UK Snooker Championship row erupts as Shaun Murphy angers rival with BBC commentary - The Mirror

Mark Allen has responded after Shaun Murphy suggested he was deliberately playing slowly in the semi-final of the UK Championship to try and disrupt Barry Hawkins

Mark Allen has clashed with Shaun Murphy once again after his slow playing style in the UK Championship semi-final was questioned.

Allen was knocked out of the tournament by Barry Hawkins, who came from 4-2 down to win 6-5 and book a place in the final against Judd Trump. The match took nearly five hours and didn’t conclude until nearly 1am on Sunday morning at York Barbican.

Hawkins admitted he was “absolutely knackered” afterwards, having been left “drained” by an attritional match which went down to a tense deciding frame. Murphy was on commentary duties for the BBC and raised eyebrows by accusing world No.3 Allen of playing slowly just to rattle his opponent.

“Now, it's completely within the rules. But at what stage do we question whether the amount of time Mark Allen is taking over simple decisions is a tactic to annoy his opponent? I can't see any reason other than that for why he's taking so long,” Murphy said.

Allen and Murphy have history, having clashed recently on social media over the playing conditions at the British Open in September and the Northern Irishman didn’t hold back. He tweeted: “Not to be in this year's UK Championships. The better player on the day won. Good luck to both Judd and Barry in the final…. For those criticising…. I always give 100%, it might not be pretty at times but I’m trying my best. Some other players could learn from it

“And as for Shaun in comms. He’s absolutely entitled to his opinion on things but perhaps best to leave personal feelings out of the commentary box in future. All because I called out some of his recent BS.”

Speaking about Murphy, Allen told Mirror Sport recently: "I think he's changed a bit in my view if I'm honest. Some of the things he said just made no sense to me to the extent that some of the things he said recently are completely the opposite of what he's said in the past. At least if you're going to speak rubbish, speak rubbish consistently... don't change your tune."

HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of Mark Allen's playing style? Comment below.

Hawkins refused to criticise his beaten opponent in the early hours on Sunday morning. “He was getting quite slow, and I think that's another reason why we couldn’t get our rhythm going as well,” he explained. “He was stop-start all the time, and it didn’t help the game, I don’t think.

“When you're low on confidence, as Mark has been this week, it is not an easy game. I could see he was just battling for every ball. He's normally a quicker player than that. Obviously, he's slowed down a little bit over the last couple of years, but he's normally quicker than that.”

Asked if he felt Allen was playing slowly to disrupt his rhythm, Hawkins replied: “No, I don't think so at all. I think he's just struggling with his game. I think he was just trying his pint of blood in every shot. I don't think he's like that. But yeah, it didn’t help. The speed of the game was a bit slow already.”