How a hungover Mark Allen turned 'drinking holiday' into a Scottish Open title-winning trip sealed with massive fluke - 'Felt horrendous'
Updated 20/12/2025 at 13:56 GMT
Mark Allen is one win away from reaching the Scottish Open final after defeating Joe O'Connor 5-2 on Friday night in Edinburgh. The former Masters and UK champion takes on Chang Bingyu on Saturday evening as he chases the Stephen Hendry Trophy for a second time following his 9-7 win over Shaun Murphy in the 2018 final, a memorable occasion when the Antrim man was downing pints as much as pots.
Allen wins the 2018 Scottish Open
Video credit: TNT Sports
It would be fair to say Mark Allen has approached his run to the semi-finals of this year's Scottish Open in Edinburgh in a more sober-suited manner than the time he infamously boozed his way to the title in scenes harking back to the sport's 1980s vintage.
A week after losing 10-6 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2018 UK final in York, Allen decided to let his hair down during his trip to Glasgow and remarkably ended the week clutching the Stephen Hendry Trophy and £70,000 winner's cheque.
For Allen, it was a case of pints makes prizes during a planned 'drinking holiday' with friend Stephen Maguire as he rallied from 4-0 and 5-2 behind to defeat Daniel Wells 6-5 in the semi-finals before recovering from 7-6 behind to edge out Shaun Murphy 9-7 in the final, boosted by breaks of 66, 134 and 83.
In invoking the spirit of fellow Northern Irishman Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, the sport's ultimate hell-raiser from yesteryear, during a green baize booze cruise, Allen managed to find some epic form despite admitting he was hungover every day of his run to the title match at the Emirates Arena.
Indeed, TNT Sports pundit Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White, himself no stranger to a big night out in the past, offered Allen some old school advice in the studio during the event when he light-heartedly suggested Allen should "maybe just have a couple" to level himself up in Glasgow.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
"I don’t deserve to be in the final the way I’ve treated the tournament this week," he said on TNT Sports following his semi-final win over Wells that saw him produce breaks of 129 and 106.
"It makes no difference now, I have felt terrible all week. So I might as well keep going.
"I could stay in tonight, go to bed early and feel horrendous tomorrow.
"And I would deserve to feel that way for the disrespect I have shown the tournament all week. I may as well go out and have a good time.
"I had a couple last night and that is the worst I have felt. I only had four or five drinks and felt horrendous when I woke up — maybe I didn’t have enough.
"Other nights, I have had more than my fair share and felt okay the next day.
"I've managed to scrape through a few matches. I was all over the place.
"I'm embarrassed to say I was hungover and stuff."
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Allen saved the best for last against Murphy in the final as he reeled off three straight frames, sealing the title with an outrageous fluke on the pink after missing virtual match ball to the left centre pocket.
The packed crowd gasped in disbelief as the pink hit the near jaw of the middle bag before ending up dropping down the green bag as Allen finalised the victory by potting the final red and colours.
The slimmed-down and reformed Antrim man appears in a third semi-final against rising talent Chang Bingyu on Saturday night since his memorable title win, losing 6-5 to Jack Lisowski in the last four in 2019 and again to Lei Peifan last year.
And he looks to be in peak scoring form, producing three centuries in his past three matches to overcome Joe O'Connor (5-2), Zhang Anda (4-3) and Wang Yuchen (4-0) at Edinburgh's Meadowbank Sports Centre.
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