Bobby's News Report
Monday 13th February 2012
Fife News
This Thursday the men and women are back in Super League action. Fixtures in round nine of the men’s sees Cowdenbeath receive the bye while the ties have the two Lochgelly teams in opposition with the B team being hosts to the A team at the Railway Tavern, Bowhill. In the other two matches Dunfermline A face East Fife at the Barley Sheaf and Glenrothes await the visit of Dunfermline B at the CISWO.
In the women’s games, top plays bottom as Kennoway Bowling Club play hosts to the Railway Tavern, the Auld Shank have a home tie against the CISWO and the Sunbeam Inn are at home to Dunfermline. All matches start from 8.00pm.
This weekend the Scottish Open will be contested at the Normandy Hotel, Renfrew and several players from the Kingdom will be going along to compete. The weekend begins on the Friday night with the popular mixed triples event which is entry on the night then the singles competitions begin in earnest on the Saturday from 10.00am onwards being played down to the latter stages with those lucky enough to reach this part of the tournament returning for action on Sunday. Also being held on the Sunday are the doubles competitions with entries being taken up until 4.00pm on Saturday afternoon. The weekend concludes with the finals being played on stage on Sunday afternoon/evening.
If anyone wishes to see a copy of the draw to see when, or who they are due to play prior to travelling to the venue, a copy can be downloaded from the SDA website at www.scottishdarts.com
Lochgelly News
The next monthly meeting of the Lochgelly & District Darts Association will be held on Wednesday. The meeting will be held in Shardys and starts from 7.30pm. On the agenda for this meeting will be the short man team events as the triples, fours and fives draws will be made that evening.
Monday 6th February 2012
The Scotland Youth Committee recently convened to select their team for the forthcoming British Internationals which will be held in Llanelli in April and there was good news for one of the members of Fife’s Youth Academy as Ballingry teenager Brendyn Donnelly (pictured with sponsor Ronnie Grant of R.B. Grant Electrical Contractors) was chosen to represent his country at national level for the Scottish youth team. Brendyn, who plays his darts on a Friday night with the Craigie Bar’s A team is delighted to be given the chance to play for Scotland once again and is also in the running for a place in the national side’s WDF World Cup squad held in Belgium in July of this year and at the age of sixteen he still has a few years left in him at this level.
Brendo with sponsor Ronnie Grant (R.B.Grant Electrical Contractors)
Joining Brendyn in the squad for the Internationals are Arran Edwards (West Lothian) Bradley Weston (Grampian) and Neil Cooper, also from Grampian. In the girls team the two players have also came from the Grampian region and they are Emily Davidson and Louise Duncan.
Fife’s Inter County team recently travelled up to Dundee where they were in action against Tay Valley and it was a fantastic day for the Fifer’s as they came away with wins in all four matches.
The day started with Toni McLaren winning the opening set of the day in the women’s B as she came through her tie to win 2-1 with a 14.52 average. The home side took the next set but Fifer’s Lauren Torrance (12.63) and Izzy Docherty (13.92) won their games 2-1 and 2-0 to win the match 3-1 in Fife’s favour.
Next up were the men’s B team and Tay Valley took the first and third sets but with Paddy Reilly (3-2 for 21.98) winning the second set for Fife, meant they trailed the hosts 2-1. Allan Candlish levelled the score at 2-2 with a 3-2 win for 23.79 followed by Stuart McGaulley winning 3-0 with 22.77 putting the visitors 3-2 ahead. Last man up for Fife was Raymy Gardner and he came through a tough tie with Ian Jolly to win the set 3-1 (20.76) giving Fife a hard earned victory on the day.
Next up were the women’s A team and Fife got off to a flyer with Steph Gilmour producing a phenomenal performance out on the day with an awesome 3-0 win in 22, 15 and 20 darts for an average of 26.37 to put Fife 1-0 ahead. Ina MacNeil then followed this up with a 3-1 win for 17.96 but Tay Valley’s Kate Smith pulled one back in the third set beating Gillian Hepplewhite before Rone Mollison squared the match winning 3-1 against Brenda Hunter. With the score at 2-2, Sheena Fotheringham gave Fife the advantage again going into the last set as she won 3-1 with 16.26 before seeing Maggie Burns win her set by the same score for 17.23 to give Fife a 4-2 win.
