JUSTIN PIPE'S time in Dublin began in perfect fashion as he secured his first PDC title in over two years at the 15th Players Championship event of 2014.
Pipe defeated World Champion Michael van Gerwen 6-5 in an entertaining final at the Citywest Hotel to seal his first tournament win since the Austrian Darts Open in April 2012.
Dublin has proved to be a happy hunting ground for Pipe in recent years after he sealed his first-ever ranking win three years ago at the same venue, while he also reached the semi-finals of the partypoker.com World Grand Prix in 2013.
And it would prove to be another successful day at the venue for Pipe, whose day began with a narrow 6-5 win over German ace Jyhan Artut.
The Taunton ace then secured consecutive 6-4 wins over John Part, Nigel Birch and Darren Johnson to seal his spot in the quarter-finals against Dean Winstanley.
The match with Winstanley would provide Pipe with his most comprehensive victory of the day as he ran out a 6-1 victor to set up what would prove to be a bizarre semi-final against Adrian Lewis.
With the game 5-3 in his favour, Pipe believed he had secured his place in the final when he finished 119 in the tenth leg - only to realise he actually needed 129 and still had ten remaining.
The miscount looked like it would prove costly as Lewis took out 100 to snatch that leg and finished a 14-darter to take the match into a decider, but Pipe would recompose himself to take out 61 for a 14-darter of his own as he set up a final against van Gerwen.
The world number one had defeated Dennis Smith, Max Hopp and Steve Beaton in his first three games to set up a quarter-final clash against Darren Webster, who had just come off the back of an extraordinary win against Phil Taylor.
Webster romped to a 6-0 whitewash win over the 16-time World Champion in a match which saw Taylor average 107 to his opponent's 106, but the Norfolk thrower was unable to maintain his form against van Gerwen, who ran out a comfortable 6-2 victor.
Another comprehensive win would follow in the semi-finals for van Gerwen as he disposed of Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan 6-1 to seal his place in the decider.
After exchanging the opening two legs of the final, the pair then traded 14-darters before Pipe turned up the heat to open up a two-leg lead, finishing 125 for a break of throw to punish van Gerwen's misses at tops before landing double two to move 4-2 up.
Van Gerwen showed his class with a ten-darter as he bounced back to take three of the next four legs and force the final into a decider.
Knowing that van Gerwen was on 138 to seal the win in his next visit, Pipe hit a superb maximum at the perfect time to crank up the pressure on the Dutchman and leave himself with 61.
Van Gerwen was unable to check out and Pipe duly stepped in to hit double four and seal his sixth ranking title, along with the £10,000 winner’s cheque.
The build-up to the partypoker.com World Grand Prix continues on Sunday with Players Championship 16, as the stars compete for a further £50,000 in prize money.
The partypoker.com World Grand Prix itself then begins on Monday with the first of seven nights of action at the Citywest Hotel in the Sky Sports-televised tournament. Tickets are still available from the Citywest Hotel by calling 00353 (0)401 0505.
Players Championship 15
First Round
Gary Anderson BYE
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Steve Grubb
John Bowles 6-3 Wayne Jones
Jamie Bain 6-1 Jordan Johnston
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Tony Newell
Steve West 6-5 Peter Hudson
Jamie Caven 6-1 Ryan Palmer
Daryl Gurney 6-0 John Newland
Ian White 6-3 Joe Murnan
Keith Rooney 6-4 Conan Whitehead
Mark Dudbridge 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin McDine 6-2 Sean Ryan
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Gary Stone
Ronny Huybrechts 6-3 Colin Lloyd
Andy Parsons 6-3 Ronnie Baxter
Andy Jenkins 6-4 Paul Amos
Peter Wright 6-5 Magnus Caris
David Pallett 6-4 Benito van de Pas
Andy Smith 6-3 Darron Brown
Richie Howson 6-3 Ryan Harrington
Matt Clark 6-5 James Wade
Chris Aubrey 6-0 Dan Russell
Dean Winstanley 6-4 Connie Finnan
