Stalemate all round in tense climax to league

THE league stages of the premier division of the Dundalk and District Dart league concluded last Thursday night and remarkably there was no advancement by any team with all three matches ending in stalemate.

Pick of the bunch was undoubtedly the clash of the top two and the standard of darts was top drawer between Avenue Celtic and Uncle Toms Cabin. Ray Campbell and Daniel Dunn sent the Greenacres based outfit into a 2-0 lead but Owen Caffrey, Tommy McCartney and John Donnelly sent the holders from Blackrock into the lead with some outstanding arrows.

It was left to Gary Loughran to ensure the spoils were shared after he overcame Jimmy Reenan in a tense last match, the outcome of which resulted in Avenue Celtic finishing top of the pile after the regular season.

Improving Malthouse had another good performance in their match with third placed Bodhran, but the final spot in the semi finals went to the Punters Sharks. Their tie with Uncle Toms resulted from captain Mickey Kelly defeating Kevin Soraghan in the last match.

Damien Smith was in top form for the Punters with Wayne Fry having a stormer for the hosts.

In the semi finals Avenue Celtic will host the Punters Sharks and Uncle Toms Cabin will entertain the Bodhran.

Leaders of division one the Punters Panthers suffered a calamitous 6-0 loss to the Stags Head. While it was always expected to be a tough encounter for them, not many would have predicted such a one-sided affair.

The introduction of Stephen Shields and Dicky Callan into the Stags line-up has been significant and they now look a major threat in the semi finals.

The Commercial Classics and Harrys Bar will make up the semi final quartet and they will also be realistic contenders. Both showed they remain in good form with comfortable 5-1 victories over the Bodhran Blues and McManus Maniacs respectively. There is still two rounds of matches to go in both this division and the second but all four teams are now securely in the semis in this division.

Division two’s major clash also resulted in a one-sided affair with Courtneys proving far too strong for the Castle Bar on the night in a 6-0 win. That result nudged them ahead of the Bodhran Eagles on leg difference as they had to work hard to defeat Stags Blue 4-2.

Both the other matches ended in 3-3 draws with the Bodhran Hawks missing an opportunity to clinch fourth place in their draw with Callans, and the clash of the bottom two ending all square between Commercial Celtic and the Clans.

This week sees the action take place in the shield. These last sixteen matches will be played across four neutral venues, namely Uncle Toms, the Stags Head, the Commercial Club and the Bodhran. Avenue Celtic Uncle Toms Cabin Bodhran Punters Sharks Malthouse Uncle Toms

Punters Panthers 11 17 +14 Stags Head 11 Commercial Classics 10 Harrys Bar 10 Bodhran Blues 10 Punters Pumas 10 McManus Maniacs 10

Courtneys Bodhran Eagles Castle Bar Bodhran Hawks Stags Blue Callans Clans Commercial Celtic

11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

18 17 15 9 7 6

14 14 13 5 5 4

20 20 16 12 10 8 6 4

+26 +16 +14 -10 -16 -18

+20 +14 +8 -12 -22 -22

+30 +28 +8 -4 0 -18 -18 -24