The last match was the men’s A and the first two sets went against the darts with Tay Valley taking the first set before Ian Cochrane made the score one set all winning without the loss of a leg with 26.84. Colin Hepplewhite then put Fife 2-1 up with a 3-1 win for 24.85 only to see the home side level the match at 2-2. James Scougall then gave the visitors the lead again (3-2 with 22.26) before seeing Colin “Flash” Feeley (3-0 with 27.33) make the score 4-2 halfway through the match. Colin Miller then widened the gap with a 3-0 win (23.12) and Kevin Feeley won his set ensuring Fife would not lose as they went 6-2 in front following his 3-0 win for a 26.84 average. Tay Valley came back taking the next set but Alan Small sealed Fife’s return to winning ways with a 29.47 average for his 3-0 win where he was in fantastic form in a game which he scored three maximums on his way to winning in 17, 15 and 19 darts. Tay Valley took the penultimate set but Stewart Rattray made the final score 8-4 for the visitors with a 3-0 win against Rab Cree for 27.33.
Player’s of the match were; Women’s B – Kelly Thomson (TV) with 16.98, Men’s B – Allan Candlish (F) with 23.79, Women’s A – Steph Gilmour (F) with 26.37 and Men’s A – Alan Small (F) with 29.47. Ton-plus checkouts on the day came from Kenny McKay (TV) 117, John Walker (F) 110 and Paddy Reilly (F) 101. 180 scorers were Alan Small (F) scoring three while Ken Parsons (TV), Steph Gilmour (F), Glen Parsons (TV), James Scougall (F), Colin Feeley (F), Ross Parsons (TV), Math Wilson (F) and Rab Cree (TV) all scored one each.
The results see Fife in first place in the women’s B, men’s B and women’s A sections and in the men’s A they are in fourth position. In the overall table, Fife sits second with 113 points and are only one behind East Stirling who are in first place.
Monday 23rd January 2012
Last Thursday saw the men and women make a return to Super League involvement and the women’s results saw the lead change hands once again following the outcome of the matches. The Auld Shank travelled to Kennoway for their second meeting in the space of a week with the Sunbeam Inn and suffered a dent to their title aspirations as the Sunbeam ladies exacted revenge from their previous meeting and won with a reversal of the score-line by winning 4-1.Meanwhile in the CISWO, Kennoway Bowling Club game out of their match with a narrow 3-2 victory and in the other match Dunfermline inflicted a 5-0 win over the Railway Tavern in their match at the Barley Sheaf.
The above results mean that the Auld Shank lose their grasp at the top of the table and Kennoway Bowling Club regain pole position with 28 points and now have a lead of three points over the Auld Shank. Following Dunfermline’s excellent win, they have now moved onto 18 points and go up into third slot while the next two teams; the CISWO and the Sunbeam Inn share 16 points with the CISWO ladies ahead on leg difference. The Railway Tavern remains bottom with two points.
In the men’s games, Cowdenbeath continued their unbeaten run and recorded a 6-2 win against their opponents Dunfermline A. Lochgelly B suffered a home defeat at the hands of Glenrothes and East Fife ran out 7-1 winners over Dunfermline B. These results mean East Fife have moved to first place and sit top with 46 points. Despite being idle with having the bye, Lochgelly A are second with 44 points but have been joined by Cowdenbeath, who also have 44pts but Lochgelly A have a superior leg difference giving them the higher placing, as well as having the advantage of having a game in hand over their near rivals. In fourth place are Glenrothes who move up to 43 points so with only three points separating the top four teams it is a very closely contested competition this season. In fifth place are Lochgelly B with 25 and Dunfermline A sit sixth and are one point behind the Lochgelly side with 24, while bottom of the table are Dunfermline B with thirteen points.
Last Saturday the Scottish Mixed Doubles finals were held at Bannockburn Social Club and Fife had two pairs represented at this stage. Unfortunately Lauren Torrance and Stuart McGaulley bowed out in the first round losing 3-0 to the Grampian pairing of A.Barry and G.Leslie but Lynn Cowan and Stewart Rattray made steady progress throughout the day. They came through their first match with a narrow 3-2 win against S.Neish & J.Anderson from Renfrewshire in the last sixty four before then winning 3-1 against Highland duo E.Callander and S.Christie. In the last sixteen round the Fifer’s ran out 3-0 winners against the East Renfrew duo of J.McFarlane and M.Sheehan before deposing of the Central partnership of Sharon Macfarlane and Duncan Hastings in the quarter finals but it was in the semi’s where their magnificent run would come to an end and Lynn and Stewart lost out in the fifth leg decider losing 3-2 to Susannah Young and recent Lakeside qualifier Gary Stone from East Renfrewshire. In the final Susannah and Gary met Jenni Tully and Craig Baxter and they won the title with a 3-2 victory to become this year’s champions.
