fonaCAB Central Darts League

Clonard Hibs extend lead at top of table without throwing a dart!

All the chasing pack fought each other to a standstill with only Clonard Hibs (Bye) and Crumlin Star taking maximum points this week.

Casey’s 3 vs 5 Crumlin Star

Crumlin Star travelled up to Casement Park to take on their opponents Casey’s hoping to get back into the thick of the league champions race after a few dodgy recent results. Casey’s however didn’t read that script and their first man up Stevie Leckey 2-0 (24) 100, 100, 81, 80, 80, 60, 60 beat Peter Fitzpatrick 130, 100, 95, 95, 80, 60, 60. Fabulous Freddie Stilges 2-0 (24)121, 100, 100, 92, 83, 60 levelled the game at 1 vs 1 when he took the second game against Kevin Greeves. Olcan Kearney 2-0 (30 & 30) 174, 125, 100, threw some brilliant scores in beating John Dillon 100, 85, 60, 60 to put the home team back in front at 2 vs 1. Hugh Grieves 2-0 (26 & 26) 136, 100, 100, 83, 62 took the next for the Ardoyne team to level it again at 2 vs 2 in beating Eugene Brannigan 100, 81, 62, 60, 60. It was at this stage that Crumlin turned on the after burners and won the next three games on the trot all by similar 2 vs 0 scorelines to ensure their victory with the wins coming from Jim Flannigan 95, 81, 79, 79, 79 Dougie Bowes (22 & 26) 121, 119, 100, 100, 100, 85, 72, 66 & Ben Lagan (23 & 25) 140, 100, 100, 100, 95, 85, 82 over Gerry McIlduff 85, 78, 60, Colly McPeake 135, 81, 76, 70, 60 & Paul Smyth 121, 100, 87, 85, 70 2 vs 5. The last game however produced the man of the match and a third winner for Casey’s when Dan Cahoon 2-0 (20 & 26)140, 125, 100, 100, 85, 78 defeated Tommy Henry who himself hit great score of 100, 98, 97, 85, 82, 81, 60 to leave the final score 3 vs 5 to Crumlin.

MOM: Dan Cahoon

St. Mathews 4 vs 4 Casement

This game swayed first one way then the other with both teams having periods of control. Casement started off brilliantly with two hard fought 2-1 wins coming from Ricky Saddler (25 &27) 99, 99, 99, 99, 83, 79, 79 over Jim Lavery (26) 140, 121, 101, 100, 85, 81 and Vinty Lenzi (29) 140, 140, 100, 100, 78, 60 over Jap McKinley (24) 140, 100, 100, 85, 80, 60. The home team responded brilliantly by taking three in a row of their own through Con Kielty 2-0 (25 & 26) 100, 94, 83, 81, 81, 81 against Henry McCann, Billy McDade 2-1 (21+119 fin & 28) 140, 125, 100, 85, 84, 80, 80, 80, 80 over Gerry McCormick (26) 100, 83, 81, 81, 81, 81 & Martin Irwin 2-0 (25 & 27) 137, 99, 97, 81, 60, 60 over Paddy McGuinness 120, 119, 100, 98, 85, 83 to put themselves 3 vs 2 up. Paul Condon 2-1 (21 + 75fin & 28) 138, 118, 100, 100, 100, 85, 61, 60 levelled it again at 3 vs 3 by taking the next game against Gerard McGuinness (27) 100, 98, 96, 81, 80, 78, 63, 60. Davy McCusker 2-0 (21 & 23) 140, 109, 100, 100, 85, 80, 60, 60 then did what he normally does and produced another man of the match performance in the seventh leg by taking out Chopper McKay 98, 85, 76, 71, 60, 60 to put his team on the brink of victory. The last game of the evening was between the guile and experience of St. Mats captain Pat McGahan and the youthful exuberance of Casements Colm McGuinness. The young Casement lad 2-0 (24 & 26) played with a swagger that many an established older player would have been proud of and just got the better of Pat with scores of 140, 100, 96, 87, 81, 81 to the St. Mathews man’s scores of 100, 98, 85, 70, 66, 60, 60 to leave the final score a probably fair 4 vs 4 draw.

