He combines his ongoing playing career with regular commentary and punditry work on televised snooker broadcasts.

He turned professional the following year and reached the first of his 17 ranking finals at the 1992 Grand Prix, losing 9–10 to Jimmy White.

At the 1997 World Snooker Championship, he ended Stephen Hendry's record 29-match winning streak at the Crucible with an 18–12 victory in the final.

Since 2012, he has been a director of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association; he also served from 2021 to 2024 as inaugural chair of the WPBSA Players organisation.

[4] Born on 17 September 1969, Doherty grew up in a working-class Catholic family in Ranelagh, Dublin, with his three siblings, two older brothers and a younger sister.

[6] Doherty appeared in two quarter-finals in his first season as a professional, at the 1991 Classic and the 1991 Irish Masters, being beaten 5–3 by Jimmy White on both occasions.

More quarter-final appearances followed at the 1994 Masters and the 1994 World Championship, his only run past the second round in the latter before 1997,[12] and later on in the 1994 Dubai Classic,[13] repeating his result from the previous edition of the event, down to the scoreline as he was beaten 5–4 both times.

[14][15] In November he made it to the final of the 1994 UK Championship, which he lost 5–10 to Stephen Hendry,[16][17] then in December he reached the quarter-final stage of the 1994 European Open, where he was defeated 5–3 by Nigel Bond.

Doherty became only the third player from outside the United Kingdom (after Australian Horace Lindrum in 1952 and Canadian Cliff Thorburn in 1980) to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the 1997 final, at the age of 27.

[28] Following an average start to the 2005–06 season, Doherty won the Malta Cup in February 2006, beating John Higgins in the final.

He made a solid start to the 2006–07 season by reaching the quarter-final at what is the closest thing to a home tournament for him, the Northern Ireland Trophy at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.

He followed this up a week later by becoming the first Irishman to win the Pot Black Invitational tournament, beating Shaun Murphy 76–31 in the one-frame final.

Defeat to Liang Wenbo in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he dropped out of the top 16 after 15 years, and he started the new season 32nd on the provisional one-year list.

[40] The 2010–11 season proved to be a mixed campaign for Doherty, who made it to the last 32 of the 2010 World Open, yet missed out on qualifying for the 2011 German Masters, the 2011 Welsh Open and crucially, blowing a 6–3 lead, losing 10–6 to Jimmy Robertson in the final stage of qualifying for the 2011 World Championship, meaning he had only reached the Crucible once out of his previous three attempts.

[41] Doherty had an excellent start to the 2011–12 season as he qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open, where he reached his first ranking event semi-final since 2006.

[43] In the remainder of the season Doherty qualified for the German Masters and the Welsh Open, but was defeated in the first round by Williams and Mark Allen respectively, without picking up a frame.

[49] At the fifth European Tour Event, the Scottish Open, he saw off the likes of Luca Brecel and Ryan Day to reach the semi-finals where he lost 2–4 to Ding Junhui.

[52] His aforementioned run to the semi-finals of the Scottish Open helped him finish 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify as one of the top 26 players for the Finals, but he lost 2–4 to Kurt Maflin in the first round.

[53] Doherty almost pulled off one of his trademark comebacks against Matthew Selt in the final round of the World Championship qualifying, as from 4–9 down he levelled at 9–9, but he lost the deciding frame.

[61] The only other tournament Doherty could advance to the last 32 in this season was the 2014 UK Championship by overcoming Mitchell Mann and Michael White, but he was beaten 6–1 by Ricky Walden.

[62] He reached the final round of World Championship qualifying following wins over Reanne Evans and Lee Walker, but was thrashed 10–3 by Mark Davis.

His best results in the season were a pair of last 32 exits at the German Masters and Welsh Open, losing 5–1 to Stephen Maguire and 4–2 to Joe Perry respectively.

Doherty would be the only player that came close to defeating the eventual champion, as the other matches, with the exception of the final, produced very one-sided results.

[84] Doherty was nearly blinded in 2002 in a bathroom accident; after slipping, he struck an ornament, which narrowly missed his left eye.

However, the distinctive scar on his right cheek dates back to his seventh birthday, when he fell off a shed roof onto a metal dustbin.

[78] Doherty and his family are of Roman Catholic faith, with his mother, Rose usually praying while Ken was playing matches.

[85] Ostensibly he was a beginner at snooker and received some tips from Alex Higgins, who was initially fooled by the make-up and Doherty's hopeless play.

However, as "Fr Donoghue" began to clear the table, Higgins' suspicions were aroused and Doherty was eventually rumbled.

[86] In 2020, Doherty made a cameo appearance along with Jack Lisowski and Liang Wenbo in the snooker movie Break.