Darts in Ireland

DARTS IN CORK - NEWS

December 2010

Memorial Tournament Hit by Weather

Tom O’Sullivan

The 23^rd. Annual Tom O’Sullivan Memorial Tournament was postponed on December 6^th. due to the severe weather conditions and it has been re-scheduled for the Deanrock Darts Arena in Togher on Sunday, January 2^nd., starting at 2.00pm.

There will be a prize fund of € 1,000 on offer with special prizes for the best Division {2} and{3} players competing in the CDPA Leagues.

The closing date for receipt of entries is December 30^th.

There will be a separate Ladies’ Singles with entries being accepted at the venue on the day.

Team Fours Survives the Arctic Conditions.

Evergreen Bar – Winners of K-Cabs Team Fours Division {1}

The twelve remaining teams involved in the K-Cabs Team Fours Championships braved the treacherous weather conditions to contest the Grand Finals of the three divisions at Redmond’s GAA Club on Tower Street on Monday night, December 20^th.

In Division {1} the Arches Bar skated in from Carrignavar and got off to a flyer with a 4 – 2 victory over the Beer Garden {2} in the semi-finals.

In the final the Arches came up against the Evergreen who eliminated the Goblet by four games to one in the other semi and once again the Carrignavar lads put on a great show and were unlucky to lose 2 – 4 to the title – holders.

Mark Willis clinched victory for the Evergreen with a win over Mick Ryan in the third singles.

Noel Fouhy

It was the Arches player, Noel Fouhy, who stole the headlines in hitting two back to back maximum 180’s in the Team match.

Harp Bar {1} – Winners of K-Cabs Team Fours Division {2}

After losing to their in-house rivals in the semi-finals of the recent Liam Downey Memorial Trophy the Harp {1} turned the tables on Harp {2} with an exciting 4 – 3 victory in the final of Division {2} of the K-Cabs Team Fours.

In the semi-finals of this division the Harp {1} defeated the Rob Roy 4 – 1 and the Harp {2} had a 4 – 0 win over the Three Horse Shoes to set up the mouth-watering final that produced some great clashes.

Harp {2} got off to a great start winning the Team game and the first Doubles but Harp {1} fought back with wins in the second Doubles and the first two Singles to go 3 – 2 up.

Mick Olden halted their run in winning the third Singles but veteran James O’Connor rolled back the years to clinch victory for Harp {1} with an exciting final Singles win over Mick Hennessy.

Billy Shannon was another hero for the winners hitting a maximum 180 at a crucial time in the match.

Forde’s Bar – Winners of K-Cabs Team Fours Division {3}

The quartet of Neil Higgins, Shane Murphy, Paul Delaney and Ciaran Murphy were in top form for Forde’s Bar as they captured the 3^rd. Division title with a 4 – 1 win over Kirby’s Korner {2} in the semi-final and a 4 – 2 victory over the Hawthorn in the final.

The other beaten semi-finalists in this division were the Deanrock {1}.

Our sincere thanks to K-Cabs and Redmond’s GAA Club for their generous support of the event.

November 2010

Full House at Deanrock for League Finals

There was another ‘Full House’ at the Deanrock Darts Arena in Togher on Monday, November 29^thfor the Grand Finals of the Mahers Sports/ Unicorn Cork City and District Darts League.

In Division {2} Mick Olden played a starring role for the Harp Bar {2} as they captured the Liam Downey Memorial Trophy.

Harp Bar {2}

Lining out without their star player, Anthony Boyle, the Harp {2} were under pressure in their semi-final clash with in-house rivals, Harp {1}, but Olden got them over the line with an exciting win against Martin O’Donovan in the last game.

The Rob Roy defeated the Ferry Arms 3 – 0 in the other semi and they put on a great show in the final to draw level at 2 – 2 in the final after losing the first two games.

But Mick Olden put a stop to the Rob Roy’s comeback as he once again turned on the style to defeat Sean Geary in the final game to capture the title for the Harp {2}.

Colm O’Brien {Ferry Arms} had the highest check-out of 170 in Division {2}.

Kirby’s Korner {1}

After winning all of their seven matches in the league stage Kirby’s Korner {1} braved the bad weather in Ballinhassig to continue their great run to defeat the Hawthorn 3 – 0 in the semi-finals and Forde’s 3 – 1 in the final of Division {3}. And to round off their great achievement Alan Barry had the highest check-out of 118 in this division. The other beaten semi-finalists in Division {3} were Deanrock {1}.