MOM: Davy McCusker

Star Celtic 3 vs 5 Swilly

The scorelines of these first three games this week just show how tight the league is and how competitive all the games are and will be going forward. The travelling Suffolk road team started off brilliantly with two great wins coming from Eamon McVeigh 2-0 98, 81, 81, 60, 60, 60 over Henry McTasney Jnr 75, 69, 67, 67 & Paul Goodman 2-1 (19 & 27) 140, 135, 93, 87, 82, 78, 60, 60 over Martin Maloney 100, 80, 70, 61, 60, 60, 60. Rab Lyttle 2-0 (24) 140, 84, 83, 78, 67, 66, 60, 60, 60 & Ian Haywood 2-1 (28) 101, 100, 95, 73, 71, 60, 60 levelled it at 2 vs 2 when they defeated father & son Tucker Kearney 140, 60, 60, 60 & Tom Kearney (31) 83, 79, 64, 63, 62, 60. Ciaran Lynch 2-1 (26 & 28) 140, 100, 100, 90, 81, 65, 61 took the fifth game in a close encounter with Gary Healey (31) 137, 87, 75, 60, 60 to put Swilly 2 vs 3 in front. Back came Star through their captain Henry McTasney Sr 2-1 100, 76, 76, 70, 63, 60 who levelled it against Michael Burns 98, 95, 95, 85, 83, 77, 73, 70. Swilly’s Patrick McGeown stepped up in the next game and continued his fantastic form all year winning 2-1 (22 & 22) and that was after losing the first with scores of 180 81, 67, 60, then coming back in the others with more great scores of 140, 100, 100, 95, 83, 81, 60, 60, 60, 60 to beat Daniel Haywood (25) 125, 100, 95, 88, 65, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60 who also threw cracking darts to loose. This left it at 3 vs 4 in Swilly’s favour and they ensured both points went back up the road with them when Kevin O’Neill 2-0 (25 &27) 180 95, 91, 85, 84, 81, 60, 60 defeated Rhys Haywood 100, 95, 85, 85, 60 in the last game of another tightly fought and evenly contested match.

MOM: Patrick McGeown.

Donegal Celtic 4 vs 4 Hibs 58

Young pup Adam Lynch 2-0 (30) 100, 100, 100, 85, 67, 60 got his first league win and Hib’s first of the night when he beat Davy Smith 92, 85, 85, 83, 81. Joe Corr 2-1 99, 96, 92, 89, 84, 81 levelled it in beating Joe Dinnen 100, 100, 98, 60, 60. Sean Patterson 2-0 (21 & 30) 100, 100, 93, 81, 81, 81, 60, 60 put Hibs back in front at 1 vs 2 by beating Alan Hanna. Matt Doone 2-0 (27) 100, 100, 87, 81 brought the scores even again when he took out Damien Corbett 85, 83, 81, 81. Mark Lynch 2-0 (18 & 23) 140, 140, 100, 100, 95, 88 put his team back in front for the third time when he defeated Harry Smith 95, 90, 85 only to watch as D/C again levelled it through Gary Smith 2-1 (24 & 24) 140, 132, 100, 87, 85, 83, 81 who took out Hib’s Tucker Kearney 85, 85, 85, 81, 81, 80. D/C took the lead for the first time on the evening when Sean Armstrong 2-1 (25 & 27) 135, 100, 100, 99, 85, 80 beat Tony Corr (26) 140, 140, 123, 92, 83 to leave his team on the brink of another famous win but Hib’s star man Martin Corbett 2-0 (25 & 29) 140, 100, 96, 85, 82, 60, 60 beat Caolan Kearney to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat.

MOM: Mark Lynch.

The next few weeks its the prestigious Andy Kearney Pairs competition.....Good luck to all who take part.

**Thanks to all who turned out yesterday to the Hibs club for the Charity event with over £2,000 raised for Chest, Heart & Stroke. A plethora of great players from all over the league who gave their time, money and effort for this wonderful cause. Great darts, great camaraderie, great food, great memories, great prizes, not so sure about the topless Star Celtic/Swilly players dancing or the others who joined in, but here’s to many more to come and load more causes getting lots of cash in their coffers**.....Sean P