Tony O'Shea (born 9 May 1961)[2] is an English professional darts player. His squat figure has resulted in the nickname "Silverback". O'Shea has reached the finals of seven British Darts Organisation (BDO) major darts tournaments, but to date has never won one. He also acted as a regular commentator for televised BDO coverage.
| Tony O'Shea | |
|---|---|
 O'Shea in 2005 | |
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | "Silverback" |
| Born | 9 May 1961 Stockport, Cheshire, England |
| Home town | Stockport, Cheshire, England |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1979 |
| Darts | 24g Target Signature |
| Laterality | Right-handed |
| Walk-on music | "Hey Baby" by DJ Ötzi preceded opening to "Baba O'Riley" by The Who |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1995-2020 |
| WDF | 1995– |
| Current world ranking | (WDF) 932  (14 November 2023)[1] |
| WDF major events – best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Runner-up: 2009, 2012, 2013 |
| World Masters | Runner-up: 2004, 2012 |
| World Trophy | Runner-up: 2002 |
| Int. Darts League | Runner-up: 2005 |
| Finder Masters | Semi-final: 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2014 |
| Dutch Open | Winner: 2012 |
| PDC premier events – best performances | |
| Grand Slam | Quarter-final: 2009, 2013 |
| WSDT major events – best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Last 24: 2022 |
| World Matchplay | Last 20: 2022 |
| World Masters | Semi-final: 2022 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| BDO International Open Dutch Open Isle Of Man Open Jersey Classic Northern Ireland Open Polish Open Romanian Open Scottish Open Swiss Open Turkish Open WDF World Cup Singles WDF World Cup Pairs WDF World Cup Team Welsh Classic Welsh Masters | 2009 2012 2016 2014 2011 2012 2013 2009 2003 2009, 2017 2009 2011, 2013 2007, 2011 2009 2008 |
| Other achievements | |
| Clackmanam Open 2010 Dutch Pentathlon 2010 Six Nations Cup 2010 Winmau Darts Dazzler Batley 2010 | |
Darts career
editBDO
editIn 2002, O'Shea made his debut at the BDO World Championship, narrowly losing to former Masters champion Colin Monk 3–2. O'Shea returned the following year and beat former champion Ted Hankey 3–2 in the first round, before once again being beaten by Monk 3–2 – this time in the deciding leg of the deciding set. Two years thereafter he reached the semi-finals after a winning streak defeating Gary Anderson, Gary Robson and Ted Hankey before he eventually went out against Mervyn King 5–1. Later that year he had his best chance to date of winning a major title, as he led King 5–3 in the final of the Winmau World Masters before King recovered to win 6–5.
O'Shea managed to achieve a televised nine-dart finish against Adrian Lewis during the International Darts League on 9 May 2007 which made the tournament the first in darts history to witness two perfect legs. The occasion was made even sweeter as he was celebrating his 46th birthday.
In the 2008 World Championship, O'Shea defeated Steve Farmer in the first round, but was defeated by Winmau World Masters champion Robert Thornton in the second round.
O'Shea won the 2008 Welsh Masters, only his second tournament victory. In the 2009 BDO World Championship, O'Shea defeated Anderson in the quarter-finals, his best friend Darryl Fitton in the semi-final, but was once again second-best in a major final as he lost to Hankey 7–6 in what Tony Green described as the best final since 1992.
O'Shea entered the 2009 Winmau World Masters as the number one seed but despite 3–0 wins over Dave Prins and eighth seed Joey ten Berge, he lost in the semi-finals to defending champion Martin Adams who successfully retained his title. O'Shea then won the WDF World Cup men's singles title with victory over ten Berge in the final, in what was arguably his most significant win to date.
O'Shea entered the 2010 BDO World Championship as the number one seed. He had a tough first round against World Masters runner up Robbie Green but came through it 3–2. He then saw off Stephen Bunting 4–0 to reach his fourth Quarter-final. He managed a 5–1 victory over Robert Wagner in the quarter finals and went on to meet Dave Chisnall in the semi-final who had beaten Fitton in the first round, former Masters champion Tony West in the second round, and defending champion Hankey in the quarter-final. O'Shea, despite taking the first two sets, was beaten 6–3 by Chisnall and saw his World Championship dream end for another year. Martin Adams went on to defeat Chisnall in the final.
O'Shea won all three group games in the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, defeating Vincent van der Voort 5–1, James Wade 5–1 and Justin Pipe 5–4. He then lost 10–7 to Terry Jenkins in the second round.
In contrast in 2010 where he was world number one, O'Shea came into the 2011 BDO World Championship as the number eight seed and suffered a shock first round loss to Ross Smith.