Evergreen Bar

After going through undefeated in the league stage of their section in Division {1} the Abbey Tavern were surprisingly beaten 3 – 0 by the Tory Top {1} in the semi-finals of the Michael Fowler Memorial Trophy.

The other section winners, The Goblet, lost to the Evergreen Bar, 3 – 2 in the other semi-final and the Evergreen went on to capture the 1^st. Division title with a 3 – 1 victory over the Tory Top.

Robbie Elliott from the Evergreen recorded the best finish of 158 in Division {1}.

Beer Garden {1}

The Division {1} Shield Final was won by the Beer Garden {1} who defeated their second squad 3 – 1 in the final.

Our sincere thanks to the Fowler and Downey families for their attendance on the night and their continued sponsorship of the memorial competitions and to Mahers Sports, Unicorn and Deanrock House for support.

A Packed Deanrock Darts Arena

Fantastic Turnout for Charity Cup

64 pairs competed in the Cork Charity Cup Doubles Championship, organised by the Cork Darts Players' Association, at a packed Deanrock House on November 15th. and almost € 1,200 was raised on the night for the CDPA's Senior Citizens' Christmas Hamper Appeal.

The fabulous new Deanrock Darts Arena opened it's doors for darts events last May and this was the biggest competition held at the Togher venue to date.

Our sincere thanks to all those who sponsored boards and who donated prizes for the raffle and we wish to thank the management of Deanrock House for sponsoring the event and for providing the finger food on the night.

Robbie Elliott and Dave O'Leary - Winners of Cork Charity Cup

For the record the competition was won by Robbie Elliott and Dave O'Leary {Evergreen} who defeated Fionn Kearney and Robbie Leahy {Rob Roy} 3 - 2 in the final.

Mark Towler {Tory Top} had the Highest Check-out, Christy Good {Beer Garden} won the 6-dart Shoot-out and seven 180's were recorded on the night.
Well done to all the players and supporters for an enjoyable night out !

Another New Venue for CDPA Events

Redmond's GAA Club

On Monday, November 1st., another new venue for CDPA darts events was opened at Redmond's GAA Club on Tower Street, Cork.

The first competition to be staged in the southside venue was the Joe Hennessy

Memorial Doubles Championship and 25 pairs from Division {1} of the Cork City and District Darts league competed on the night.

Doubles Winners - Eric Dunlea and Dave O'Leary.

The winners were Eric Dunlea and Dave O'Leary from the Evergreen Bar who defeated Terry Barrett and Noel McCarthy from the Abbey Tavern 4 - 2 in the final.

Alan Uniacke

The Highest Check-out on the night was 156 recorded by Alan Uniacke {Southside}.

October 2010.

Kay O'Carroll Wins in Kilkenny

Kay O'Carroll

Damien O'Driscoll

Congratulations to Kay O'Carroll from Cork who won Round One of the 2011 Ireland Ladies' Championship at the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny on October 31st.

Events for men, ladies' and youths under-18 were organised on the day and Cork was well represented in all three codes.

173 players from all corners of the country competed with more than thirty throwers from the Rebel County in action on the day.

Kay O'Carroll put her disappointment of losing in the final of the Killarney Festival behind her as she came out with all guns blazing and determined to make amends for missed doubles at the Gleneagle Hotel.

She was in blistering form as she eliminated top county players from Wexford, Limerick, Kilkenny and Laois to set-up a mouth-watering final against Republic of Ireland International, Sharon O'Brien {Kildare}, who had reached the quarter-finals of the Women's World Championship last June.

Kay continued to throw super darts and won the title with a 4 - 2 victory over Sharon. Aisling Feiriteur from Cork reached the quarter-finals of the Championship.

Cork had 20 players competing in the Men's Championship which attracted a top-class entry of 123 county, international and professional players from 22 different counties.

But, only Damien O'Driscoll from the city was the only Cork player to get into the prize money before losing out in the quarter-finals to the eventual runner-up.

The first prize was won by Limerick's William O'Connor who defeated Stephen Byrne from Wexford by six games to two.

'The Power' in Mahers' Sports

Leslie Condron with Phil Taylor

October started on a high note with a return visit from 15-times World Champion Phil Taylor to Mahers Sports Shop in Maylor Street/ Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork, where he signed autographs and posed for photographs for almost three hours. He also played a number of exhibition games against some local players.

Leagues Underway

The Cork City and District Darts League, sponsored by Mahers' Sports and Unicorn got well underway during the month with teams out to pick up the early points to secure their places in the knock-out stages.

