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NEWS - March
- April 2010
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Darts
in Ireland |
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Stage is Set for Grand Finals of Players'
Championship
The final round of matches in the 2010 Ireland Players' Chamionship was
played on Sunday,
April 25th., at the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny and the way is
now clear for the Grand
Finals at the same venue on Sunday, June 27th.
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Denis McCarthy - Winner of Round Six |
Denis McCarthy {Kilkenny} won the Men's competition with a 6-4 win over
Garrett Gray {Dublin}
in the final.
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Denise Cassidy and Berni
McDonald. |
Denise Cassidy {Fermanagh} had a 4-0 win over Carlow's Berni McDonald.
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| Paddy Meaney |
Paddy Meaney defeated Stephen Mooney in the Youths' decider.
The Top 32 on the Men's Rankings in addition to the Top 8 on both the
Ladies' and Youths' lists
will contest their respective Championships on Finals day while
the players ranked from 9th. to
24th. on the Youths' Rankings will compete in the Youths' Plate.
All qualifiers are reminded that they must return the Acceptance
Form with the relevant entry
fee before the closing date of May 19th. otherwise they will be replaced
by the next-ranked player.
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Final Round of
Players' Championship
 Photo
- Springhill Court Hotel
Round Six of the 2010 Ireland Players'
Championship will be held on Sunday, April 25th., at the Springhill Court
Hotel in Kilkenny and places in the Grand Finals next June are still
there to be won.
The Top 32 on the Men's Rankings List
will be invited to the Finals and a quick glance at the List will reveal
that there are many players wthin striking distance of that goal as the
players in joint 32nd. position have only seven points.
A good run on Sunday could catapult a
player into the Grand Finals. The closing date for men's entries is
Wednesday, April 21st, and once again may we remind players that
TELEPHONE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
The battle is also still on for places
in the Ladies' and Youths' Finals with the Top 8 on their respective Lists
going through to the Finals while the youths ranked from 9th. to 24th. will
be invited to compete in the Youths' Plate. The
Roll-over Jackpot for the first
9-Dart Check-out now stands at €
1,800.
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Kildare and Kilkenny Triumph in Tramore
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Kildare Ladies' Team |
Kildare ladies' team retained their
Inter-Counties Challenge title with a 3 - 1 victory over Wexford at the 2010
Tramore Spring Festival in O'Shea's Hotel.
15 teams competed on the day in the
Ladies' event while 21 teams went to the oche for the Men's Challenge.
 In
the semi-finals of the Ladies' Challenge Kildare defeated Cork 3-1 and
Wexford had a similar victory over Dublin.
Sharon O'Brien (Kildare) hit the highest
check-out of 133.
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| Kilkenny Mens
Team |
Kilkenny won the
"Tramore Sevens" for the first
time when they defeated Wexford 4 - 2 in the final of the 7-a-side
Inter-Counties Challenge.
Laois and Carlow had great runs in the
men's event before losing out to Kilkenny and Wexford. respectively, in the
semi-finals on 4 - 1 scorelines.
21 teams competed in the Men's Challenge
and the prize for the highest check-out went to Adrian Doherty (Meath) who
hit a maximum 170 finish.
Kildare Double in the Doubles
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Susan
McKenna and Sharon O'Brien |
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The Tramore Spring Festival
kicked-off on Friday night with Men's and Ladies' Doubles
competitions and Kilkdare players were victorious in both
events.
Susan McKenna and Sharon
O'Brien won the Ladies' competition with a win over Agnes
Kearney and Christine O'Neill in the final.
The beaten semi-finalists
were Leona Hughes/ Deirdre McKenna and Elizabeth Butler/
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The final of
the Men's Doubles was
a very close contest with Patrick Murphy and John Burke
defeating Nigel Connell and Daniel O'Sullivan from Cork 3 - 2 in
the final.
The beaten semi-finalists
were Mark and Jack McKenna and Keith Dalton/ David O'Dea.
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Patrick Murphy and John Burke |
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Connie Finnan
Wins Damien Connolly Memorial Singles.
Connie Finnan from Limerick
won the Damien Connolly Memorial Trophy in Tramore with a
powerful comeback performance to defeat Paddy Meaney (Kilkenny)
5 - 4 in the final.
105 players competed in the
Men's Singles competition at the Tramore Spring Festival and in
the semi-finals Connie defeated Andrew McCormack (Wexford) 4 - 2
while Paddy had a 4 - 1 win over another Wexford player, Jason
Cullen.
