Milestone win by O’Neills
DULEEK & DISTRICT DART LEAGUE FINALS 2010
GARY Flaherty won the decisive game as O’Neills clinched the 2010 Premier Division title in the Duleek and District Dart League against the Mick McGowan-inspired White Hart Inn.
The Milestone in Balbriggan hosted the decider between the Duleek team and a White Hart side who hadn’t far to travel, themselves being from Balbriggan.
Despite being Tom Grimes Cup winners earlier in the season, O’Neills were outsiders against a White Hart outfit who topped this division comfortably in the qualifying process, and they got the perfect start to this final when McGowan won the first game of the night 2-1 against Daniel Dunne.
Simon Wykes levelled for O’Neills when beating Noel McEnaney 2-1, and captain Paddy Campbell edged the Duleek men in front with a slightly fortuitous 2-1 victory over Tommy Hamilton.
In the game of the night, Adrian O’Halloran (O’Neills) had a tremendous 2-1 win over Martin O’Connell, with both players throwing some tremendous darts.
The fifth game saw James Cunningham bring some life back into the White Hart challenge when he defeated Bob Hanratty 2-0 for a comfortable victory.
With O’Neills 3-2 ahead overall, game six between Mick McMahon and White Hart’s Vinny Maguire was always going to be crucial.
McMahon won the first leg comfortably enough, but Maguire fought back well and took the second leg. The third leg was a very tight affair, with Maguire leading out, but some erratic finishing let a battling McMahon in for a 2-1 victory to push O’Neills further in front.
Martin Seery then had a great opportunity to win it for O’Neills, and having won a tense first leg he seemed to be on his way. However, Eamonn Rogan battled back to level before storming away in the final leg to give White Hart a lifeline.
Flaherty and David Boylan then went toe to toe in the eighth game of the night. After two legs it was 1-1, but Flaherty had the advantage of the darts in the deciding leg and saw off Boylan’s challenge to secure a league title and Premier double for the Duleek side. The Man of the Match award went to O’Halloran.