The weekend before last saw the Granite City Youth Open being contested at the Station Hotel in Aberdeen and Fife had a few representatives competing. In the Under-15 mixed boys and girls competition Jordan Forbes made it through to the last sixteen and won his game in that round 3-0 before then losing to John Reid in the quarter finals by the same score which was no mean feat considering this was the first major youth event Jordan was playing in. John progressed to the final but the U-15 title went to Ryan Sinclair.
In the Under-18’s Jordan lost out in the last thirty two round but Danny Robertson and Brendyn Donnelly winning 3-2 and 3-1 respectively. Danny then fell victim in the next round losing 3-0 but Brendyn made it through winning 3-0 before going on to win his quarter final match by the same result. In the semi finals Brendyn made his exit as Gary Dee won their tie 3-0 to go through to the final but Gary lost 3-2 to Stuart Robertson.
The three Fifers all competed in the Under-21 competition as well and Danny bowed out in the first round (last 64 stage) after he lost his game 3-1. Both Jordan and Brendyn made it through to the next round courtesy of receiving byes and Jordan left the field of play at this stage as he lost 3-1 but he gained some valuable experience at this level of competition during the weekend. Brendyn won his match in this round winning by the odd leg in five before then putting out Ben Scott with a 3-1 win in the last sixteen. He then went on to won his quarter final match 3-2 to set up a meeting in the semis with rival and Scotland Youth Europe Cup team mate Liam Duguid and as expected it was another classic encounter between the two which went all the way with Brendo winning the deciding leg to win 3-2 and make his way through to the final. In the final his opponent was Sean Ryan from Aberdeen and this was another great match to round off the weekend. The first four legs were shared and with the score standing at two legs each, Brendyn had three darts at double top to take the title and agonisingly he wired all three only to see Sean then check out with his last dart at tops to win the match and take this year’s title.
There were also girls U-18 and U-21 tournaments played as well for the first time this year and the two finals featured the same two players, Sophie Elrick and Emily Davidson and it was Emily who was triumphant in both. She won the U-18 title by winning 3-0 and in the U-21’s a 3-1 victory gave Emily her second title of the weekend.
This Sunday Fife’s Inter County darts team have a trip to Dundee to take on Tay Valley. The venue for the match is the Stobswell Sports & Recreation Club in the city’s Raglan Street and starts from 10.30am. All players are reminded that if they are unable to attend, or if they are travelling to the venue by means of their own transport that they should inform their team managers. Pick up points and times for the bus are as follows; Golden Acorn, Glenrothes at 8.30am, Chapel Farm roundabout at 8.45, the flyover at the Cowdenbeath junction at 8.50 and Lauder College, Dunfermline, 8.55am.
A reminder in ending that the closing date for the Scottish Open is the 31st of this month so anyone who still hasn’t submitted their entry forms only has until close of play next Tuesday as no further entries will be taken after then. Copies of the entry form can be downloaded off the SDA and Fife Darts websites, or you can obtain one from your team rep or a member of the Fife committee but be quick.
Monday 16th January 2012
Last Thursday the Auld Shank ladies Super League team played hosts to the ladies from the Sunbeam Inn and the match ended in a 4-1 win for the home side. Player of the match was the Shank’s Brenda Hunter who won her game 3-1 with a 16.71 average. The fastest game was a nineteen dart leg from Maggie Burns of the Sunbeam.
This result puts the Ballingry side top of the league but only by the narrowest of margins as Kennoway Bowling Club sit in second place one point behind the Auld Shank. Third place are the CISWO with 14, followed by Dunfermline in fourth with 11 points, then the Sunbeam come fifth with 10 and bottom of the league are the Railway Tavern who have two points.
The next round of fixtures is this Thursday and the Auld Shank and the Sunbeam meet again, this time at the Kennoway pub. The CISWO are at home to Kennoway Bowling Club and completing the round is Dunfermline who have a home tie at the Barley Sheaf against the Railway Tavern. All matches start at 8.00pm.
