Kerrigan's top table as Gem snatch sixth place

Westmeath Darts League

The dust has finally settled on Phase 1 of this year’s Westmeath Darts League and we now have our confirmed Championship/Shield sections ahead of the restart come January 9, 2026.

The Championship will be made up of Kerrigan's, Beech Tree, Bridge Bar, Maypole, Bagnall's A and Western Gem, while the Shield will contain Wagon Wheel, Clarke's Bar, McHugh's, Shamrocks, Bagnall's B and Tom’s Bar

Kerrigan's will head into the start of Phase 2 as the #1 ranked side following a 8-1 victory at home to a depleted Clarke's side in a Mullingar derby. The game was 2-1 and in the balance going into the singles and Clarke's clearly picked to grab 1-2 games in the back three, but strong performances from Ross Kelly (a 3-1 win over namesake Terry), Ger McLoughlin (3-1 over Davey Gilgan) and Paul Mooney (3-2 over Allen Gilgan) gave Kerrigan’s victory. They have clearly intent on securing a home semi-final spot sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere, Beech Tree (Streamstown) finished off their first round with a 7-2 win at home to Bridge Bar (Mullingar), In a game where with both teams had qualified, neither were at full strength on the night. The Beech led 3-0 after the doubles only for the ‘BB’ to pull it back to 4-2, Kevin Gilmore holding out 3-2 against Johnny Broughton one of the games of the night. Bridge Bar could and perhaps should have had more coming away from Streamstown as Donie Boland saw off Sean Ward, 3-2, and Ian Meares by the same scorecard against Matt Cullen Snr.

What has been great to see is these two sides who were the final of the Shield competition in the 24/25 season really stepping up and having a go at the top half of the league and right fully sit in the #2 and #3 positions.

Meanwhile, Maypole (Collinstown) locked in their position in the top six in a crazy back and forth match away to the Wagon Wheel, Ballynacargy. At 2-0 up the away side would have been confident of putting up a score to help further their top two causes in Phase 2. Incredibly, as we have seen time and time again, the ‘WW’ don’t go down without a fight and took the third doubles game before going on a run in the singles, taking the first four games through Jack Doran, Derek Maguire, Wayne Kelly and Padraig White. Jimmy McCormack put a stop to the run with a hard fought 3-2 win over Gerry Keon before Barry Kiernan ended a strong first half of the season personally with a win over Thomas Murtagh.

Wagon Wheel’s five points earned meant that the Western Gem (Ballinalack) needed four or more in their match away against Bagnall's B (Rochfortbridge) in order to qualify for the top six. At 2-1 up after the doubles, the Ballinalack side must have felt they were in control, but a super burst in the singles from Jason Bradley and Stuart Hayes wrestled the game in favour of the Rochfortbridge side and put them 3-2 up. Andy McCormack, another thrower enjoying a great start to the season, saw off Craig Hayes 3-0 before young Jack Murphy pushed his side 4-3 up again with a 3-1 win over Ger Brennan. Captains Aidan McNair and Keith Kilduff faced off in game eight, and it was Kilduff who got the magical fourth game needed for ‘The Gem’ before Jason Ford ensured the win.

Elsewhere, Mullingar Shamrocks laid down their own marker to the shield teams with a strong 7-2 win over Tom’s Bar (Killucan) in which the Mullingar side went 7-0 up on the night. Dillon Matthews, James Joyce and Darragh McCormack continued their good seasons with strong Singles wins. Tom’s are clearly built around the performances of Del McKeogh and Niall Kane who won the last two games on the night. Both sides will have a lot of play for the restart in January.

The final game of Week 11 was postponed between McHugh's/Bagnall's A and will be played Friday December 19.

Phase 1 overview

Coming into this year’s league under a new format it's always interesting to see how teams take to it, who goes for it, who slips backwards, etc. With guaranteed prize money for the top six teams confirmed early on this season, it clearly helped to drive the ambition and mindset among the 12 sides. Kerrigan's came out of the traps quickly and have stayed in that #1 spot, but that defeat against Bagnall's A shows teams there is a plan and way to get at them.

Beech Tree and Bridge Bar have gone from shield finalists to sitting in the #2/3 positions which is a massive leap from both sides. Strengthening your squads in the off season is one thing, but you still need those players to start performing. Maypole are in a similar position with a refreshed side but over the course of the season found their footing and will be a massive danger in a five-week sprint in Phase 2 to get that coveted Home Semi-Final spot.

Bagnall's A went about their business-as-usual week on week, getting the number of points required to see themselves in the top six. They and have done a reverse Beech Tree on it, their current players are the focus and point-getters this season, not the new players.

The race for the sixth spot was one that was the main storyline all season where for 8-9 weeks Clarke's, Wagon Wheel and Western Gem were swapping positions on a weekly basis. In the end it was ‘The Gem’ who got into it by virtue of not losing games heavily, as opposed to Wagon Wheel who won three more games than them, but had some big swings in points which cost them.

There is probably a train of thought that there should be some sort of ‘bonus point’ feature to award teams for winning games as well, but that’s for another season!

Clarke's suffered a small drop off in availability towards the end of Phase 1, but having had wins over McHugh's and Shamrocks and a 5-4 home loss to Wagon Wheel will no doubt be eyeing up that home semi-final spot in the shield. Loughlin McHugh’s side had a feature win over Bridge Bar away from home and are nicely positioned now to fight it out with Clarke's and Shamrocks for this home semi-final.

Shamrocks youthful side under the leadership of Sean and Joe Farrelly have taken to the league well and like Bagnall's B are well in touch with the shield leaders should they slip up, while for Tom’s Bar it was always going to be a tough start in the WDL, but you can see the performances week on week improving, getting more legs on the board, even if that’s not translating into victories just yet.

All in all, we're now set up nicely for a super end of season sprint come the restart on January 9 as teams look to push on and, in some cases, ensure they hold onto their positions the work of the first 11 weeks has given them. Fixtures for Phase 2 will be announced over the Christmas period alongside the dates for singles, doubles and the Paddy Gilgan Memorial Knockout Cup.