Tatler Jack retain Darts League title as Old Killarney Inn make it third time lucky in final

TWO finals in the Killarney Darts Town League took place last week with The Tatler Jack retaining their Group 1 title while the The Old Killarney Inn finally won the Group 3 title after being runner-up in the last two finals.

First up last Thursday was the Group 3 final between The Old Killarney Inn and Corkery’s Lakelands in K-Town Bar. This final was where sets counted and each set was the best of three, with the first to five the victors. This was a closely fought final with both level three apiece after the singles. In the doubles Lakelands took the lead winning the first doubles, but the OKI won the second making it 4-4, and bringing it to a deciding set. OKI won the first leg, Lakelands made it 1-1 but OKI took the third leg to give them their first title in three years having lost the previous two deciders.

OKI: Patrick Fleming, Darren Oliver, Mike Dwyer, John O’Shea, James O’Neill, Eddie Sipos, Gene Cronin and Mike Foley

Corkerys Lakelands: Troy Francis, Paul Cronin, Laura Keane, Anthony Begley, Gerry O’Sullivan, Lyndsey Cronin, Marie Leahy and Maureen Brosnan

Thanks to caller Mike Brosnan, chalkers Diarmuid O’Donoghue and Richie Kelly, and K-Town for a wonderful venue.

Friday’s Group 1 final between old rivals The Tatler Jack and Lals OutCasts promised to be the final of the year if last year’s final was anything to go by when they last met, which Tatler won 14-13.

Lals’ James Broderick beat Tatlers’ Dave Stack 2-1 in the first match-up, before this year’s John Joy winner, Neil O’Donoghue for the Tatler, had a 3-0 win over Sean Marshall to give the Tatler a 4-2 lead. Tatlers captain Dan Leen had a 2-1 win over Richie O’Connor to make it 6-3 but Dale McCarthy pulled Lals right back into contention with a 3-0 win over Jamie Kelliher to square it up at 6-6. The fifth game saw this year’s Murphy Cup winner Kevin McCann for the Tatler beat Lals John Cronin 3-0, and in the final game of singles Lals Tom Biggane beat Jack Leen 2-1 to give Tatler a slender 10-8 going into the doubles.

Sean Marshall and James Broderick of Lals beat Dan Leen and Jamie Kelliher 2-1 to make it 11-10 for the Tatler. The next contest was Dale McCarthy and Tom Biggane against Tatlers’ Kevin McCann and Dave Stack, with the Tatler duo winning 3-0 to see them retain their title 14-10.

Tatler Jacks: Dan Leen, Kevin McCann, Neil O’Donoghue, Jamie Kelliher, Dave Stack, Jack Leen, Pat Kenneally and Liam O’Reilly.

Lals OutCasts: Dale McCarthy, Tom Biggane, Sean Marshall, James Broderick, Richie O’Connor, John Cronin, Bill Downey and John Hill.

Thanks to caller Kieran Breen, chalker Paul Cronin, and the staff of Mustang Sally’s.