In Division {1} the title-holders, Abbey Tavern, are undefeated in Section {1} and look set to advance to the semi-finals while The Goblet should clinch a place in the last four from Section {2}.

Newly-promoted Tory Top {2} and Rob Roy have found their footing in Division {2} and

it will be no suprise if they are still involved on finals night.

Division {3} has proved to be a very close affair with Kirby's Korner {1} and Deanrock {1}

setting the pace but there is very little between the chasing pack with three rounds

to play.

Cork Players Shine in Killarney

John Kidney {Huntsman}

Almost one hundred Cork darts players travelled to Kerry in october to compete in the 4th. Annual Killarney Darts Festival at the Gleneagle Hotel and they were joined by a

large band of followers who gave them plenty of vocal support over the three days.

The main event at the Festival was the Gold Dart Pro Tour event on the Sunday and 172 players stepped up to the oche on the Friday night in a pre-qualifying competition for places against the top pros in Sunday's Pro Tour Final.

Five Cork throwers, Craig Sproat, Gary Condron and Arthur Lonergan from the city together with Paul McGee {Cobh} and Johnny O'Shea {Bantry} won through on the night to take their places in Sunday's event.

61 Cork players competed in the Gleneagle Irish Masters on the Saturday and the Cork fans got plenty to cheer about at Board {1} where Cork County player, Darrell Hodgson from Charleville, was taking on the 15-times World Champion Phil Taylor.

Darrel had a great chance to put 'The Power' out of the competition when he went 3 - 2 up and missed his chance to finish off the match before Taylor fought back for a 4 - 3 win. Meanwhile, around the hall other Cork players were making their presence felt with John Kidney giving Simon Whitlock a great run before losing 4 - 2 and Noel McCarthy taking

John Magown all the way in their board final before losing 4 - 3.

Peter Quinn from Carrigaline was causing major upsets on Board {7} where he beat PDC

professional Paul Nicholson and World Championship runner-up Kirk Shepherd before going down to Colin Osborne.

It was the current Ireland Players' Champion, John O'Shea from Cork City, who had the crowd on their feet with a string of impressive performances including a 4 - 3 victory over Adrian Lewis before bowing out to Limerick's Willie O'Connor in the last sixteen of the competition.

For the record the Gleneagle Irish Masters was won by Simon Whitlock who defeated Phil Taylor 6 - 4 in the final.

Kay and Kyle Reach Stage Finals

Kay O'Carroll with Sara Rose

Cork players enjoyed more success on the final day of the Festival with Kay O'Carroll and Kyle Ramsell reaxhing the finals of the Ladies' and Youths' Singles, respectively.

It could have been an all-Cork final in the Ladies' event but Sharon Buckley just lost out in her semi-final match 2 - 3 to the 2007 winner, Sara Rose from England.

Kay O'Carroll won her place in the stage final with a convincing 3 - 1 victory over Kelly McGivern from County Down.

The Cork girl put on a great show in the final and was unlucky to lose 3 - 4 to her more

experienced opponent from England.

Kyle Ramsell with Kyle McEvoy and Ryan Maher

Congratulations to young Kyle Ramsell on reaching the final of the Youths' Singles where he came up against the 2010 Ireland Youths' Champion, Ryan Maher {Dublin}, who was in terrific form all day. Maher took the title with a 3 - 0 victory.

There were many shock results and very little luck for the Cork players in the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic on the final day of the Festival.

David Stack, Craig Sproat and John Nyhan were the only Cork players to pick up prize money in this event and the title went to Scotland's Gary Anderson who defeated Dennis Smith {England} 6 - 1 in the final.

September 2010

Five CDPA Players Qualify for Killarney

Anthony Boyle who qualified for Killarney for the third time.

Forty players competed at the Rock Bar on September 13th. in the annual CDPA qualifying competition for the Killarney Darts Festival.

The players were divided into five groups and the winner from each group will now compete against the world's top professionals in the Gleneagle Irish Masters and the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic at the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney on the weekend of October 15th. to 17th..

In Group {1} Anthony Boyle from the Harp Bar continued his good run of success when he defeated Rock Bar playerr, Dave Curtin, by three legs to nil to qualify for the Killarney event for the third year in a row.

Two of last year's qualifers, Tony Manning {Harp} and Gary Condron {Abbey},clashed in the final of Group {1} with the Harp player taking the honours 3 - 0.

Mark Willis {Horse Shoe} defeated Hugh Elliott 3 - 1 to win Group {3} while Tony McGregor {Abbey} endured a ding-dong battle with Anthony Murphy {Rock} in Group {4} before going through on a 3 - 2 scoreline.

