ANTHONY McGILL nearly quit snooker – now he’s the Crucible killer.
Scotland’s rising star has the world at his feet having booked his place in this year’s World Championship quarter-finals.
He dumped out compatriot and former UK champion Stephen Maguire in Sheffield and caused the tournament’s biggest upset by beating the defending champ Mark Selby.
And the Glaswegian, 24, is gunning to cause a few more shocks as he looks to win the £300,000 first prize in Sheffield.
He said: “When you are on a roll these things can happen and you just have to enjoy it and try to keep it going.
“But there was a time when I thought it wasn’t worth carrying on. My dad was involved in it all. He was trying to sort it out, make it better.
“But it was taking its toll on the family and it wasn’t a lot of fun in the house. Snooker is nothing compared to your family so I considered giving up. But just as I was thinking about that I won a Pontin’s International Open Series event, so I knew I’d be on the main tour.
“It was horrible turning up to those junior tournaments. Nobody seemed to like anyone and you couldn’t enjoy playing in them.
“I’m glad things seem to have been sorted out, that the juniors today don’t have that going on. It wasn’t a nice few years.
“So for me to be playing at the Crucible now, well it’s a dream come true. I’m just loving every minute of it.”
McGill clashes with either Joe Perry or 2005 winner Shaun Murphy in the next phase tomorrow, with their best-of-25 frame match due to conclude on Wednesday night.
And if the confident potter can beat either, he could earn himself a semi-final showdown and the chance to play on the unique one table set-up at snooker’s spiritual home.
McGill said: “It helps when you have 500 or 1000 people looking down on you in that arena, it’s really special.
“If you get wound up in the Crucible, I can see it would get magnified so staying relaxed is key. Maybe you just don’t know how good you are or how good you can be until you’ve played here – this is the benchmark.
“It seems pretty easy to play well here, it’s that good a venue. There is a kind of magic about the place and people just love being here in the crowd.
“I can see how you might crumble, if you started badly and let it get to you, but that is not the way I have felt at all and hopefully that won’t happen.
“But I do smile a lot out there. I’m not doing it to annoy anyone or get to my opponents, I just find the whole thing funny.
“Friends and family have normal jobs, I play snooker and people are coming to watch me and get engrossed. I look at the crowd and think, ‘This is all a bit weird’. It makes me smile.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan was warned for a lewd gesture as he cruised to within touching distance of a quarter-final berth.
The Rocket needs to win just one frame tonight having powered into a 12-4 lead over Matthew Stevens.
But despite dominating, O’Sullivan lost his cool against the Welshman in the 16th frame. He missed a routine pot on a black ball, walked back to his chair in disgust and made a lewd hand gesture to himself.
Neil Robertson, the 2010 world champion, is just two frames away from a semi-final spot.
The Aussie resumed 6-2 ahead of Ali Carter and finished 11-5 up ahead of their final session today .
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