Paddy was looking good in
the final when he went into a 4 - 1 lead but Connie powered back
with some blistering darts to take the title on a 5 - 4
scoreline.
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Lily Connolly
presenting the Damien Connolly Memorial Trophy
to Connie Finnan with Paddy Meaney on the right |
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The Ladies'
Singles title went to
Sharon O'Brien (Kildare) who defeated Wexford's Martina Scallan
on a 4 - 0 scoreline. The beaten semi-finalists were Jenny Walsh
(Waterford) and Sharon Buckley (Cork) and 48 players competed on
the day.
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Sharon O'Brien and Martina Scallan |
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Brian Walsh and
Paddy Meaney |
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It was a great weekend for
young Paddy Meaney from Kilkenny who won the Youths' Under-18
Singles in addition to reaching the final of the Men's Singles.
He defeated Brian Walsh
(Waterford) in the Youths' final by three legs to one.
The beaten semi-finalists were Dylan Connolly and James Gearon.
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Cope House Win South
West Donegal
League
Photo - Cope House Team
 The
Cope House are the 2010 League Champions following a 5-3 victory over holders
McIntires.
The Killybegs side went 2-1 up after the
doubles with Stephen Muirhead/Philip Gallagher beating Mike Naulty/Richie
Cunningham 2-0 with double one and double five checkouts and Rodney McBrearty/
Irwin Muirhead beating Declan and Niall Cunningham 2-1 with Irwin hitting a 180,
Declan finished 108 in the first and
Irwin took out 104 to win the match. Brendan White/Emmett Quigley won 2-0
against Gerry McBrearty/David Gallagher 2-0 in the second game of the night,
Emmett finished 62 and tops. The Cope then went 3-1 up with Gerry McBrearty
inflicting a first defeat of the season on Mike Naulty beating him 2-0 with
double one and double nine checkouts,
Declan Cunningham pulled one back for
McIntires with a 2-1 win against Philip Gallagher, Philip had a 180 in his
winning leg Declan finished double six and sixteen. Stephen Muirhead made it
4-2 with a 2-1 win against Brendan White, Brendan won the first leg on tops then
Stephen made it 1-1 with the help of a 180 and then took out tops to win the
match.
McIntires best player of the night Emmett
Quigley beat Irwin Muirhead 2-1 with two double two checkouts. Rodney McBrearty
one of the Copes most consistent players all season was the hero for the
Killybegs side when he came from 1-0 down to beat Niall Cunningham 2-1,
Niall had a 180 in the first leg and
finished 56 while it was double twelve and a league winning double tops that won
the match for The Cope denying McIntires the treble so the Sliabh Liag side of
2003-04 are still the last team to record that feat and finally all credit to
both teams for a great sporting game of darts.
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Thumb's
Up from P.J.
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P.J. Moylan |
As Summertime
began on Sunday, March 28th., P.J. Moylan from Galway turned
the clocks back with a vintage performance to win Round Five
of the 2010 Ireland Players' Championship at the Green Isle
Hotel in Dublin.
A quarter-final
finish in Round Four in Clonmel re-kindled P.J.'s lust for
victory and there was no stopping the
Galwayman in Dublin as he outplayed his opponents throughout
the afternoon with some clinical finishing.
In the
quarter-finals he had to withstand some fierce pressure from
Kilkenny's Denis McCarthy who was in top form and who missed
double twelve for the elusive 9-dart check-out and a payout
of € 1,700. Denis hit a 10-darter but P.J. stood firm
and won the match by five legs to three.
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Theresa Maher
and Denise Cassidy |
In the
semi-finals Moylan defeated Craig Sproat {Cork} 6-4 and went
on to defeat Mick Barry from
Dublin on a 6-5
scoreline in a nail-biting final.
Theresa
Back to Number One
Photo - Theresa Maher and
Denise Cassidy
Theresa Maher
from Laois is back on top of the Ladies' Rankings List
despite losing to Fermanagh's Denise Cassidy in the final of
the Ladies' event.
Denise was in top
form on the day dropping only one leg at the Dublin venue
and she will be hot favourite to retain her title in
Kilkenny next June.
Paddy Regains Top Spot
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Steven Mooney
and Paddy Meaney |
Photo - Steven Mooney and
Paddy Meaney
32 players
competed in the Youths' competition and Paddy Meaney moved
back to No.1 on the Rankings List with a 3-1 win over Steven
Mooney in the final.
