Fergal O'Brien fully focused as he prepares to take final bow

This day four weeks will be final day of the World Snooker Championships.

It's one of the great sporting days but the tournament will also bring to a close the career of one of Ireland's best ever players.

Fergal O'Brien confirmed his retirement to RTÉ Sport at the end of last year and tomorrow he will begin his final attempt to win the biggest prize of them all.

It's a long road ahead - four qualifying matches before he can get his hand on the table at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield - but whether he gets there or not, O'Brien is satisfied that he's made the correct decision.

"If I was still in the top 16 and earning €200,000 a year there's no way I'd be stopping playing," he says.

"But if you look at the last five years, I fell off the Tour two years ago, and three years before that I had to win a match to stay on it.

"I'd have to win a few matches this year in the qualifiers to stay on the tour, which would have meant a return to Q School, which I certainly wouldn't have done.

"I gave myself two years since winning back my tour card at Q School and I said that something extraordinary would have to happen for me to stay on. Well, nothing extraordinary has happened!"

The highpoint of a 33-year career was his victory at the 1999 British Open, while perhaps the match he is most remembered for is the 2001 Masters final at the Wembley Conference Centre - a 10-9 defeat to the so-called 'Beckham of the Baize', the late Paul Hunter.

O'Brien admits that had he been forced to retire in the past it might have impacted his mental health, but he has begun to build a career off the table - coaching, while also doing media work with Eurosport - which has given him a much greater acceptance of the end of his career.

"There's a couple of