The Evening Echo sponsored CDO Mens cup final played last Monday night  July 5th, at the Joshua Tree proved to be a joyous night indeed for the Barcode as they triumphed against the odds to defeat favorites the Maple Leaf by four games to two.

Barcode did not have the best of starts as their first player on the oche Garry Dowling lost to Maple Leaf player Adi O’Donovan by two legs to nil.

However Barcode then hit a purple patch as their next two players threw exceptional darts to put them in front.

First Ricky Murphy took game three with a two legs to one win over Jason Miller after Miller had taken a first leg lead, but Murphy hit back strongly with hands of 100 and 102 to take the second leg, and he followed with scores of 87 and 98 as he won the deciding leg.

Murphy’s namesake Garry was another impressive winner as he took the third game for the Barcode against Maple leaf player Paul Miller.

Murphy took the first leg on a double one after a top hand of 100 and he then closed out this third game as he put in scores of 90, 81, 80, 11 x 20 for a game shot.

The fourth game brought Phil O’Regan of the Maple Leaf and Kieran O’Callaghan of Barcode to the board, and in a very tight but entertaining game it was the Maple Leaf player who edged this encounter by two legs to one to leave it all square at the break.

The fifth game after the resumption saw Tony O’Keefe of the Barcode and Adrian Hughes of the Maple Leaf face-off, and O’Keefe had the better start here as he won the first leg on a double ten.

Hughes hit back to level as he went out on a double twenty to take the second leg, but despite a 140 from Hughes in the deciding leg it was O’Keefe who was the more consistent as he took this fifth leg to put his team within one game of overall victory.

Game six saw Frank Bowdren on the oche for the Maple Leaf while for the Barcode it was Tommy Crowley.

Bowdren had top hands of 84 and 119 as he led in this first leg, but his inability to hit his double out cost him dearly as Crowley had no such trouble in hitting his for to lead.

Again Bowdren hit a top score of 119 in the second leg, but this time Crowley matched him all the way as he threw in a 125 to then take the leg from 79, compliments of a treble 7, a single 18 followed by a double 20 to take the Evening echo cup to the  Barcode.

The man of the match award was shared by Ricky Murphy and Garry Murphy of the Barcode.