing to slide, but 71 victories in 98 major championship finals give him a level of experience rivalled only by Stephen Hendry amongst the major players of today. Davis's recent final session demolition of Ronnie O'Sullivan in the British Masters title decider showed that he was still as dangerous as ever.

On that occasion O'Sullivan shot from 4-4 to a four frame lead in the space of 50 minutes, but Davis turned things completely around in the closing stages, producing a tournament high break of 130 on the way to a 10-8 win and a cheque for £135,000 - the biggest of his career.

Davis has since reached the second round of the International and Thailand Opens either side of a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Steve Lee in the European.

At Goffs, though, where Davis has won eight titles and reached 10 finals, none of that will count for much. Davis will come to Ireland anxious to reverse the 9-5 defeat he suffered at the hands of Doherty in the third round of the UK Championship, as a first step to adding to his remarkable record at the Masters.

Last year he went close to making it nine wins when he was edged out by Darren Morgan in a close final.

Morgan, however, has won only three matches in eight ranking events this season and has done little better than that in the invitationals. With his confidence battered, he looks to be highly vulnerable in his first match on Friday when, if he could produce a shock against John Parrott tomorrow afternoon, the tournament's other Irishman, Stephen Murphy, could find himself with an excellent opportunity to make it through to the semi finals.

To date Murphy's impact on the international scene has been a little muted. He puts this down, in no small part, to the fact that he has not been able to practise on proper championship tables, with the result that he tended to be just getting used to the conditions when it was time to go home.

Now, however, his club in Celbridge in Co Kildare have bought a table of the required standard, with the result that the 26 year old is confident that he will be better prepared for this event than for any other in his career to date.

He may have to be, for in three of the last four events in which Parrott has taken part, he has only been beaten by the eventual winner (in the fourth, the International Open, Tony Drago, who beat him in the quarter final, lost to Stephen Hendry in the final).

Hendry, of course, looks to be the man to beat in Kildare, with his record at the event overshadowed by his tremendous form on the circuit this season. The Scot has won the UK Championship, Welsh Classic and International Open in recent months and is now looking to improve what he feels should be a far better record at Goffs.

"I find it surprising that I haven't done better there," says the 1992 champion and twice beaten finalist. "Usually I play my best snooker in the best venues, but for some reason I haven't done well here in previous years. Hopefully I'll start to change that this time."

World number two John Higgins, as well as Ronnie O'Sullivan and the weekend's winner in Thailand, Peter Ebdon, will all pose a serious threat to Hendry. Prior to a first round slip up in Thailand, Higgins had been breathing down Hendry's neck at the top of the ranking list with a string of fine performances through the season, culminating in a 9-5 defeat of Parrott in the final of the European Open.

At his best, the 21 year old Scot can be electrifying, but perhaps an even more exciting prospect this week would be a return to form by Jimmy White. Looking like a spent breeze for much of the last couple of seasons, the Whirlwind has improved recently.

A win in this afternoon's match, when he plays Alan McManus, would represent a major boost for him and would earn him a crack at Hendry, in what would be a packed session on Friday evening.