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Shaun Murphy ended 22 barren months since his shock 2005 World Championship triumph by capturing the Malta Cup title on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Rotherham-based potter eased to a comfortable 9-4 victory over Welshman Ryan Day, who endured a baptism of fire on his debut in a world-ranking tournament.

Since defying odds of 125-1 to claim Crucible glory, Murphy has been unable to shake his one-hit-wonder tag but, all week on the Mediterranean island, has been scoring heavily and performing with renewed confidence.

And that self-belief was apparent as he took advantage of several key unforced errors from Day on the way to collecting the £30,000 first prize and climbing to fifth on the provisional world-ranking list.

"I know it's only been a couple of years but you do feel as though there's a monkey on your back," said a delighted Murphy.

"It's a tiresome weight to carry around but now no one can say that I'm a flash in the pan. I'm a tournament winner in the plural and that's a relief."

Murphy believes the expectations placed on him following his unexpected 2005 triumph were too high.

"I would definitely agree with those players who say that your second title is harder to win than your first having been through that," he said.

"After I won the World Championship people expected me to win plenty but that wasn't really a true reflection of where I stood in the game. I knew I had a lot to learn and I've worked hard to get where I am."

Murphy was also adamant that winning in Malta was just as satisfying as his previous win, which was seen as one of the greatest upsets in the game's history.

"In some ways this is more significant to me than winning the world Championship because I've had to play a different style of snooker to do it.

"Confidence-wise this is absolutely fantastic," he added.

"At the World Championship I was just in a rich vein of form but I've come here as an established top-16 player and got the job done with a more all-round game. That means a lot."

The second frame typified Day's early problems as he missed a straightforward green and Murphy cleared up to steal it on the black.

Day also squandered gilt-edged chances in the following two frames as Murphy went into the mid-session interval having quickly established a 4-0 advantage.

After a nail-biting 18-shot tactical tussle to end the fifth, Murphy misjudged his safety on the pink and Day had the simplest of tasks to get off the mark by potting it to a middle pocket.

But more mistakes followed from Day, the world number 17 from Pontycymmer, near Bridgend.

On a run of 45 in the closing frame of the afternoon Day surrendered ideal position, jawed a tricky red and Murphy tightened his grip with a 51 clearance glued together by a delicate yellow down the side cushion to a baulk pocket, using the rest.

Leading 6-1 going into the final session, Murphy was already two-thirds of the way to his target and on the restart there was never any serious hint that Day could mount a sustained comeback.

Helped by breaks of 66 and 102, Day shared the opening four frames of the evening but it was impossible to dispel the thought that his fluency had arrived too late other than to restore a degree of respectability to the scoreline.

He also won the 12th with a run of 83 but Day's revival gathered no further momentum.

The 13th and clinching frame was decided on the last red. Murphy potted it with a swerve out of a partial snooker and Day could not lay the snookers he required in order to keep the contest alive.

Day was consoled with a cheque for £15,000 - the biggest payday of his eight-year professional career.

He laid the blame for defeat squarely on the opportunities he wasted during the first session.

"I had chances virtually every frame and I was obviously very disappointed with the way I played.

"But I've had a tremendous week and now I'm looking forward to [the Welsh Open in] Newport."