Adam Hunt 6-4 Brett Claydon
Michael Smith 6-1 Campbell Jackson
Bernd Roith 6-2 Josh Payne
Mark Walsh 6-2 Richie Burnett
Darren Johnson 6-3 Colin Osborne
Justin Pipe 6-5 Jyhan Artut
John Part 6-4 Andy Pearce
James Richardson 6-4 Stephen Bunting
Nigel Birch 6-2 Dimitri van den Bergh
Michael van Gerwen BYE
Dennis Smith 6-2 Ron Meulenkamp
Jamie Lewis 6-4 Tomas Seyler
Max Hopp 6-1 Michael Barnard
Steve Beaton 6-2 Pete Dyos
Marc Dewsbury 6-2 Mensur Suljovic
Terry Jenkins 6-1 Arron Monk
Paul Nicholson 6-2 David Ladley
Mervyn King 6-4 Mark Barilli
Nigel Heydon 6-1 Mark Stephenson
Darren Webster 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Aden Kirk 6-4 Ryan de Vreede
Phil Taylor 6-1 Jay Foreman
Brian Woods 6-2 Joe Cullen
Kyle Anderson 6-3 Kevin Painter
Mark Webster 6-4 Kevin Dowling
Steve Brown 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Ricky Evans 6-3 Denis Ovens
Andrew Gilding 6-2 William O'Connor
Johnny Haines 6-3 Jim Walker
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Ben Ward
Ross Smith 6-3 Terry Temple
Wes Newton 6-4 John Henderson
Christian Kist 6-4 Matt Padgett
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Jerry Hendriks
Stuart Kellett 6-2 Steve Hine
Jelle Klaasen 6-2 James Hubbard
Stuart White 6-4 Mickey Mansell
Mick Todd 6-1 Vincent van der Voort
Robert Owen 6-4 Glenn Spearing
Andy Hamilton 6-2 Ian Moss
Antonio Alcinas 6-0 Kurt Parry
Second Round
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Gary Anderson
Jamie Bain 6-2 John Bowles
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Steve West
Jamie Caven 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Ian White 6-1 Keith Rooney
Kevin McDine 6-2 Mark Dudbridge
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Ronny Huybrechts
Andy Parsons 6-4 Andy Jenkins
David Pallett 6-5 Peter Wright
Andy Smith 6-4 Richie Howson
Chris Aubrey 6-5 Matt Clark
Dean Winstanley 6-4 Adam Hunt
Michael Smith 6-4 Bernd Roith
Darren Johnson 6-0 Mark Walsh
Justin Pipe 6-4 John Part
Nigel Birch 6-1 James Richardson
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Dennis Smith
Max Hopp 6-3 Jamie Lewis
Steve Beaton 6-2 Marc Dewsbury
Paul Nicholson 6-3 Terry Jenkins
Mervyn King 6-0 Nigel Heydon
Darren Webster 6-0 Aden Kirk
Phil Taylor 6-1 Brian Woods
Mark Webster 6-1 Kyle Anderson
Ricky Evans 6-2 Steve Brown
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Johnny Haines
Ross Smith 6-1 Simon Whitlock
Christian Kist 6-4 Wes Newton
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Stuart Kellett
Stuart White 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
Robert Owen 6-2 Mick Todd
Andy Hamilton 6-2 Antonio Alcinas
Losers £250
Third Round
Jamie Bain 6-2 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Jamie Caven
Kevin McDine 6-2 Ian White
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Andy Parsons
David Pallett 6-2 Andy Smith
Dean Winstanley 6-5 Chris Aubrey
Darren Johnson 6-5 Michael Smith
Justin Pipe 6-4 Nigel Birch
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Max Hopp
Steve Beaton 6-2 Paul Nicholson
Darren Webster 6-5 Mervyn King
Phil Taylor 6-5 Mark Webster
Andrew Gilding 6-0 Ricky Evans
Christian Kist 6-5 Ross Smith
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Stuart White
Andy Hamilton 6-3 Robert Owen
Losers £500
Last 16
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Jamie Bain
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Kevin McDine
Dean Winstanley 6-4 David Pallett
Justin Pipe 6-4 Darren Johnson
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Steve Beaton
Darren Webster 6-0 Phil Taylor
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Christian Kist
Brendan Dolan 6-0 Andy Hamilton
Losers £1,000
Quarter-Finals
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Dave Chisnall
Justin Pipe 6-1 Dean Winstanley
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Darren Webster
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Andrew Gilding
Losers £1,500
Semi-Finals
Justin Pipe 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Brendan Dolan
Losers £2,500
Final
Justin Pipe 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £5,000