O'Shea was seeded at the 2012 BDO World Championship, O'Shea put his successful run in the tournament down to his work with professional sports mind coach and hypnotherapist Stephen McKibben from Belfast. He beat Steve West in the first round, hitting a 140 checkout and 142 checkout in consecutive legs at the end of the match, before defeating Ross Montgomery in the second round. He then beat defending champion Martin Adams 5–2 in the quarter-finals, hitting a 170 checkout in the fourth set and thanked mind coach Stephen McKibben for enabling him to at last beat Martin Adams in a major tournament. O'Shea followed this up with a 6–5 victory over Dutch débutant Wesley Harms to reach his second World Championship final, where he was defeated by another Dutch débutant, Christian Kist, 7–5.[3]
In October 2012, O'Shea reached his sixth major final at the 2012 Winmau World Masters, and was beaten by Stephen Bunting.
Tony O'Shea reached his third World Championship final in 2013 after a high quality run. He struggled badly in the final, losing to Scott Waites 7–1 with an average of 81.90. O'Shea became the first man to lose his first three BDO World Championship finals, and only the second player to lose his first three world finals in either the BDO or PDC after Peter Manley.
In 2018, he was not at the World Championships for the first time in his career.
World Championship results
editBDO
edit- 2002: 1st round (lost to Colin Monk 2–3)
- 2003: 2nd round (lost to Colin Monk 2–3)
- 2004: Semi-final (lost to Mervyn King 1–5)
- 2005: 1st round (lost to Marko Kantele 1–3)
- 2006: Quarter-final (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 3–5)
- 2007: 1st round (lost to Martin Adams 0–3)
- 2008: 2nd round (lost to Robert Thornton 2–4)
- 2009: Runner-up (lost to Ted Hankey 6–7)
- 2010: Semi-final (lost to Dave Chisnall 3–6)
- 2011: 1st round (lost to Ross Smith 1–3)
- 2012: Runner-up (lost to Christian Kist 5–7)
- 2013: Runner-up (lost to Scott Waites 1–7)
- 2014: 1st round (lost to Martin Adams 0–3)
- 2015: 1st round (lost to Scott Mitchell 2–3)
- 2016: 1st round (lost to Jim Williams 0–3)
- 2017: 1st round (lost to Jim Williams 0–3)
- 2019: 1st round (lost to Wesley Harms 2–3)
WSDT
edit- 2022: First round (lost to Kevin Painter 2–3)
- 2023: First round (lost to Leonard Gates 0–3)
Career finals
editBDO major finals: 7 (7 runners-up)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| World Championship (0–3) |
| Winmau World Masters (0–2) |
| World Darts Trophy (0–1) |
| International Darts League (0–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2002 | World Darts Trophy |  Tony David | 0–6 (s) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2004 | Winmau World Masters |  Mervyn King | 6–7 (s) |
| Runner-up | 3. | 2005 | International Darts League | Mervyn King | 11–13 (s) |
| Runner-up | 4. | 2009 | World Championship | Ted Hankey | 6–7 (s) |
| Runner-up | 5. | 2012 | World Championship |  Christian Kist | 5–7 (s) |
| Runner-up | 6. | 2012 | Winmau World Masters | Stephen Bunting | 4–7 (s) |
| Runner-up | 7. | 2013 | World Championship | Scott Waites | 1–7 (s) |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
WDF major finals: 1 (1 title)
edit| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2009 | World Cup Singles | Joey ten Berge | 7–3 (l) |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
Performance timeline
edit| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BDO World Championship | DNP | 1R | 2R | SF | 1R | QF | 1R | 2R | F | SF | 1R | F | F | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | DNQ | 1R | |
| BDO World Trophy | Not held | 1R | 1R | 2R | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | |||||||||||||
| International Darts League | Not held | QF | RR | F | RR | SF | Not held | |||||||||||||
| World Darts Trophy | Not held | F | 1R | QF | 1R | 2R | 1R | Not held | ||||||||||||
| World Masters | QF | 2R | 2R | 1R | F | 1R | 4R | QF | SF | SF | 6R | 3R | F | 5R | 3R | 1R | 4R | 6R | 2R | DNP |
| Finder Darts Masters | DNP | SF | SF | QF | RR | NH | RR | SF | RR | SF | RR | QF | QF | SF | QF | RR | DNP | RR | NH | |
| Grand Slam of Darts | Not held | DNQ | QF | 2R | RR | RR | QF | RR | DNQ | |||||||||||
Nine-dart finishes
edit| Date | Opponent | Tournament | Method | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 May 2007 | Adrian Lewis | International Darts League | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | Opel Tigra Twin Top |
References
edit- ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ Profile and stats on Darts Database
- ^ "Christian Kist beats favourite Tony O'Shea to win BDO world title at Frimley Green". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012. (registration required)