 He endured several barren seasons on the tour before losing his place in 1997, but re-qualified during the 1997/1998 season, notably reaching the last 48 stage of the 1998 World Championship.There, he beat seven opponents, including Michael Holt, Munraj Pal, Jamie Burnett and Gary Ponting, before losing 7–10 to Dave Harold.In his first season back on the tour, Delaney won the majority of his matches, but progressed only to the last 96 at a ranking event - the 1998 Grand Prix, where the declining Steve James beat him 5–2.