Taylor wins Players Championship in Dublin

Phil Taylor defeated James Wade in straight sets to win the Irish Players Championship at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Saturday.

Taylor warmed up for the SkyBet World Grand Prix in the best possible fashion with some fine darts to take the £5,000 PDC Pro Tour title.

He dropped just one leg in the final against Wade, with some clinical finishing leaving the world number three with no reply.

Wade had overcome Adrian Lewis, Mervyn King and Ronnie Baxter on his way to the final, but had no answer to in-form Taylor.

Wade landed a 180 in the final's opening leg, only to pay for four missed doubles as Taylor landed double top at the first time of asking and then a two-dart 74 finish to win the first set.

A 13-darter put Taylor ahead in the second before Wade hit back on double eight, only to see Taylor take out double 12 in the decider with the youngster sat on a finish.

Taylor hit a 104 finish to open set three, and sealed the win comfortably on double 16.

Taylor had edged out Chris Mason 3-2 in a superb semi-final, which saw the 13-time World Champion hit six perfect darts in one leg.

Taylor had earlier enjoyed 3-1 wins against Tony Eccles, Mark Dudbridge and Vincent van der Voort on his way to the latter stages.

World Champion Raymond van Barneveld failed to win a leg in his 3-0 loss to in-form Alex Roy, who followed up his run to the final of the Welsh Players Championship by reaching the last eight.

Lewis' run to the semi-finals gave him another boost in his bid for an automatic Premier League Darts place, with his main rival for a place in the top six, Andy Hamilton, falling in his first game.

Quarter-Finals

Phil Taylor 3-1 Tony Eccles

Chris Mason 3-2 Terry Jenkins

Adrian Lewis 3-1 Alex Roy

James Wade 3-0 Mervyn King

Losers £600

Semi-Finals

Phil Taylor 3-2 Chris Mason

James Wade 3-2 Adrian Lewis

Losers £1,250

Final

Phil Taylor 3-0 James Wade

Winner £5,000

Runner-Up £2,500