Contenders find an extra edge

Westmeath Darts League

Big wins were the story of week two of this year’s WDL as Don’s Bar, Bridge Bar, Maypole and Beech Tree all cemented their place in the top four on Friday night.

In Mullingar for the second town derby of the season, last week’s log leaders Murray’s travelled to the Bridge Bar. Billy Conway will rue missed darts in his game against Kevin Gilmore as will Dillon Matthews against Jim-Bob Baker, but ultimately last year’s finalists laid down their own big result to kick off the season with an 8-1 win, Matthew Willoughby popping in a 180 for good measure on the night also.

Don’s Bar of Moate also had the same scoreline in their favour against McHugh’s of Raharney in a tie where the home side never let up on their opponents. Conor Raleigh had chances against Sean Waters but the greater class of the Moate player shown through. Andy Kennedy and John Hannon sealed the win on the night with Alan McManus and Brendan Dunleavy adding the gloss on a great result. With Ben Corcoran still to be added to this side, they are certainly trending upwards at this early stage.

Maypole from Collinstown welcomed Clarke’s for their first home game of the season as we started to see what the ’27 version of this side can do with a strong 7-2 win. Noel Devine added his first win of the season taking out Killian Kelly before Damien Maher made in 2/2 for the season overcoming Andy Price in four legs on the night. James Joyce, on his debut for the home side, won both his singles/doubles games before Terry Kelly added a second chalk for the Mullingar side against Derek Delaney.

Captains collided in the ninth and final game as Barry Kiernan took out Allen Gilgan to give the home side a healthy points total at the start of the season. Noel Devine, Terry Kelly and Damien Maher each shot 180s on the night, while Paul Radford was excellent for the winners.

Tie of the round on paper was in Streamstown as we saw a repeat of last year’s Paddy Gilgan Memorial Cup Final as the Beech Tree took on the Wagon Wheel from Ballynacargy. The Beech went out to a 2-0 lead with Johnny Broughton winning both his singles/doubles games before Jack Doran impressed with a 3-0 win over Mark Corrigan to give the away side their mark. Derek Maguire/Wayne Kelly levelled matters to 2-2 in the doubles before Chris Connor produced the performance of the round averaging 75 to defeat Wayne 3-2, hitting a 15 dart leg with a 174 score to boot to do so. 3-2 became 6-2 on the night as Graeme Corcoran/Ian Meares won their singles match sandwiching the third doubles match on the night going their way also. Wagon Wheel ensured they got something tangible to take away from their travels as the warrior himself Gerry Keon got the better of Willie Moran in five legs to leave the final score 6-3 to the home side.

The Esker Inn of Tyrrellspass got their first win of this year’s season on the board with a strong 7-2 victory away from home at Tom’s Bar in Killucan. Tom’s took the first game of the night before Darragh Mullen impressed to level matters. This led to the Esker going on a run taking the next four games before Tom’s brought it back to 5-2 on the night in the third doubles game. Dave Hamilton and Charlie O’Toole saw it out for the away side in games eight and nine and with ten points in the bank will be happy with their first two weeks work.

The last game of round one saw Western Gem travel into Kerrigan’s in what was a back-and-forth game on the night. The home side took the first doubles game before Alan O’Mara and Bilal Moran put the away side in front. Ollie McNamee, making his seasonal debut for the Mullingar side impressed in a big way hitting a 180 in his doubles match to level before taking out Damien Kelly 3-1 to put Kerrigan’s 4-2 up on the night. ‘The Gem’ made it 4-3 in the doubles before David Egan averaged 72 with a 3-0 win over Paul Mooney to level matters. Liam Brennan and Mark Gillen faced off in game nine at it was the Ballinalack thrower that came out on top to give the away side the 5-4 win. With players missing from both sides on the night, teams will still have learned a lot about their depth.

Sponsors

The WDL Committee would like to thank the following companies for their support of the league this year: Moran Construction & Carpentry – Overall WDL sponsor; Stephen Lynn; Accountants/Auditors – WDL Championship sponsor; McNamee Tyres – WDL Shield sponsor; Quality Tractor Parts – WDL weekly fixture sponsor.

WDL Week 3 Fixtures

McHugh’s vs Beech Tree, Wagon Wheel vs Western Gem, Tom’s Bar vs Kerrigan’s, Esker Inn vs Bridge Bar, Murray’s vs Maypole, Clarke’s vs Don’s Bar

Westmeath County Darts Trial

Jason Waters took home his third WCD Trial this season, beating Simon Heffernan 3-2 in the final of the latest event held in Dan's Tavern, Athlone. With this win, Jason jumps ahead of his brother Sean in the race to also be the #1 ranked thrower in the county, while Simon consolidates his position firmly in the Automatic Top 10 places given to the A Team this season. Strong runs on the day were made by Sylvester Keane and Alan Fitzsimons. Simon picked up the golden raffle ticket for the 50/50 draw to cap a decent day’s work for him.