The 50th staging of the World Snooker Championship gets under way this morning, with Irish interest centring around Mark Allen.
The Antrim man has already captured the UK Championship and the Masters, the two other big events on the World Snooker Tour, over the course of his career.
But the Crucible has thus far proved an unhappy hunting ground for Allen, with semi-final appearances 14 years apart - in 2009 and 2023 - the best he's mustered so far.
Allen celebrated his 40th birthday in February and he has the distinction of being the only player from the island of Ireland to have reached number one in the world rankings, something he achieved at the end of the 2023/2024 season.
But he hasn't been happy with his game this season, despite a victory at the English Open in the Autumn.
"It's been a poor 18 months when it comes to the ranking events," he told RTÉ Sport ahead of the start.
"Even though I've still won the English Open and even last year I won the Saudi Invitational. But I felt like my form just hasn't been there, even though I've still been winning events."
Allen spoke recently of trying out some new coaches, and new techniques, to attempt to give him the extra 1% that might get him over the line in the World Championships.
But, ultimately, the Antrim man felt that things hadn't worked out and that, if anything, the changes had had the opposite effect on his game.
"I think I've just got my head muddled a little bit with working with too many different coaches in the last couple of years," he said.
"I'm not talking bad of those coaches, but I just feel like it hasn't worked for me and I just need to get back to playing a bit more naturally, a bit more 'first shot I see'.
"Just play it, whether that's a pot or a safety. Just try and get on with it a little bit more. And I'm not saying it's going to come easily out there (in the Crucible), but I'm definitely going to try and go for more shots and try and play a bit quicker because I feel like that's my natural game.
"I think that's when I play my best stuff."
Whatever has gone on before, Allen is determined to take confidence from what he's done in the game in the past as he looks to create history over the next two weeks.
"I think that speaks volumes for where I'm at in the sport that I'm still crossing off the odd tournament win here and there and competing when I'm nowhere near my best.
"So it's an exciting time for me that I still believe there's a lot more to come from me. I've won 12 ranking tournaments and 22 tournaments in total.
"I've won two of the three Triple Crown events. I've been world number one. I've won my home event. Things aren't bad."
Allen opens his bid this morning against Zhang Anda, and that match will play to a conclusion tomorrow.
Zhao Xintong is the defending champion, becoming the first Chinese winner last year. This year, he's one of a record 11 Chinese players to make the first round.
His semi-final win over Ronnie O'Sullivan last year, generally considered to be the greatest player the game has ever seen, was achieved with a session to spare in a real statement of intent.
Zhao will have serious ambitions to break the so-called Crucible Curse, where a first-time winner has never managed to defend his title at the venue the following season.
Dubliner Ken Doherty went close in 1998, as he made it to the final, but he lost by 18 frames to 12 to an inspired John Higgins, who was to end that season as the first new world number one in over eight years during the Stephen Hendry era.
Doherty often joked about the difference between winning and losing the final was exemplified by his returns to Dublin afterwards.
In 1997, he was taken on an open top bus through the city centre before meeting the Lord Mayor, and then heading to an almighty hooley in his club, Jason's of Ranelagh, with his family and friends.
A year later, Doherty arrived back to Dublin Airport and had to order a taxi to take him back to Ranelagh - ouch.
The popular Dubliner, technically, wasn't the closest to breaking the curse, as Joe Johnson's 1987 defeat to Steve Davis saw him lose out to the Nugget on an 18-14 scoreline.
But Zhao will fancy his chances of creating more history by the end of the 17-day marathon.
He comes to Sheffield in top form having captured the last event before the Crucible, the Tour Championship. In the semi-finals, he handed John Higgins the heaviest defeat of his 34-year pro career with a 10-1 drubbing.
And he followed it up in the final by beating current number one Judd Trump by 10 frames to three in the final; the other 31 players have been well warned. But dominant form is no guarantee in the World Championships, as Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan - and every other first time winner besides - have learned over the years.
One thing that's true of all the great stories of this endearing sporting event is that they took place at the Crucible.
Irish supporters will remember Belfast's Alex Higgins in 1982 sobbing as he demanded "my baby" be handed to him as he celebrated with the trophy.
Perhaps the most iconic final of them all was won by a Coalisland man, as Dennis Taylor came from 8-0 down to stun Steve Davis in 1985. A record 18 million viewers stayed up past midnight in the UK to watch Taylor finally sink the black in the decider, before famously engaging in some finger wagging at no one in particular.
And of course there was Doherty in 1997, bringing to an end Hendry's bid for a six-in-a-row of titles.
Doherty was to reach the final twice more.
There was the aforementioned defeat to Higgins in 1998, before pushing Mark Williams close in the 2003 final, when he came up just short in an 18-16 defeat. Since then, Irish players have tended to struggle, with all six players from the island missing out in the recent qualifiers for this year's event at the English Institute of Sport.
You have to go back to 2017 for the last appearance for a player from the Republic, when Fergal O'Brien lost out to eventual champion Mark Selby in the first round. Other than Allen, the last player from Northern Ireland to play in the event was Jordan Brown back in 2020, with Selby also his opponent in the first round, a 10-6 loss.
But Irish players will continue to have a chance to compete at snooker's Mecca with confirmation in the last few weeks that WST and the British government have come to an agreement over expanding the venue.
The current capacity of 980 will be increased by around 500 seats and, when the works are complete, the World Championships will be staying at the Crucible until 2045, at least.
"For us as a sport, it's great news," says Jason Ferguson, the Chairperson of the WPBSA. "Snooker belongs in this city, Sheffield is its home."
It's hard to imagine, in a UK sporting context, Wimbledon being played away from SW19, or the FA Cup final being moved permanently out of Wembley.
Pushed on whether it was realistic to expect the World Championships to actually move away from the Crucible, Ferguson is unequivocal.
"It is realistic," he said firmly.
"One of the pressures is that a sport has to keep growing and it has to remain relevant in society. It has to remain relevant as a television sport and we have to have millions of people playing. To do that, you have to provide big events.
"Now, in sport generally, events are getting bigger and bigger and we're seeing bigger crowds. We're seeing bigger broadcast output. And to do that, you need bigger venues and you need more facilities.
"So there is a lot of pressure that's been on all of us about the Crucible Theatre and about the future of the championship.
"With the emerging markets like China, and the size of some of the events we've done there, and the Middle East coming on board, it brings pressure to make sure this event can grow.
"We're thankful that we've reached the point where we've got the investment we need. We've got the plans ahead and we're really going to put some roots down again for the next stage."
While the renovations take place, the event will have to be played away from Sheffield.
Ferguson says he'd like it to stay in the UK, and mentions London and Manchester as possible destinations.
A move to Manchester could be good news for Irish snooker fans, with the city currently hosting the Tour Championship in late March.
While Goffs, the former host of the Irish Masters, wouldn't be big enough to host a regular event with two tables, like Belfast's Waterfront Hall does each October for the Northern Ireland Open, it could take a smaller tournament.
The Tour Championship involves the top 12 players on the one-year ranking list, and thus the Kildare venue could be the ideal spot.
It's an idea Ferguson reckons the World Snooker Tour would be open to.
"Absolutely, Goffs is synonymous with snooker," he says.
"It's got a long history. Players love playing there. It's actually something we're trying to recreate here at the Crucible Theatre, but bigger. It's a venue in the round, a circular venue, and it creates a great atmosphere.
"So it's always great to see Goffs on the calendar and see events taking place there."
Fans in Ireland, watch this space.
