‘Jacko’ Goes One Step Further.  

Jacko's newspaper write-up ... HERE

 

Tim Reynolds {Sky Bet) with Jacko Barry {Dublin)

Photo - Tim Reynolds {Sky Bet) congratulating Jason Barry.
Jason ‘Jacko’ Barry from Dublin got over the disappointment of losing at the final hurdle last year when he defeated Brendan Dolan from Fermanagh 6-5 at the City West Hotel in Dublin on Sunday last to clinch his place in the Grand Finals of the 2007 Sky Bet World Grand Prix.
Last year he was unlucky to lose 4-6 to Paul Watton but he made no mistakes this time around with a series of excellent performances against the best players in the country.

Tim Reynolds {Sky Bet) and John Elder {Antrim)

Joining him in front of the Sky Sports TV cameras next month will be John Elder from Antrim who was the runner-up in the 2007 Ireland Players’ Championship. Elder defeated his Northern Ireland team-mate, John Magowan, 6-4 in another epic encounter.

Tim Reynolds {Sky Bet) and James Keogh {Meath).

James Keogh, aka ‘Big JK‘, was really up for this competition and it was no surprise when he won through to the finals with a 6-3 win against Brian Cathcart from Antrim.

Tim Reynolds {Sky Bet) and Billy Matthews {Dublin)

The biggest shock came in the last match of the afternoon when Billy Matthews from Ballybrack in Dublin won through against all of the odds to take the fourth qualification spot with a 6-5 win over another Northern Ireland player, Mervyn Robinson.
All of these qualifiers eagerly await the draw for the first round of the competition proper which commences on Monday, October 8th., at the City West Hotel.
 

Sharon is still ‘Tops’

 

Sharon O’Brien receiving her prize from Andrew Spillane.

Sharon O’Brien from Kildare has been Ireland’s most consistent female player for more than twenty years and she proved once again at the City West Hotel on Sunday that she can hold her own against many of the male darters in the country as well.

Competing in the Sky Bet qualifiers she won through to her board final after some exciting wins and she was unlucky to lose out to Shane O’Connor.

Sharon was voted Best Lady on the day and she was presented with a Gleneagle Hotel Holiday voucher by Andrew Spillane, Business Development Manager with Destination Killarney, who will be hosting the Killarney Darts Festival on the first weekend in November.

 

Double Top for Tramore

Photo - O’Shea’s Hotel

The 20th. Tramore Autumn Darts Festival takes place at O’Shea’s Hotel, Tramore, Co. Waterford, on October 5th/6th/7th., and it is ezpected to attract a large attendance to the seaside venue.
The Festival kicks off on Friday night with an Open Draw Doubles and will continue on Saturday afternoon with the very popular Mixed Pairs Championship.

On Sunday there will be Singles competitions for Men and Ladies at 12 noon.
The Festival will conclude will conclude with the Player of the Year Awards for the best male and female players at the three Tramore Festivals throughout the year.
 

Two Memorial Tournaments
On Sunday, September 30th., there will be two separate Memorial Tournaments on opposite sides of the country.
The Menlo Park Hotel in Galway is the venue for the Peter McMahon Memorial Singles starting at 2.30pm and there will be a separate Ladies’ Singles on the day.
St. Anne’s GAA Clubhouse in Tallaght, Dublin, is the venue for the inaugural Tommy O’Reilly Memorial Cup Singles starting at 12 noon and there will be a top prize of € 1,000 for the winner.

INDO Clash with City West !

The Irish National Darts Organisation has denied their own members an opportunity of competing in a world event on television by deliberately clashing with the All-Ireland Play-offs of the Sky Bet World Grand Prix at the City West Hotel.

At the eleventh hour they have scheduled a competition in Mohill on the weekend of September 15^th/16^th. thus forcing their members to make a choice of travelling to Leitrim for INDO Rankings Points or winning a place in the World Grand Prix on Sky Sports TV and taking home some decent prize money.

Killarney or Bust !

Andrew Spillane with Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis in Blackpool

Andrew Spillane, who is the Business Development Manager with the Destination Killarney Group, has left no stone unturned to ensure that the Killarney Darts Festival next November, will be the greatest ever darts event in this country.

