It has inspired him once – now Ronnie O’Sullivan is hoping the Shropshire atmosphere can be the driving force behind a second UK Championship snooker success in the county next week.

World No 1 and 888.com World Champion O’Sullivan produced some stunning performances to take the title at Telford International Centre 12 months ago, including a 147 in the deciding frame of his semi-final against Mark Selby and a 10-2 defeat of Stephen Maguire in the final.

And the Rocket hopes to produce more of the same when he starts his bid to win the title for the fifth time, on Saturday at 1pm against Rory McLeod.

“Winning the UK was a big moment for me last year,” said the 33-year-old from Chigwell, who has had a strong start to the season having won the Northern Ireland Trophy and reached the final of the Roewe Shanghai Masters. 

“It’s one of the events I target at the start of the season.

“I remember the 147 in the last frame of the semi-final – that was a great buzz. The atmosphere at Telford was fantastic. I’m looking forward to going back this year and trying to play some good snooker again.”

Not that O’Sullivan is entirely happy in the sport after admitting he expects to retire from snooker in the next five years – and that he lacks the passion to equal Stephen Hendry’s seven world titles, having already won three.

He said: “I can’t win seven, eight world titles. I don’t feel like I’ve got the drive. 

“I don’t have the passion that it takes to be a (Michael) Schumacher, a Hendry – I am not going to be a slave to it. 

“I don’t think I’ll even be playing in five years, let alone winning another five world titles.” 

O’Sullivan, one of the most talented players in the history of the game, acknowledged he should have been more successful. 

“You look at the hard facts of what I’ve won, as a competitor – I believe that I have definitely under-achieved. 

“I’ve done it my way if you like, it wasn’t the conventional way. 

“Waste of a talent it might have been, but I’ve come out of it and I’m intact.” 

O’Sullivan admitted he still reflects on his infamous forfeited match against Hendry two years ago in the UK Championship at York’s Barbican Centre. 

Hendry was awarded the match 9-1 when O’Sullivan, having missed a red at 4-1 down, shook his opponent’s hand and walked out. 

He explained: “I got out – and I felt relieved. I felt relieved that I’d done it. To just get it out of there. 

“Because if I’d gone through that match I would have been like it in the semis, like it in the final – I’d have been like it in the world final. It didn’t matter where it was. 

“I still feel like it sometimes, but I can’t because they’ll slap me with a heavy fine.”