The final place went to Tommy Ryan from the Goblet who defeated John Donnellan from the Tory Top by the narrowest of margins. The standard of play was brilliant on the night with some high check-outs and a total of seven maximum 180's being recorded.

Our sincere thanks to the management and staff of the Rock Bar for staging and sponsoring the event.

Father and Son Win Autumn Doubles

Autumn Doubles Champions - Jim and Gary Condron

36 pairs competed in the annual CDPA Autumn Doubles Championship at the Deanrock Lounge Bar in Togher and it was the Abbey Tavern pairing of Jim and Gary Condron that captured the title with a win over Anthony Boyle and Terry Hayes from the Harp Bar in the final.

The beaten semi-finalists were Timmy Ryan and Anthony Murphy {Rock} and Tony Manning and Noel Hegarty {Harp}

Success for Cork Players in Tramore

Sheila Duffin {O'Shea's Hotel} with John O'Shea.

It was a successful weekend for Cork darts players at the Tramore Autumn Darts Festival with two wins in the major singles competitions. There was a high-class entry of top players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic in the Men's Open Singles but it was Cork player, John O'Shea, who won through to retain the title that he won last year.

O'Shea defeated another Cork player, Stephen O'Connor, in their board final and he went on to eliminate Kerry's Sean Marshall in the quarter-final to set-up a clash with Northern Ireland International Martin Carvill in the semis.

Under-21 Singles Champion - Anthony Russell {Youghal}

In the other half of the draw Tom O'Connor {Wexford} was upsetting the odds by defeating Peter Quinn {Cork} in the quarter-finals and PDC professional, William O'Connor {Limerick} in the semi-finals. But there was no stopping John O'Shea as he defeated Martin Carvill 5 - 1 in the semis and Tom O'Connor 6 - 3 in the final to retain the title.

Two more Cork players, David O'Donovan and John Paul Dowdall, were also in the prize money in the Men's Singles.

Cork enjoyed more succes in the Under-21 Singles Championship when Anthony Russell from Youghal defeated the experienced Republic of Ireland youth international, James Gearon from Tipperary, by four legs to two in the final.

Mahers Sports Renew Sponsorship

Tommy Maher, Chris Collins and Brendon Dolan

The good news for the Cork Darts Players' Association this month is that Mahers Sports and Unicorn have renewed the sponsorship of their competitions for the 2010/11 season.

Tommy Maher and Brendon Dolan of Mahers Sports were present at the Deanrock Lounge Bar on Monday, September 20th., to present the sponsorship to the Treasurer of the CDPA, Chris Collins.

C.D.P.A. 180 Club

Mark Willis {Evergreen} who hit three maximums

A new innovation for the 2010/11 season is the CDPA 180 Club, which is also generously sponsored by Mahers Sports.

All 180's scored in CDPA events throughout the season will be recorded and the player with the most maximums at the end of the season will receive a special award.

This award has generated great interest with our members and in the first two competitions of the season twelve maximums have been recorded.

Five of these were hit in the Autumn Doubles Championship at the Deanrock with Mark Willis hitting two maximums on the night to repeat Anthony Boyle's feat in the Killarney qualifying competition the previous week.

The Cork City and District League,

sponsored by Mahers Sports and Unicorn, commenced on Monday, September 27th., with a full series of matches in three divisions.

In Division {1} the Abbey Tavern had a great start in defence of the Michael Fowler Memorial Trophy when they defeated the Beer Garden {2} by four games to one away from home.

Killarney qualifier, Tony McGregor, started the ball rolling at number one for the Abbey and Noel McCarthy wrapped up the points at last man.

Newly promoted Southside had a winning debut in the top division with a 3 - 2 victory over the Arches.

Rob Roy and Tory Top {2} climbed to Division {2} from last season and they also hit the headlines with two early victories

.
Brian Barrett, Fionn Kearney and Sean Geary were victorious as the Rob Roy defeated Harp {1} 3 - 2 at home and the Tory Top travelled to Belgooly and came home with a 4 - 1 win under their belts.

Ferry Arms will also be strong contenders for the Liam Downey Memorial Trophy after defeating the Harp {2} 3 - 2 away from home.

Redmond's made a winning start in Division {3} with a 3 - 2 away victory over the Deanrock {2} while Forde's won their local derby against the Brown Derby on a 4 - 1 scoreline.

Alan Barry, Diarmuid Kearney, Liam O'Callaghan and Jason Downey were all winners for Kirby's Korner {1} who defeated the Hawthorn by four games to one.