John O'Shea (born 24 July 1975) is an Irish amateur

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who formerly played in

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

(PDC) events. Formerly known as "Seboy", O'Shea is now nicknamed "The Joker". He won the 2019 World Masters.

Career

O'Shea started playing darts at the age of 16. He won two All-Ireland darts titles with Cork and a European bronze medal playing for Ireland. O'Shea had his biggest career win at the 2019 World Masters, where he defeated

Scott Waites Scott Waites (born 17 February 1977) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a two-time BDO World Darts Champion having won the 2013 tournament and 2016 tournament. He is also ...

6–4 in the final. He became the first Irish player to be crowned champion in the tournament's history. Originally ranked number 219 in the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...

rankings, he rose to number 59 and also earned qualification for the

2020 BDO World Darts Championship The 2020 BDO World Professional Darts Championship was the 43rd and final World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the only staging at the Indigo at The O2 in London. It was the first BDO World Darts Championship not hel ...

. At the BDO World Championship, he lost 3–2 to Andreas Harrysson in the preliminary round. O'Shea earned a two-year

PDC Tour Card The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

at 2022 Q-School after finishing ninth in the UK Q-School Order of Merit. He reached his first PDC ranking final in Players Championship 14, losing 7–4 to Michael Smith. He made his

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has ...

debut at the 2023 World Championship, but lost 3–2 to

Darius Labanauskas Darius Labanauskas (born 26 July 1976) is a Lithuanian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2015, he was ranked WDF world number one. He is a two-time world cha ...

in the first round.

Personal life

O'Shea lives in

Farranree Farranree () is a mainly residential townland and suburb in Cork, Ireland. It is bordered by the larger suburbs of Blackpool, Churchfield and Fairhill. History As of the early 20th century, Farranree was a rural area to the north of Cork Ci ...

with his wife and four children.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2020: Preliminary round (lost to Andreas Harrysson 2–3)

PDC

* 2023: First round (lost to

2–3)

Performance timeline

BDO PDC PDC European Tour

References

External links

* * Living people Irish darts players 1975 births Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders {{Ireland-darts-bio-stub