SNOOKER legend Dennis Taylor will retire from professional competition at the end of the season.

But the 51-year-old Blackburn-based Irishman does not plan to bring down the curtain altogether on his snooker career and could soon be back in action on a new Seniors Tour later this year.

Taylor threatened to quit the sport last year but the lure of another appearance at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in the final stages of the World Championships proved too tempting.

However, the 1985 World Embassy Champion has now decided next month's qualifying tournament for this year's championship finals will definitely be his last.

And he is hoping to bow out in a blaze of glory at the place which staged his finest hour.

"I am definitely retiring from the main match circuit at the end of this season after 30 wonderful years as a professional snooker player," said Taylor.

"It would be fantastic to end my career by playing for the final time at the Crucible Theatre - the arena where I enjoyed my greatest triumph.

"But, whatever happens in the qualifiers, I will be at the Crucible as part of the BBC's commentary team."

Taylor has competed in all 25 Embassy World Championships but has no regrets over his impending retirement after a glittering career at the top.

"I just felt that the time was right to stop," said Taylor.

"I will miss the day-to-day involvement but I will take away memories of a very satisfying career.

"I captured a number of major titles, captained Ireland to a hat-trick of victories in the World Cup and travelled all over the globe. "So I couldn't have wished for a better playing career."

After turning professional in 1972, Taylor won his first major title in the early 1980s when he lifted the Rothmans Grand Prix.

But he will always be remembered for his astonishing comeback in the 1985 Embassy World Championship final when he beat six-times World Champion Steve Davis in an epic 35-frame thriller.

It was 12.23am when Taylor finally triumphed 18-17 on the final black in front of a staggering 18.5 million people who had tuned in to watch the drama unfold on TV.

And to this day, that still remains the second biggest ever TV sports audience in the UK apart from football.

But Taylor never tires from talking about the match which turned him into a global hero.

"People ask me if I ever get fed up with talking about that match," said Taylor. "Just ask Geoff Hurst if he gets fed up talking about his hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup!

"It was the greatest moment of my snooker career and I can still see every shot of that final frame as though it was yesterday." However, the Blackburn-based Irishman has gradually slipped down the rankings since then, despite captaining Ireland to the World Team title in the 90s.

Now he splits his time between playing and commentating.

But when he finally retires after the World Championships, for which qualifying begins at the Guild Hall in Preston next month, he plans to play on the proposed Seniors Tour.

"I am a director of the sport's governing body - the World Snooker Association - and I am confident that we will soon be developing a Seniors Tour," said Taylor.

"In fact, we could have two Seniors tournaments before the end of this year.

"Tennis and golf have both organised very popular Seniors Tours and I am sure that snooker can follow in their footsteps.

"We have a number of snooker legends who would make up such a Seniors Tour and it would be very popular with the public as many of these older players are still household names."

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