Tony O'Shea - in his own words

[nikkiboy]

26 August 2010
TONY O’SHEA in his own words…

Born in Stockport on May 9th, 1961: Nickname: ‘SILVERBACK’
What a year it’s been for Tony O’Shea! He was at Lakeside in January as BDO and World No.1 and was crowned 2009 WDF Men’s World Singles in the WDF World Cup in America with an outstanding single-dart average of 35.77.[wrapimg=right]http://www.yourbdo.com/uploads/news/0/T ... %20no3.jpg[/wrapimg]

He was runner-up to Ted Hankey at Lakeside in 2009 and made his debut at the home of world darts in 2002, he was a Semi-Finalist in 2004 and once again this year

His 2009 titles were the Scottish Open, BDO International Open, Welsh Classic and Turkish Open. He was also runner-up in the 2009 England Open, and a Semi-Finalist in the 2009 Winmau World Masters.

He made his debut in the victorious England 4-man team for the 2003 WDF World Cup in France, and has been a proud England International ever since. This year he was in the victorious England teams who won the BDO British Internationals and Six Nations Cup.

Here he relates his darts story in his own words:


DARTS

Eric Bristow was ‘the man' when I started out and I still play with his make of darts.

Datadart make a range for me which are basically the same dart. I always practice with a set of these and if anything happens to my Bristow’s, I will play with my 23 gram Siliverbacks.

I first started playing darts in the local pub on Sunday lunchtime after football. The reason? Pool had just gone up from 10p to 30p, and darts was free! I’m not mean, just careful, and anyway darts gave me more exercise!!

It was 1977 and I played my first league game that same year.

I have been involved with top class darts since 1981, after playing Alan Evans, the Welsh pro player and former World Master, in the News of the World and beating him! I became great friends with Alan and rated him as the greatest exhibition player I ever saw - and would still rate him as my favourite player of all time.

I learned a lot from Alan, and my first ever visit to the Lakeside was in1986 when Alan qualified for the Embassy. It was the first Embassy at Lakeside (25 years ago) and he got to the Semi- Finals, where he was beaten by Bristow. Alan sadly passed away a few years ago, but I still have great memories of him.

In 1981 I made my debut for Lancashire and played approximately 45 games for them until 1989. In 1990, I started playing for Cheshire and still play for the county to this day.

I made my Lakeside debut in 2002 and turned professional in 2005.

The main reason I turned professional was the support of a great man I met at Rembrant’s Bar in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. His name is Ruud Cogel and he owns a successful group of companies called Mariflex. This is a hugely professional operation based in Rotterdam specialising in liquid cargo handling.

Ruud and his wife Monique have become great friends of ours, and they regularly visit England for the World Masters in Bridlington and of course the Lakeside in January. As I am sure all players would agree, sponsors are a very important part of professional darts, and I am very luck to have one like Ruud.


FAMILY

“I have four sisters, Patricia, Kathleen, Mary and Julie, two brothers, Michael and Thomas, and one half brother Kevin. Married to Gill, I have two children John and Jennifer and four stepsons David, Graham, Rhys and Cole, seven grandchildren, Jordan, John-Jo, Dylan, Darryl, Jayden, Owen and Kaylah, and goodness knows how many nieces and nephews!!!
My mum and dad are sadly no longer with us, but Anne and Paddy loved darts, and it would have been a dream come true if they could have watched me at the Lakeside.


AMBITIONS

Tony O'SheaSo far in my career I have achieved everything I ever dreamed of – well almost! Playing County, then being picked for England, and winning my first ranking event, the Swiss Open in 2003, was very special. But to win the WDF World Cup with England and the WDF World Cup Singles title, was unbelievable.

Obviously winning the World Professional is the goal of every player, and being so close to doing just that in the 2009 final against Ted Hankey was agonising. But I am a great believer in the saying ‘if it is meant to be’ and I didn’t lose any sleep over it.

That 2009 final was my fourth major final defeat, but the World Cup Singles has now broken my duck, so here’s to the next final!

OFF THE OCHE

I try to watch Stockport County as often as possible, but they are having such a hard time of it at the moment that I wish I could give them some of my points!!

I also used to play golf, maybe 4 days a week when I was greenkeeper at Hazel Grove Golf Club in the mid 90's. I got my handicap down to useful 10, but I rarely play these days. I once had a hole in one, but I don’t think I could swing a club round my belly at the moment!. I feel that I have matured in the last couple of years and actually practice now!

My results are beginning to reflect this and prove that you can actually teach an old dog new tricks!

from http://www.yourbdo.com

[King-Juffy-Jar]

Nice read, top bloke is Silverback !

[trotter]

one of darts good guys is Tony.....top bloke and top player...i think we would have seen him in the PDC but for that Mariflex sponsorship and i hope he can still win Lakeside one day

[oche balboa]

O Shea seems like a good bloke, one of lifes good guys

[GtotheF]

Comes across as an absolute gent.

Must confess to being jealous of his 10 handicap at golf though.

[WCDPA]

Tony o is top man read his target blog was close to going pdc febuary and probably will next year , has the mentality to play phil, his account of gsod encounter last year is legendary