
John O'Shea Wins Ireland Players' Championship
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Connie Finnan
{Runner-up}, John O'Shea {Champion} and Michael
Furlong {Springhill Court Hotel}
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John O'Shea was crowned Irish darts champion when he won
the 2010 Ireland Darts Players' Championship in Kilkenny last Sunday and became the first Cork player to
capture the coveted title.
After six gruelling rounds of the Championship thirty two
of the top throwers in the country qualified for the Grand
Finals at the Springhill Court Hotel.
The qualifiers were divided into eight groups and John was
drawn into one of the toughest sections. His first match was against another Cork player, Peter
Quinn, who was runner-up in these finals last season.
Peter won this match 5 - 2 leaving John with a mammoth task
to qualify for the last sixteen but O'Shea bounced back strongly with two wins to advance.
Quinn won the section but he went out to the top-ranked
Shane O'Connor while O'Shea went on to eliminate Wexford's Jason Cullen 5 - 3.
Two other Cork players, John Paul Dowdall and Craig Sproat,
also won through from their groups but they departed the competition at the knock-out stage.
John O'Shea was improving with every round and after
defeating Clare's Martin Conroy 5 - 3 in the quarter-finals
he went to eliminate Northern Ireland No.1 and previous
champion Daryle Gurney {Derry} by six legs to five in the
best match of the day.
John clinched the title with a 6 - 3 victory over Republic
of Ireland International, Connie Finnan from Limerick.
After this great victory John O'Shea has his sights set on
the Tom Kirby Irish Matchplay Championship which is a qualifying competition for the PDC Ladbrokes.com World
Championship.
This competition will be held at the Green Isle Hotel on
Sunday, August 29th., and full details and entry forms
are available from Michael O'Sullivan {087-2648291}
Cork was not represented in the finals of the Ladies'
Championship in Kilkenny where Denise Cassidy {Fermanagh}
retained her title with a 4 - 1 win over Maeve O'Connor
{Carlow}.
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|
Dean Forde - Runner-up in Youths' Plate |
Our sole representative, Ashley Walsh, in the Youths'
Championship failed to qualify from his group while
Dean Forde
was beaten in the final of the Youths' Plate by Anthony
McMahon {Limerick}.
Click Here for Results

Cork
Players
Support
Batten's
Disease
Sufferers

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| Kay O'Carroll, Chris Collins, Leslie Condron and Fiona Heffernan |
The
members
of
the
Cork
Darts
Players'
Association
are
never
wanting
went
it
comes
to
raising
money
for
charity
and
such
was
the
case
at
the
Deanrock
Lounge
Bar
on
Monday,
June
14th.,
when
they
handed
over
a
cheque
for
€ 500
to
the
Saoirse
Foundation
who
do
tremendous
work
for
the
sufferers
of
Batten's
Disease.
The
CDPA
members
raised
the
money
at
the
recent
finals
of
the
Denis
McGrath
Memorial
Singles
Championship.
The
work
undertaken
by
the
Foundation
may
be
viewed
on
www.beeforbattens.org

Double
for
the
Tory
Top
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|
John Donnellan (Captain Tory Top 1) with Pat Bourke (Gleeson Group) |
The
Tory
Top
Inn
recorded
a
unique
double
victory
at
the
Deanrock
Lounge
Bar
when
their
two
teams
won
their
respective
divisions
of
the
Gleeson
Group
Knock-out
Trophies.
In
Division
(1)
the
Tory
Top
(1)
had
two
titanic
struggles
against
the
Abbey
(1)
and
Horse
Shoe
(1)
and
had
to
overcome
tie-breakers
in
both
the
semi-final
and
final
before
capturing
the
title
for
the
first
time.
The
other
beaten
semi-finalists
were
the
Goblet
(1).
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| Pat Bourke (Gleeson Group) and Stephen O'Leary (Captain Tory Top 2) |
Tory
Top
(2)
completed
the
double
when
they
defeated
the
Ardmanning
9 -
5 in
the
final
of
Division
(3).
Both
of
the
semi-finals
in
this
division
needed
tie-breakers
to
decide
the
outcomes
with
Tory
Top
(2)
defeating
Rob
Roy
and
Ardmanning
ousting
Kirby's
Korner
(2).
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| Brian Treacy Captain Southside) with Pat Bourke (Gleeson Group) |
The
Southside
Bar
came
out
on
top
in
Division
(2)
with
9 -
5
victories
over
the
Harp
(1A)
and
Harp
(2A)
in
the
semi-final
and
final,
respectively.
Ferry
Arms
were
the
other
losing
semi-finalists.
Sincere
thanks
is
extended
to
the
Gleeson
Group
for
sponsoring
the
final
competition
of
the
CDPA
season
and
gratitude
is
also
extended
to
John
McSweeney
and
his
staff
at
the
Deanrock
for
their
hospitality
on
the
night.
