Carranstown’s crowning glory

CARRANSTOWN Lodge finished strongest to pip Lantern Bar to the Premier Division crown following a thrilling decider in The Thatch Lounge, Drogheda, last Friday night.

In a final that went down to the very last leg of the last game Carranstown started the better and were quickly into their stride, winning the 1001 team game, and then going 2-0 up when Man of the Match Keith Rooney chose a good night to return to form. He produced a topclass performance to win 2-1 against Paul Madden, who also played very well on the night.

Richie Walsh put the Lantern on the board with a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Stephen Murtagh, who despite losing also played very well.

A tight third game could have gone either way, but in the end Martin Seery just outpointed Richie Timmons 2-1 to give the Duleek side a 3-1 lead.

Three successive victories for the Navan Side saw them go 4–3 up, however, as Gabriel Finnegan beat Alan Flaherty 2-0 and there were 2-1 wins for Damien Doyle over Jack Traynor and Stephen Lyness over a gallant and slightly unlucky Paddy Kavanagh.

Game eight became a monster game, and Gary Flaherty produced probably the best performance of his season to beat Stephen Andrews 2-0, throwing some brilliant darts and producing some topclass finishing.

So it all came down to the last game of the night, and after a nervy, tense decider Paddy Campbell got the better of John McCabe 2-1, finishing in style with a 97 checkout.