Ken Doherty's planned charity appearance for Shelbourne has been abandoned, after the Dubliner clinched a place in tomorrow's Regal Welsh Open final with a 6-3 victory over world champion and world number one Mark Williams.
Doherty will miss the charity football match between a Shels selection and Sky One's Dream Team, Harchester United at Tolka Park, but that matters little to Ireland's top player, who will play in his first final in 11 months.
Doherty will meet either Paul Hunter or Stephen Lee tomorrow for a first prize of £62,000, but joked: "Paul McGrath and Boyzone's Keith Duffy are in the side, but at least it saves me the embarrassment of putting on a pair of shorts. I suppose you could say I've had a right result."
The Irishman, who recovered from a 3-2 deficit to beat Stephen Hendry 5-3 in the quarter-finals last night, will surely enter the best-of-17-frame match brimming with confidence. Williams, attempting to win his third Welsh Open after triumphing in 1996 and 1999, put together breaks of 60, 74 and 95 to build a 3-2 lead before Doherty gained control.
The ex-world champion, who before arriving in the Welsh capital had been suffering a mediocre season, had provided early signs of form by constructing his own runs of 80 and 116. A contribution of 59 carried him on to level terms at 3-3; he shaded the seventh on the brown to take the lead for the first time and moved 5-3 ahead thanks to an assured 75 break. Midway through frame nine Williams misjudged a plant, and Doherty launched a match-clinching 34 clearance to pink.
Doherty, world number seven, added: "I'm really pleased with the way I played, and that also applied against Stephen in the quarters."
Filed by Shane Murray
