Fergal O’Brien, who once accused Ronnie O’Sullivan of not being completely truthful, left the venue after losing his opening World Cup qualifier to Mostafa Dorgham. O’Brien announced earlier this year that he would retire at the end of the season when he turned pro in 1991.
His last game ended in a loss to Dorgham, who fought back from a 3-0 deficit. to win 10-8 and maintain their hopes of reaching the world title. O’Brien fell to 4-4 as his opponent went 7-7 in three of the last four frames to advance to the second qualifying round.
In January, the Irishman announced his intention to withdraw from the competition. snooker at the end of the season to bring the curtain down on his 33-year professional career.
“I loved playing snooker and even the bad days and disappointments were still rewarding in a way,” O’Brien told RTE. “You’re still alive. You still felt something. I liked to play. I didn’t want to do anything else. But like I said, I’m lucky now to have other opportunities in snooker.
The Irishman announced in January that he would retire at the end of the season (Image: GETTY)
“It softens the blow. Plan B has been like that for the last two years. Obviously I’ve been busy training for the last year or two and luckily I’ve started commentating for Eurosport this season.
“Outside the game, the two For me, it’s best to commentate and then train. It won’t be that bad.”
Last year, O’Brien clashed with O’Sullivan and Hossein Vafaei before their World Cup second-round match. The rocket hit back at Vafaei after the Iranian said he was “very. a nice person while he sleeps,” who replies, “Don’t knock on my cage. I like when they call me, I like when they give me a stick. I love it.”
O’Brien once accused O’Sullivan of not being entirely truthful (Image: GETTY)
O’Sullivan has long maintained that he doesn’t care about winning or losing snooker, but O’Brien suggested at the time that his heated response to Vafaei told a different story.
“As much as he says [he doesn’t mind], he loves the game,” O’Brien said. “If it doesn’t matter. don’t be never mind why he cried when he won his seventh world championship? He had never cried during a victory before, but the Seventh meant he did so for the rest of his life.
“The fear he may have had before, that he might not reach his full potential, could be, the Seventh. copper confirmed to shut it up. Even Stephen Hendry now admits that Ronnie is the greatest of all time. That’s why we finally saw that [feeling] because he finally did it.”.
