Eire Og lift first silverware of season

They had to come through four tough matches on the night to get their hands on the silverware.

In the preliminary round they defeated league champions Drumgor 5-3. They took control early on, racing into a 2-0 lead, and remained in front right to the end with the teams sharing the next four legs between them.

Trailing 4-2 Drumgor’s Shane Lennon hit an excellent 126 checkout on the bull to keep his team in it but it was to be to no avail as captain Noel Dunwoodie was to get the first of his three wins of the night to claim victory.

In the first round proper and for the second time in as many cups the INF met Clann Eireann and again it was the North Street men who qualified for the semi-finals with a comfortable 5-1 win over the Clanns.

The first two legs were shared but INF won the next four to put them into the semi-finals.

Also in the first round Eire Og produced without a doubt their most impressive victory of the night against The Premier. With another tight match expected it was Eire Og who cruised into the semis, winning all five matches without reply.

The Stables got their night underway with a 5-3 win when they battled past a Trojans team who are improving weekly. For the teams and a lot of the players it is their first season in the league and they are gaining valuable experience.

The semi-final line up was complete when Celtic, who disappointedly turned up with only five men on the night, got a bye as, even more disappointingly, the Railway failed to show.

In the semi-final Eire Og were up against the INF who put them out of the last cup at the semi-final stage. This time it was Eire Og who got revenge, coming through a last leg decider.

Eire Og raced into an early 3-0 lead and soon it was 4-1 but the INF dug deep and fought back to claim the next three legs. It looked like a massive comeback was on the cards with the momentum now with the Foresters but it was Micky Campbell who stopped the fightback with victory over Paddy Magill.

The Stables eased into the final with five man Celtic having to win every leg that they played but it was not to be, despite Tommy McErlene winning the first leg. It was Dee McConville who beat Anto Crewe to finish the tie early and put the Stables into the final against Eire Og.

The Stables knew they were up against an in form Eire Og team and their task was not made any easier when they were reduced to eight men with Kieran Smith having to leave early.

Despite all the odds against them they put up an excellent showing and raced into a 4-2 lead only for Eire Og to fight back and level the game, meaning it went to a final leg of Hugh Campbell against Dermot McStay.

In an entertaining final leg it went right to the wire but when Hugh needed 128 he hit treble 20 and a single 18 to leave the bull. However Hugh missed and Dermy successfully hit a 72 checkout. treble 20 double six, to win the trophy for Eire og. Mark McLernon and Noel Dunwoodie both finished the night undefeated for the winners.

On Saturday Drumgor held their weekly darts competition and it was Shane Lennon who won.

There were 16 players creating four groups of four played out on a round robin format which proved very popular with everyone. The top two in each group qualified for the quarter-finals.

The quarter-final results were: Shane Lennon 3-1 Terry Morrow; Clive Hanna 3-1 Gareth Bunting; Stevie Duff 3-2 Rab Lewis; Pearse Richardson 3-1 Andrew Fairbairn.

The semi finals consisted of four Drumgor players and Shane Lennon beat Pearse Richardson while Clive Hanna beat Stevie Duff.

In a high class final Shane Lennon ran out a 4-2 winner in 18,15,14 and 15 darts while Clive Hanna responded with 17 and 18.