Snooker world No. 3 Mark Allen launched a blistering defence of his British Open rant, in which he fumed that the table he played on should be “burned”, after Shaun Murphy publicly disagreed with the comments.

Mark Allen described remarks made by Shaun Murphy as “irrelevant” as the pair went back-and-forth about recent playing conditions at the British Open.

Antrim man Allen was furious with the conditions in Cheltenham but went on to hit a maximum break later in the tournament. He was knocked out by eventual winner Mark Selby at the semi-final stage

Antrim ace Mark Allen slammed the conditions and demanded the table be “burned” before ironically making a 147 on the same table.

Former snooker world champion Shaun Murphy has described criticism from fellow players of the table-fitters at the British Open as “rude and amateurish” in the wake of Mark Allen’s scathing attack on playing conditions at the tournament.