Kyren Wilson has set himself a huge titles target over his snooker career, but does not plan on playing on as long as some legends of the game.

The 34-year-old took his ranking title tally to 11 on Sunday when he won the Northern Ireland Open for a second time, battering Jak Jones 9-2 in the final.

The Warrior has also enjoyed major non-ranking success, winning the Masters and Shanghai Masters last season.

His win in Belfast at the weekend took him past snooker icon Jimmy White in terms of ranking wins and Wilson had some kind words for the Whirlwind.

‘Jimmy’s a hero of mine,’ Wilson said on TNT Sports. ‘I call him the godfather of snooker.

‘I remember when I was a kid and we were going out to a tournament in Riga. We were coming back on the airport shuttle bus and as the guy dropped him off he shook his hand and slipped him a fiver. I was like, he’s the coolest guy on the planet.

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‘I was desperate to equal him and to go to 11 is fantastic. But I don’t want it to stop there.’

Only 11 players in snooker history have won more than Wilson’s 11 ranking titles, but when he says he doesn’t intend to stop there, he means to keep going a lot futher.

Asked if he has a target in mind, he laughed a post-match press conference: ‘I have, but I can’t tell you!

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‘But no, it’s a lot more. It’s at least, if not treble what I’m on now. That’s what I want to hit.’

33 ranking titles would put Wilson among the greatest players to ever pick up a cue, with John Higgins currently on that tally and only Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry boasting more.

The Warrior does have plenty of time to rack up more success, although does not intend on playing on anywhere near as long as White has chosen to.

The Whirlwind is still competing on the main tour at 64 years old and Wilson plans to be deep into retirement by then.

‘No chance!’ Wilson said of still going into his sixties. ‘I’ll be long retired.

‘I’ve dedicated my life to it and I want to make the most of what I can now.

‘I’m thinking 15 years. Why am I now? I’m 34 years old. So yeah, 15 years, I reckon by 50, I’m done. And then hopefully retiring somewhere warm with good beer.’

It has been an unusual time in Wilson’s career, but normality may have been restored thanks to his success at the Waterfront Hall.

After winning the World Championship in 2024, he enjoyed a spectacular 24/25 season, winning four more ranking titles.

The last campaign was an odd one as he won in Shanghai and at Alexandra Palace, but had next to no success in ranking events by his high standards and didn’t qualify for the Players Championship so could not defend his title at that event.

He faced a significant slide down the rankings this season and – despite another good run in Shanghai – started slowly in ranked events. He has arrested that slump to some extent by lifting the Alex Higgins Trophy again.

‘I think people do move on too fast,’ he said. ‘I’ve won this one, you now look at my season, you go, wow, he’s having a really good season because he got to the final of the Shanghai, quarters of the English [Open]. Now he’s won one. So you go, wow, he’s having a really good time of it.

‘But if I hadn’t won it, all of a sudden you go, well, he’s struggling and you forget about Shanghai.

‘I’ve actually won on paper the harder ones to win because you’ve got the guaranteed top 16 players in the ones that I won. So on paper, they’re harder to win, which is peculiar, really.

‘But yeah, it’s nice to win another ranking title because you get the little bonuses that come with it. It really hurt not defending my Players’ Championship title last year, so hopefully that’s put me in a good position to be a part of that.’