Gerard and Shane are crowned Pairs Champions

Earlier 32 pairs were drawn as everyone looked to see who their partner would be. Board one was tightly contested and it was the Eire Og pair of Paul Callaghan and Niall Heaney who came through it beating Joe Duff and Dermy McStay 2-1 to become the first team into the semi finals.

They were joined in the semi-finals by board two winners Hugh Heaney and Oliver Toland who had got the better of Dee Blaney and Michael Lamb in the last eight by a 2-0 scoreline. Early favourites for the title Sam Frazer and Noel Dunwoodie had surprisingly become the first team out of the competition when they were beaten 2-0 by Dee and Michael proving that in pairs nothing can be taken for granted. Board three saw the eventual champions come through dropping just one leg along the way which was in the final as they beat another strong pairing of Paul White and John Cinnamond 2-1 with Shane Tallon taking out 110 on the bull for the win to make the semi-finals.

Board four seemed to go to form as the pairings of Shane Lennon and Peter Morris came up against Terry Morrow and Dee McConville but it was the INF and Stables pairing of Terry and Dee who claimed the final semi-final spot with a 2-0 win. Both semi-finals went right to the wire as Oliver and Hugh got the better of Terry and Dee by 3 legs to 2 and Gerard Crewe and Shane Tallon repeated the score as they put a stop to a potential father versus son final beating Paul Callaghan and Niall Heaney to book their spot.

A tight final was expected but Gerard and Shane turned on the style claiming the first two legs and in leg three the game was almost over as a 121, 120 and 2x100’s set up Shane to take out 60 in two darts for a 14 dart leg to make it 3-0 and only one leg away from the title. That final winning leg proved to be the hardest to win though as in both legs four and five two missed darts at the doubles let Oliver and Hugh claim them to reduce the deficit to 3-2.

The fight back wasn’t to be and at the third attempt in leg seven Gerard finally hit double 10 much to his and Shane’s delight to claim the win and the title of League Pairs Champions 2014.

On Saturday the Drumgor Tavern hosted the first of eight qualifiers to take place and it was Celtic player Mick Millar who won through getting the better of Sam Frazer for the second time on the day in the final. With the early rounds played over a round robin format Mick went through his group undefeated beating Sam who qualified as runner up.

In group one Terry Morrow and Shane Lennon qualified for the last eight with Dee Blaney and Paul Lewis coming through group 2. It was Pearse Richardson and Kevin Campbell who claimed the final two spots in the quarters with Pearse winning a last leg decider over Lee Culbert to get though as group winner.

In the quarter finals Drumgor team mates Pearse and Shane clashed with Shane winning by 3 legs to one. Terry Morrow booked his place in the final four with a 3-0 win over Paul Lewis with the highlight being an excellent 170 checkout in leg two. Mick Millar got the better of Kevin Campbell 3-2 before Sam Frazer became the fourth qualifier beating Dee Blaney. Both semi-finals finished 3-1 with Mick getting the better of Terry and Sam Frazer beating Shane.

Revenge was on Sam’s mind for the earlier defeat in the round robin stages but it wasn’t to be as Mick continued to show that despite his couple of months away from the darts scene the class is still there which can only be a good thing for his Celtic team mates.

Qualifier two will take place on Saturday and The Stables Bar’s Monthly Darts competition will take place on Sunday, both with 2.00pm starts.