He has travelled the highways and byways of Ireland “spreading the gospel” and to date he has almost 800 people booked into the Gleneagle Hotel for the event.

He recently travelled across to Blackpool for the World Matchplay Championship and he received a tremendous reception from the world’s top professional players with the majority of them committing themselves to travelling over to the Kingdom.

The Killarney Darts Festival will take place on November 2^nd/3^rd/4^th. With the main event being the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic Pro Tour event on the Sunday.

Irish players may enter the Pro Tour direct with the PDPA members or they may compete for a lesser fee in a pre-qualifying competition on Friday evening.

On Saturday the Gleneagle Irish Masters will take place and this competition is open to all darts players over 16 years of age.

There will also be separate singles competitions for ladies and youths.

Entry forms for the Killarney Festival will be available at the City West Hotel on Sunday next and Andrew Spillane will also be in attendance to sort out hotel bookings.

Ireland Open Classic Victory for Dennis Ovens

Dennis Ovens won the Ireland Open Classic Pro Tour event in Castlebar with a three sets to nil victory over Colin Osborne in the final.

The beaten semi-finalists were Adrian Lewis and Mark Walsh and the best of the Irish players was John Magowan who lost 1-3 to Wayne Jones in the last sixteen.

Anto Wade Wins Shay O’Brien Memorial

There was a disappointing turn-out for the Shay O’Brien Memorial Tournament at the White House Hotel in Dublin over the weekend.

Anto Wade won the title when he defeated Alan O’Reilly in an all-Dublin final.

Shane O’Connor (pictured right) Wins INDO Masters       

The West County Hotel in Ennis was the venue for the annual INDO Masters Weekend and Shane O’Connor (Kildare) won the men’s title with a 6-2 victory over Cork’s Damien O’Driscoll.

Nicola O’Donovan (Cork) defeated Janet Prendergast (Limerick) in the ladies’ final while Paddy Meaney defeated his Kilkenny team-mate David Coyne in the youths’ final.

Paul Irving is the 2007 Irish Champion

Joe Coyne, John Elder, Paul Irving and Russ Bray

Paul Irving from Kildare won the 2007 Ireland Players’ Championship at the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny with an impressive 6-2 victory over Northern Ireland International John Elder in the final.

This was the second running of this Championship and all of the 32 players on the day turned this event into one of the greatest feasts of darts ever seen in this country.

The high scoring and precision finishing was ’top drawer’ and the packed attendance stayed to the end to see the last eight battle it out on the stage.

First up were Brian Cathcart and Sean Marshall and this match set the scene for the rest of the matches on stage with Cathcart just getting through on a 5-4 scoreline.

John Elder defeated Jimmy Murphy 5-3 while Paul Irving had a similar win over Garrett Gray.

The last man into the semi-finals was James Keogh who defeated Joe Collins 5-2 but James could not continue with that form as he lost 2-6 to Paul Irving.

In the other semi John Elder defeated Brian Cathcart 6-2.

The title went to Kildare when Paul Irving defeated John Elder 6-2 in the final.

Kevin Mullally and Terry Jenkins

The Youths’ Championship was won by Paddy Meaney who was pushed all of the way by Sean McArdle and Kevin Mullally won the Youths’ Plate with a 3-1 victory over Shane Nolan.

There was a very exciting Ladies’ Singles organised on the day and it ended in an all-Kildare final with Susan McKenna defeating Sharon O’Brien. The beaten semi-finalists were Maureen Kelly and Janet Prendergast.

The set-up in the Springhill Court Hotel was superb and great credit must go to Joe Coyne and his crew for a magnificent presentation.

The electronic scoring and video display by Shane Johnston was excellent and the Match Programme produced by Tom Tulloch was second to none.

Noel McCarthy (Ladies’ organiser) and Tom Keogh (Youths’ organiser) ensured that their events finished on time and the presence of Sky Sports referee, Russ Bray, and World-ranked no.4, Terry Jenkins, on stage made it an occasion to be remembered.