Shaun Murphy has responded to Ronnie O’Sullivan’s jibe towards him by calling it a “cheap shot” before explaining that the two snooker icons are “not the best of friends”. The Rocket was perplexed when noticing that Murphy had brought multiple cues to his Northern Ireland Open match with Chris Wakelin, in order to combat the changing table conditions.

Murphy had used several cues in his 4-2 defeat in Belfast to Wakelin, to which O’Sullivan reacted by saying: “Have three cues if you’re winning, but when you keep getting pumped it don’t look good, does it? So start winning some matches before you start doing that.”

The two legends have often clashed over the years and recently Murphy insisted that O’Sullivan’s criticisms of the game were not helpful. But the Magician especially took offence to his rival’s joke regarding his cues, insisting that it was a “cheap shot”.

“First and foremost, let me put this out there. I can take a joke as much as the next person,” Murphy said on The Onefourseven Snooker Podcast. “I love having a bit of craic with everyone, and if you’re going to give it, you’ve got to be able to take it. But I didn’t get it, I didn’t understand what the joke was. I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot.

“I didn’t understand what he meant. Because as you’ve said, I won three or four matches last week in Belfast – I’d taken multiple cues into the arena every time I walked out to play. Anyone who understands what I’m trying to do at the moment understands that it’s only towards the end of the event that I’m going to need the second cue, as conditions deteriorate.”