Mark Allen's 'outrageous' 147 maximum lights up Masters and puts Northern Ireland cueman in history books

Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen booked his place in Masters history yesterday with a 147 maximum – the second of this year’s tournament but only the fifth ever across the five-decade span of the prestigious snooker tournament.
By Patrick Van Dort
Published 12th Jan 2024, 20:51 GMT
Updated 12th Jan 2024, 23:23 GMT
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen reacts to making a maximum break of 147 in his quarter-final match against Mark Selby of England during day six of the MrQ Masters Snooker 2024 at Alexandra Palace. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)Northern Ireland's Mark Allen reacts to making a maximum break of 147 in his quarter-final match against Mark Selby of England during day six of the MrQ Masters Snooker 2024 at Alexandra Palace. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen reacts to making a maximum break of 147 in his quarter-final match against Mark Selby of England during day six of the MrQ Masters Snooker 2024 at Alexandra Palace. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Ding Junhui recorded one on Monday in a Masters loss to Ronnie O’Sullivan, adding to the feat he also achieved during 2007 to join Kirk Stevens (1984) and Marco Fu (2015) on the special list.

And now Allen can join that place in Masters record books following his impressive display against Mark Selby in London on Friday night.

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It helped Allen cut the deficit in pursuit of a Masters semi-final spot as the Antrim cueman pulled the scoreline back to 2-1.

Battling Allen also managed to level the best-of-11 quarter-final clash at 4-4 to set up a thrilling finale.

Allen and Ding stand in line to split the £15,000 high break prize. Both plus Xu Si remain in contention for the £147,000 bonus available to a player with two 147s across the season’s three Triple Crown events.

Allen’s memorable performance marked the 196th registered in professional snooker, according to the World Snooker Tour website.

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And Allen’s display attracted plenty of praise across social media, with some of the comments as follows:

@WeAreWST: Mark Allen becomes the second man to hit a 147 at this year's MrQ Masters, following Ding Junhui in the opening round - it's the Pistol's third career maximum break. Incredible!

@JamieMurphy0716: Couldn’t pot a black the first few frames then does that . Brilliant

@media011: That was outrageous

@MaximumSnooker: One of the most incredible 147 breaks I've ever seen! Take a bow Mark Allen!!!

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@philhaigh_: Mark Allen 147 at Ally Pally! There was only three in the Masters from 1975-2023 and now there has been two in this tournament!

@stu_o7: Bloody hell, what a break from Mark Allen. Barely in control of the positioning, but battering them in. #Snooker #Masters

@jjwhaling: Absolutely fantastic 147 by Mark Allen. A couple of recovery shots he had no right to pot. Genius stuff.

Related topics:MastersNorthern Ireland