Positive Doherty delighted with Malta Cup boost

The Malta Cup ranking tournament came to a close on Sunday but talk about the final at the Hilton, which saw Ken Doherty emerging from the death to take the crown, will not die quickly.

The Dubliner staged an amazing recovery to win the last four frames and beat John Higgins 9-8. Doherty then declared: "I'm convinced I've got one more World Championship left in me."

Few who were present at the Hilton would disagree with that.

Doherty could hardly contain his excitement having tenaciously fought back from 8-5 down to lift his first world ranking event since the 2001 Thailand Masters.

But the 36-year-old insisted that throughout the bad times he never lost faith in his ability to compete with the game's elite.

"Obviously, the longer I went without a title the harder it got," Doherty told reporters. "I'm not a youngster any more but I never stopped thinking positively.

"I didn't lose my appetite for the game or fall out of love with it.

"Even when I wasn't getting the right results I kept grafting, but if you keep knocking your head against a brick wall it's tough. That's why this is so important.

"Apart from when I won at The Crucible in 1997, I think the win in Malta means more to me than anything I've done in my career."

Doherty, up to fourth in the provisional world rankings, added: "I was trying to recapture magic moments from the past like my world semi-final against Paul Hunter (when he recovered a 15-9 deficit to win 17-16). You always have a chance as long as you have belief.

"The Malta Cup is my most important tournament win since the (1997) World Championship."

And it was re-living past fightbacks at snooker's most famous venue that kept Doherty in a positive frame of mind as Higgins threatened to hand him another big occasion disappointment.

Down 8-5 and with Higgins at the table on a run of 43, Doherty was heading for defeat only to be thrown an unexpected lifeline when Higgins missed a straightforward penultimate red.

"I felt I had it won but I twitched on that red and everything just seemed to fall apart," Higgins was reported as saying.

"It wasn't pressure... I was thinking about what I was going to do when I won, and I lost concentration."

Doherty cleared to pink to keep the contest alive, drew level at 8-8 and with a 63 break, glued together in its early stages by a series of excellent pots, completed a revival that was both satisfying and unlikely in equal measure.

"When I potted the first red I said 'let's go for it'. That break was one of the best I've ever made in my life... It's a great feeling to dig it out because at 8-5 I was dead and buried," Doherty said.

Having waited for so long to re-enter the winners' circle, it did not concern Doherty that his financial reward was £18,000 - the smallest first prize for a ranking event since Thailand's James Wattana pocketed £12,500 at the 1992 Strachan Professional.

Higgins picked up £11,000 as he swelled his tournament earnings for the season to a money-list leading £213,500.