In the
semi-finals Paddy defeated John Seagrave while Steven
eliminated Dale McCarthy.
Click Here for Full Results from Round
Five.
The final round
of matches in the 2010 Players' Championship will be held on
Sunday,
April 25th., at
the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny.
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BREAKING NEWS
! ! !
The PDC are organising two new World Championships for
Women and Under-21 players and Ireland will be represented
by two players in each of these events.
Qualifying competitions will be organised shortly and the two Irish
women will be invited across to England to compete in
the last 32 of the PDC Women's World
Championship with the final being
televised live on Sky Sports at the World Matchplay in Blackpool on July 25th.
The winner of the Women's World
Championship will receive £ 10,000 with a total prize fund of £ 30,000 on offer.
Ireland will also have two representatives in the Under-21 World
Championship and they will be invited to compete in
the last 64 of this event with the final live at Alexandra Palace on January 3rd., 2011.
The winner of the Under-21 Championship
will also receive £ 10,000 with a total prize fund of £ 30,000 also on offer in
this event.
MORE GOOD NEWS ! ! !
The last two players in the 2010 Tom Kirby Irish Matchplay
Championship will play-off on stage at the City West Hotel
in Dublin before the final of the Sky Bet World Grand Prix on Sunday, October
10th., with the winner to qualify for the Ladbrokes.com World Championship at
Alexandra Palace in London next December.
Watch this space for more news !
Players' Championships Reach
Interesting Stage.
 Photo - Green Isle Hotel
The Green Isle Hotel in Dublin is the
venue for Round Five of the 2010 Ireland Players' Championships on Sunday next, March
28th., and the competition has reached a very interesting stage with the players
battling for the vital points to qualify for the Grand Finals at the end of June.
139 players are listed on the Men's
Rankings after Round Four and mathematically any one of these can still qualify for the
finals. The cut-off point is the Top 32 and at
this stage only four points separates the player in 32nd. position from those at the bottom
of the rankings.
Places are also up for grabs in the
Ladies' and Youths' Championships. The closing date for entries for the
Men's Championship is Wednesday, March 24th.,while entries for the Ladies' and
Youths' events will be accepted at the venue on the day.
All players please note that
Summertime begins at 2.00am on Sunday morning, March 28th., and that the clocks
will go forward by one hour.
Please make sure that you adjust
your clocks the night before and don't be late !!!
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 Ryan
is Number One
Photo - Youths' winner, Ryan
Maher, with runner-up, Dale McCarthy
Dublin's Ryan Maher moved into the top
position on the Rankings List of the 2010 Ireland Youths' Championship when
he defeated Dale McCarthy from Kerry in the finals of Round Four at the
Clonmel park Hotel, Tipperary, on Sunday last.
42 players competed in the youths'
competition on the day and Ryan was a worthy winner with a 3-1 victory over
Dale in the final. The beaten semi-finalists were Philip
Doheny and David McGeer.
 Sharon
Also Goes Top
Photo - Linda Harte and Sharon
O'Brien
Sharon O'Brien from Kildare defeated
Linda Harte {Kilkenny} in the Ladies' final in Clonmel and she now leads the
Ladies' Rankings ahead of Theresa Maher from Laois. In the
semi-finals Sharon defeated Ashling Feiriteur while Linda defeated Berni
McDonald.
Jacko Barry Wins Round Four
 Photo
- Jacko Barry and Willie O'Connor
The final of Round Four of the Men's
Championship produced an epic encounter with Jacko Barry from Dublin
defeating Limerick's Willie O'Connor by six legs to five.
Shane O'Connor recorded his fourth
last-four placing in successive rounds and he now enjoys a 12 point lead at
the top of the Rankings List ahead of Willie O'Connor who defeated him in
the semi-finals on Sunday. In the other semi-final
Jacko defeated Paul Brewer.
Padraig Hester Wins in Mayo
The annual Rendezvous Cup Singles
competition in Balla, County Mayo, was won by Padraig Hester who defeated
Tom Ryan 5-3 in the final.
The beaten semi-finalists were Mikey
McHugh and Eamonn McGovern. Ron Skeffington won the Ladies' Singles with a
3-1 win over Maureen Keane while James King defeated Conor Moylette in the
Youths' final.
Almost one hundred players competed on
the day and congratulations to Ollie Monaghan on a well-organised event.
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