Mark Allen holds nothing back with response to Shaun Murphy’s 'personal' commentary of his semi-final defeat to Barry Hawkins

Mark Allen has hit back at Shaun Murphy after he was accused of playing an "old school tactic" in his UK Snooker Championship semi-final clash against Barry Hawkins.

It was a long drawn-out affair but after an exhausting five-hour marathon, Hawkins secured his place in the UK Championship final with a 6-5 victory over Allen.

After the match on Saturday night, Allen took to social media to congratulate his opponent. "Not to be in this year's UK Championship," he said on X, formerly Twitter. "The better player on the day won."

But after wishing good luck to Hawkins and Judd Trump, who reached the final with a 6-2 victory over Kyren Wilson, the 38-year-old from Northern Ireland hit back at criticism over his slow playing style.

"It might not be pretty at times but I’m trying my best," Allen added. "Some other players could learn from it."

A short while later, Allen decided to call out Shaun Murphy, who was beaten by Hawkins in the previous round.

Murphy joined the BBC commentary team for the semi-final and criticised Allen's tactics.

"It's completely within the rules, he's not doing anything wrong. But at what stage do we question whether the amount of time Mark Allen is taking over simple decisions is a tactic to annoy his opponent?" he said.

"I think we are witnessing an extremely clever, well thought out match from Mark Allen to try and beat the man.

"It's an old school tactic. It's from a playbook my generation and Mark's generation are from. And it's perfectly within the rules. But I can't see any reason, other than that for why he's taking so long. As you look at Barry in his chair, you might say it was working."

Allen responded by saying: "And as for Shaun in comms. He’s absolutely entitled to his opinion on things but perhaps best to leave personal feelings out of the commentary box in future. All because I called out some of his recent BS."

Image credit: Getty

This isn't the first time both men have clashed. Back in 2022, after Murphy complained about neck and shoulder pain, Allen responded by saying it "must be that chip on your shoulder doing the damage".