Tony O'Shea (born 9 May 1961) is an English professional

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

player. His squat figure has resulted in the nickname "Silverback". O'Shea has reached the finals of seven

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(BDO) major darts tournaments, but to date has never won one. He also acts as a regular commentator for televised BDO coverage.

Darts career

BDO

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, O'Shea made his debut at the BDO World Championship, narrowly losing to former Masters champion

Colin Monk Colin Monk (born 29 September 1967) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Career Monk won the Winmau World Masters in 1996, where he be ...

3–2. O'Shea returned the following year and beat former champion

Ted Hankey Edward Hankey (born 20 February 1968) is an English former professional darts player and convicted sex offender. Nicknamed "The Count", he won the BDO World Darts Championship in 2000, was runner-up in 2001, and won the title for a second time ...

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

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 A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

against

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

during the

International Darts League The Topic International Darts League was a darts tournament held at the Triavium in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Raymond van Barneveld dominated the tournament, held in his home country, winning it on three of the five occasions it was held. Gary Anders ...

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 The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

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 Darryl Fitton (born 5 May 1962) is an English professional darts player. He is nicknamed The Dazzler and comes to the stage dancing to the Madness song "One Step Beyond" wearing sunglasses; one of the most popular walk-ons with the audience ...

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 Anthony John "Tony" Green (born 29 January 1939) is an English sports commentator and television presenter. Darts career A former amateur player, who played county darts for Lancashire, he was the BBC's lead commentator when they showed t ...

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 David Michael Prins (born 16 November 1968) is an English professional darts player. Career Prins reached the last 16 of the 2009 Winmau World Masters, where he lost to Tony O'Shea in three straight sets. Prins qualified for his first BDO Wo ...

and eighth seed

Joey ten Berge Joey ten Berge (born 18 October 1985) is a Dutch former darts player. Career BDO Ten Berge won the 2001 WDF Europe Youth Cup beating Sweden's Markus Korhonen in the final. Six years later, he captured his first professional title by capturing ...

, he lost in the semi-finals to defending champion

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

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 The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam events in tenn ...

runner up

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchp ...

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 Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and ''Hart to Hart'' (1979– ...

in the Quarter finals and went on to meet

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

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.

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 Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

5–1,

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

5–1 and

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

5–4. He then lost 10–7 to

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

in the second round. In contrast in 2010 where he was world number one, O'Shea came into the 2011 BDO World Champsionship 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 Ross Montgomery (born 16 October 1962), nicknamed The Boss, is a Scottish professional darts player who played in World Darts Federation (WDF) tournaments and as of January 14th 2022 now plays on the Professional Darts Corporat ...

in the second round. He then beat defending champion

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 Wesley Harms (born 11 June 1984) is a Dutch former professional darts player. Career Harms won the BDO International Open in 2011, defeating Stephen Bunting in the final. Harms qualified for the 2012 BDO World Darts Championship as the 13th s ...

to reach his second World Championship final, where he was defeated by another Dutch débutant,

Christian Kist Christian Kist (born 21 April 1986) is a Dutch professional darts player. In 2012, he won the BDO World Darts Championship, defeating Tony O'Shea in the final. Since 2014, he has competed in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career BDO K ...

, 7–5. In October 2012, O'Shea reached his sixth major final at the 2012 Winmau World Masters, and was beaten by

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...

. Tony O'Shea reached his third World Championship final in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

after a high quality run. He struggled badly in the final, losing to

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

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 Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twi ...

. In 2018, he was not at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for the first time in his career.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2002: 1st Round (lost to

2–3) * 2003: 2nd Round (lost to

2–3) * 2004: Semi Final (lost to Mervyn King 1–5) * 2005: 1st Round (lost to

Marko Kantele Marko Kantele (born 24 August 1968 in Mäntyharju) is a Finnish darts player. Career Kantele made his major debut in the 1997 Winmau World Masters, beating defending champion Colin Monk in the first round but lost in the second round to Mark D ...

1–3) * 2006: Quarter Final (lost to

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

3–5) * 2007: 1st Round (lost to

0–3) * 2008: 2nd Round (lost to Robert Thornton 2–4) * 2009: Runner Up (lost to

6–7) * 2010: Semi Final (lost to

3–6) * 2011: 1st Round (lost to Ross Smith 1–3) * 2012: Runner Up (lost to

5–7) * 2013: Runner Up (lost to

1–7) * 2014: 1st Round (lost to

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

2–3)

WSDT

* 2022:1st Round (lost to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

2-3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 7 (7 runners-up)

WDF major finals: 1 (1 title)

Performance timeline

Nine-dart finishes

References

External links

Profile and stats on Darts DatabaseInterview with The Stars Of Darts Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshea, Tony 1961 births English darts players English people of Irish descent Living people Sportspeople from Stockport British Darts Organisation players Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games