SHAUN’S WEAVING A SPECIAL SPELL

Nov 23 2007

MAGIC will be in the air for Renfrew snooker players on Saturday night when former World Champion Shaun “The Magician” Murphy treats guests at the Inn-Off Club to an exhibition of his talents.

The 25-year-old from Rotherham stunned the snooker world in 2005 when he became the first qualifier since 1979 to win the World Championship.

And Murphy has since proved that was no flash in the pan by winning the Malta Cup and he finished this season at number three in the world rankings.

It’s a major coup for the Renfrew club to attract the Englishman up north and owner John Duffy is expecting the venue to be a sell-out on Saturday night when Murphy will play a string of exhibition matches against club members and also one lucky spectator.

John, who’s owned the Ferry Road club for 16 years, said: “This is something we’ve done in the past with guys like Dennis Taylor and Willie Thorne coming to the club and we’re delighted that Shaun has agreed to come up.

“We tried to get someone last year but we weren’t successful. However our club professional, Robert Stephen, mentioned it to a few players and we got an email from Shaun’s wife Clare, who’s also his agent, saying if we were interested in Shaun coming up to get in touch, which we did.

“It should be a terrific night and an event like this helps to promote the club as it’s a talking point and it gives all the members a real boost.

“I’m glad we’ve managed to get someone of his quality and, although there are a lot of Scottish boys doing well at the highest level of snooker, Shaun is something a wee bit different.

“Shaun will play exhibition matches against our professional Robert, our Junior Champion Ryan Duffy, our Club Champion Martin Craig and our League Champion Stevie Stamp.

“We’ve also been holding competitions among the members for a chance to play Shaun and Jamie Benton, Michael Farrell, Sean O’Neill and Thomas Whittekar won those and will play him.

“And we’re going to hold a raffle on the night and everyone who bought a ticket will be entered in it and the winner will also get to play a frame against Shaun.”

Club pro Robert admits he’ll have the weight of the world on his shoulders when he takes on Murphy as everyone is looking to him to stun the ex-world champ.

The 23-year-old said: “The whole club is buzzing and I’m expecting it to be a brilliant night.

“There’s a wee bit of pressure on me as everybody will be looking to me to try and win but I’ll just have to wait and see what I can do.

“He’s one of the best players in the world and consistently reaches the later stages of major tournaments so I’m under no illusions how difficult it will be.

“I can play to a good standard but Shaun is some player and his game is on another level all together. It will be great for people to see up close just how good he actually is.

“John and his wife Debbie have done a lot of work trying to organise everything and they’ve done brilliant to get him here.

“But although it’s an exhibition Shaun will be taking it seriously as he won’t want to come all this way to lose.”

There are a limited number of tickets available and anyone interested should contact the club on 0141 886 7770.