O'Driscoll wins third City individual title
Posted by frankie on February 20 2010 21:07:14
Damian O'Driscoll of Brannigans won his third Cork City individual darts championship title sponsored by the Evening Echo. when at St, Vincent's on Saturday night he defeated Anthony Murray from the Tower Bar in the best of five legs final.
O'Driscoll did'nt have an easy passage along the route to his third championship win as he opened against the very accomplished player Sean Daly from the Tower Bar.
Fellow Cork inter-county player Craig Sproat of the Shamrock then fell to O'Driscoll in the following game and another Cork inter-county player then followed as Jason Kavanagh also from the Shamrock went the same way as Sproat.
The surprise of the evening was young Blaine Meehan from the Island Tavern who came through to meet O'Driscoll in the quarter-final before bowing out with his head held high after some magnificent performances.
Meanwhile Murray made his way through the field with wins against Tom Lynch, Donal O'Donovan and Tony Byrne to a semi-final showdown against fellow Tower bar team-mate Martin Cotter to then book his place in the final.
O'Driscoll booked his final spot with a hard earned three legs to two win over Jerry Coughlan from the Woodview.
The final played over the best of five legs of 301 double to begin scoring saw Murray with the hand take the first leg compliments a double-twenty, this despite a 170 from O'Driscoll but, O'Driscoll responded as he won the second leg in a very mediocre leg of darts taking it on a double-five.
Murray then forged ahead again as he was helped along with a top hand of 140 on his way to a double-12 checkout as O'Driscoll could only muster a top score of 66.
The fourth leg saw O'Driscoll return with a 100 from his first throw and he then amazingly bust when throwing for 92 but, Murray's inability to rack up a top score allowed O'Driscoll in once again to finish on a double-three to square the match.
The deciding leg saw Murray score first with a return of 60, O'Driscoll followed with a hand of 80 and even though Murray put up a 98 O'Driscoll threw in a maximum 180 followed by 33 and a double-four game shot and championship along with the top prize of €500.
The best junior prize went to Blaine Meehan of the Island Tavern.