Ronnie O’Sullivan didn’t speak to me for six months after having snooker title stripped – he had to give me £60k!
RONNIE O'SULLIVAN did not speak to snooker rival Ken Doherty for six months after he was forced to hand over a title.
Doherty, 54, faced off against the Rocket in the 1998 Irish Masters final.
The Irish snooker ace was crushed 9-3 by The Rocket in that match - the second time in his career he had lost an Irish Masters final after losing to Stephen Hendry in 1992.
However, a drugs test saw the gong change hands when traces of marijuana were found in O'Sullivan's system which subsequently saw him stripped of the title.
O'Sullivan, 48, was also forced to hand back the £60,000 prize money he won at Goffs - the venue which hosted the Irish Masters between 1978 and 2000 - with the runner-up grabbing £30,000.
In an interview with , Doherty has opened up on the fallout from it.
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He said: "I was disappointed I lost in two finals there, one to Stephen and one to Ronnie.
"I took the winner’s cheque alright, but I didn’t really feel like I was champion.
"He had to give me the £60,000 and I gave him the £30,000 runners-up cheque, so it’s probably the most expensive joint he’s ever smoked in his life.
"I wasn’t turning the £60,000 down. I didn’t get the trophy but the money softened the blow of losing a little bit.
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"He never spoke to me for about six months afterwards! I was told a couple of weeks afterwards.
"I didn’t think I was going to get anything, he had to send me a letter of apology. He was absolutely gutted. I wasn’t though."
O'Sullivan eventually got his hands on the Irish Masters in 2001 by beating Hendry 9-8 in the final, with later wins coming in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
He opened up on his career-long battle with alcohol, drugs and mental health in his 2013 autobiography Running.
He said: "When I was having my weekly benders and my private life was in bits, I had a brilliant year professionally.
"I remember getting to every World Championship and thinking, ‘I can’t wait till this tournament is over cos then there’s no more drug tests, I can go out and smash it.'
"I’d got caught once in my career, but that’s all. I’d get tested between events, and I was trying to judge it perfectly so there’d be no drugs left in my system, but I was pushing my luck.
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"I loved a joint. The only problem with a joint is that one spliff follows another, and another. [I would have] any old drink, it didn’t matter. Throw in a few spliffs.
"Then at 7am the sun would come up and I’d think, ‘oh, Jesus, I’ve done it again.’ The birds would be tweeting and I’d think, ‘I’m bang in trouble.’
"At my worst I had to have a joint first thing in the morning just to function. But loads of time snooker got in the way of my benders, rather than the other way round."
Doherty revealed he was excited to play again at the Goffs over the weekend for the World Seniors Snooker 900.
He added: "I love going back to Goffs because that’s where it all started for me.
"I got a job as a 14-year-old there as an usher, it was the first time I ever met Alex Higgins, then a few years later I was out there playing him."
O'Sullivan also shares Doherty's affinity for Goffs after he labelled it "the greatest venue" and saying "the hairs on the back of your neck stand up" when playing there.
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Doherty claimed victory at Goffs by defeating Jimmy White 2-1.
O'Sullivan will be in action at the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker which kicks off TODAY and runs through to Wednesday with a new "golden ball" rule.