John 'the Joker' O'Shea falls short after brilliant run to final

Corkman John 'The Joker' O'Shea had a brilliant run to the final of the Players Championship 14, but his hopes were ended by a clinical Michael Smith.

Playing in his first PDC ranking final, O'Shea was the tournament's surprise package.

O'Shea started his run with a 6-4 win over Nick Fullwell, before defeating the in-form Nathan Aspinall by the same scoreline.

He then saw off Dutchman Damian Mol 6-3, before putting a stop to nine-dart hero Ross Smith's run in the last 16 with a 6-3 win. The 46-year-old beat Maik Kuivenhoven in the quarter-finals to continue his remarkable run, before scalping world number 13 Dave Chisnall 7-4 in the last four to set up the showdown with Smith, who ultimately secured his first title of the year.

Smith has struggled for form since losing the UK Open final in March, but bounced back to secure a seventh career Players Championship title, and scoop the £12,000 prize fund.

However things were starting to look ominous for Smith in the final as underdog O'Shea got off to a flying start, taking out checkouts of 105, 50 and 120 as he moved into a 3-2 lead.

Smith put together a superb mid-game spell though, taking five of the next six legs as he moved within a leg of the title at 7-4.

With O'Shea within two, he threatened to close the gap again but six missed darts at the double proved costly as Smith pinned double two to secure the title at the Robin Park Tennis Centre.

Smith started his run to the title with a routine 6-3 over Tony Martinez, before seeing off Germany's Ricardo Pietreczko 6-2 in the second round. The Premier League star then saw off Ricky Evans 6-3 with an average of 103.51 - his highest of the day.

This was swiftly followed by 6-4 victories over Martin Lukeman and James Wilson as he