Stephen Maguire admitted he had a spell a few months ago where he “didn’t really want to play snooker.” The 43-year-old enjoyed a fine run at the Welsh Open last week, where he reached the final before losing to Mark Selby.

Maguire pushed the world No. 3 all the way at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, with the two players sharing the opening 12 frames.

But Selby pulled away at the end as he clinched the final three frames to land the second Welsh Open title of his career.

Maguire has won six ranking events since turning professional but has endured a barren few years at the baize.

He has fallen to 26th in the rankings and has failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals at the World Snooker Championship since 2012.

And discussing his struggles during an interview with the World Snooker Tour ahead of his clash with Selby, he exclaimed: “A few months back I didn’t really want to play – I was getting beat by players who I thought I shouldn’t be getting beat by.”

Maguire overcame Xu Si, Mark Williams, Sanderson Lam, Jack Lisowski and Ali Carter in Llandudno to reach the showpiece match for the third time.

But the 2013 champion appeared to be bereft of confidence when he spoke to the BBC before the final as he explained: “I still don’t think I’ve played well.

“I’ve just been fighting. Maybe I’ve saved it for the final. This one has come out of nowhere – I wasn’t expecting this this week, but I’ll take it.”

Maguire will be desperate to rediscover his best form, with his results in Wales guaranteeing his place at next month’s World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

The Scot has failed to qualify for two of the previous four editions of the tournament, despite the fact it has a field of 32 players.

His best performance at the World Grand Prix came in 2018 when he reached the semi-finals, with the star falling at the first hurdle last year.

“I had a good week – I’ve enjoyed myself and I have just come up short in the end. There’s nothing you can do when he’s potting all the balls. All credit to Mark,” Maguire admitted following his defeat at the hands of Selby.

And Selby added: “Obviously I’m delighted. It’s great to see Stephen back in finals – four years is way too long. He’s a class act and I’m one of his biggest fans.

“This week I won a lot of key frames when I’ve been 40 or 50 points behind – that’s been the difference.”