The angel on Doherty's shoulder

ALL SORTS of names have been bandied about as the guiding force behind Ken Doherty's remarkable triumph in the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield last Monday. But the credit belongs to Victor. And for those heathens among you, he is Ireland's angel, the one who inveigled St Patrick back here in AD432.

There was a fund of fascinating information to be had this week at the Doherty home in Ranelagh, Dublin, where neighbours, friends and well wishers came to toast a national hero. Among them was Sister Carina from the nearby Dominican convent.

Seeing the World Championship trophy on the living room table, she touched it with her outstretched hand, saying: "Praise God and the angels. I stormed heaven for Ken. I've been 44 years a nun and God listens to the odd cry. Wasn't it a wonderful thing that Ken did?"

Wonderful indeed. As is Sister Carina's special devotion to the Angel Victor, "who came to Patrick in a dream". It seemed delightfully appropriate on what was clearly an Irish occasion.

The extent of Doherty's achievement could be gauged from the names of those inscribed on the championship trophy not necessarily in terms of their celebrity, but in their number. Since the trophy was first presented in 1927, Doherty is only the 16th world champion, and two of his predecessors were also Irish, Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor.

Small wonder that the suburban village of Ranelagh was festive, with the main thoroughfare flanked by bunting. A strong community spirit was also evident in the triangular sign local shopkeepers had printed in the shape of a frame of reds: "King Ken".

It has been an amazing week for the 27 year old. After the excitement of a civic reception on Wednesday, there was a hectic round of media interviews on Thursday and a lunch with the Taoiseach yesterday. Despite all that, Doherty still found time to steal away into Jason's snooker hall around the corner for some quiet practice in a room upstairs in preparation for a match today.

In fact, he flew to London last night to be fully rested in time for a midday assignment with Steve Davis in the Matchroom League. Then he flies back to Dublin for an appearance tonight on Kenny Live. His mother, Rose, is also invited, though she feared a surprise could be sprung on her.

Since the death of her husband in 1983, Rose has grown used to the role as head of the Doherty household. But I quickly discovered that it's a benign dictatorship.

I WAS ushered into the living room where, almost miraculously, a cup of tea and a toasted sandwich were set before me. Friends and family accepted me as "another newspaper fella for Ken". Rose looked at the solid silver trophy which is insured for £12,500: "I must give it a bit of a clean."

The man of the moment appeared presently, looking composed despite all he had been through. We retired to the front room. "Hang on there till I change out of this suit," he said. But he readily agreed to stay as he was, on being advised there were photographs to be taken.

"It's been absolutely crazy," said the compliant champion. "I didn't realise the magnitude of the win until I actually got back home. I was getting a little bit of feedback from here during the championship but it's very different when you experience the local reaction firsthand. Certainly, coming back on the plane and then through Dublin on that bus and back to Ranelagh was incredible.

"Eamon Dunphy always said to me that `when you win that cup we'll have the open top bus through Dublin.' And I'd reply `Naw, no way. That'll never happen. Snooker's not like football which grips the whole nation. Snooker can never be like that."

"I was one of the 18.5 million viewers who watched Dennis Taylor sink the last black of the last frame against Steve Davis in 1985, and I knew that winning the World Championship would be special. But I didn't think it was going to be this big."

Then I mentioned the dreaded M word. "I wondered how long it would be before you got to the money," he said. "It's obviously going to make my life a lot easier, but I especially want my family to enjoy it; I'll try and make their life better.

Apart from his widowed mother, there is his married brother, Seamus (35), another brother, Anthony (31), and his younger sister, Rosemary (25). "Two hundred and ten thousand pounds is an obscene amount of money for winning one tournament," he went on. But when I suggested the accepted reward for becoming world champion was at least £1 million, he seemed a little surprised.

"I suppose with all the media attention it could amount to that, but it's not as if sponsors are knocking down my door and handing me cheques right now. Anyway, I'm leaving those sort of details to Ian [his Scottish manager Ian Doyle]."

I could sense the especially close bond between him and Rose, who has been a wonderfully stabilising influence on his career. "My mother struggled all her life for pennies and it's more pleasing for me that she's going to benefit from my success," he said. He smiled broadly. "She'll never change; my mam will never change. She'll continue to ride her bike around Ranelagh and wherever else she goes. That's her only form of transport. But it would certainly be special to send her on a nice little holiday to Rome.

"She's always wanted to see Rome, the basilicas and the Vatican. And when life gets back to normal around here again, it'll be nice to generally just make things a bit more comfortable for her."

Since deciding to eventually return permanently to his roots, Doherty has been commuting between Dublin and London in recent months. "I've had enough of London," he said. "This is where my real earning potential is. I've said that to Ian and that I intend to buy my own house. This is where my future lies."

In the meantime, he will have an experience beyond imagining when he travels back to England tomorrow. "I've followed Manchester United all my life and I've been told that if I bring the cup to Old Trafford, they're going to let me parade it around the pitch. That would be fantastic.

"After that, I go straight from Manchester to Prestatyn [in Wales], where I will be playing in the Pontin's invitation tournament from Monday to Friday. Then the semifinals and final of the Matchroom League are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. After that, I'm finished.

"I'm coming back here to relax for the summer. I'll play a bit of golf, get some fresh air, relax and just enjoy being world champion. I'll take it easy. There'll be no more fussing around. Though I accept that it comes with the job, the last few days have been really hectic."

He tried to picture the future in Ranelagh. "I know people will point and say `Oh look, there's Ken Doherty.' But I don't want it to change me. I know I'm the world champion now and I'll always be a world champion, but I don't want people's attitude to change. I want them to see me as I am."