Also on Thursday, the men are back in action and this round sees the start of the second half of the season with leaders Lochgelly A sitting out with the bye. The games taking place this round see East Fife take on Dunfermline B at the Brig Tavern in Methil, Lochgelly B await the visit of Glenrothes at the Railway Tavern, Bowhill, and Cowdenbeath are looking to extend their unbeaten run with a home tie with Dunfermline A in the Junction Bar.
On Saturday the Scottish finals of the Mixed Doubles takes place in Bannockburn Social Club. Representing Fife will be the two pairs who won through from the qualifier held last month and they are Lynn Cowan and Stewart Rattray and Lauren Torrance and Stuart McGaulley. Players are asked to be in the venue for 12.00 noon for a 12.30pm start time.
Finally, the closing date for the Scottish Open is almost upon us and any players from the Kingdom wishing to take part in the competition are reminded that no late entries will be taken after the closing date of 31st January. If there is anyone who hasn’t already entered, you can do so by downloading a copy of the entry form from the SDA website or you can obtain one from your team rep or a member of the Fife committee.
Monday 19th December 2011
As last Thursday’s matches in the women’s Super League were cancelled there are no results to report. However the men’s Super League went ahead as scheduled and the results saw Lochgelly A suffer their first reversal since season 2008-09 as Cowdenbeath inflicted a 5-3 defeat upon them at the Junction Bar. At the Brig Tavern, Methil, Lochgelly B suffered a similar loss as East Fife won their match by five sets to three as well. Meanwhile in the Silver Birch, the two Dunfermline tams clashed and the result saw the A team run out comfortable winners with a 6-2 victory over their B team.
These results after the season has reached the midway mark with everyone having played six matches see Lochgelly A remain top despite losing and they sit in first place with 44 points. It is a close fight for second place and only two points split the next three teams. East Fife’s win see them move up to second slot and they are seven points behind Lochgelly A with 37pts, Cowdenbeath’s unbeaten run continues and they jump up to third place and are only one point behind East Fife with 36pts and Glenrothes are a point behind them in fourth with 35pts. Lochgelly B remain in fifth and move onto 23 points and Dunfermline A’s win sees them move to within one point of Lochgelly B as they sit with 22 points and the bottom team are Dunfermline B who have 13 points.
Next Wednesday (28th) the CISWO, Glenrothes, will be hosting the 16th Annual Christmas Cup. The competition will commence at 1.00pm and all teams, if they have pre-entered or not, should be in the club for 12.30 at the earliest to register prior to the draw being made. Following the Cup there will also be a singles tournament held. Entry fees are £20 per team for the Cup and the singles is £5 per player.
On behalf of all involved with Fife Darts Association, Bobby Adamson would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Monday 12th December 2011
Last Thursday’s planned Super League match between the Auld Shank and the Sunbeam Inn fell foul of the adverse weather conditions and had to be cancelled yet again. The match has now been rescheduled for next month and hopefully will go ahead at the third time of asking.
This Thursday it is the turn of the Fife men’s Super League teams to be in action and this round marks the halfway point of the season. The fixtures in round seven sees Cowdenbeath take on leaders Lochgelly A at the Junction Bar; East Fife await the visit of Lochgelly B at the Brig Tavern in Methil; Dunfermline B play hosts to their A team at the Silver Birch and Glenrothes have the bye.
Fife’s Inter County team recently met Highland and it was a day of mixed fortunes for the home side. The day began with the Women’s B team with Izzy Docherty winning 2-1 with 13.17 then Toni McLaren won by the same score for 12.37. The third set went to the visitors but Pearl Scott sealed the win for Fife winning 2-0 against Marian Ogg with a 15.43 average making the result 3-1 in Fife’s favour.
The Men’s B were next on and Raymond Gardner opened Fife’s account with a 3-0 win with 20.88. The second set went to Highland and James Scougall put Fife back in front with a 3-2 win with 26.11. Highland levelled once again by winning the fourth set but the remaining two sets went Fife’s way with Paddy Reilly winning 3-0 for 22.43 and Stuart McGaulley won the final set to win the match as came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 with 21.81 to give Fife a 4-2 victory.
Next up were the Women’s A and the Highland team looked to be in control as they took the first two sets 3-1 and 3-2 respectively. Fife fought back though and Ina MacNeill pulled one back in the third set winning 3-1 with 16.96 and this was followed up by Steph Gilmour winning without the loss of a leg for 16.52 to square the match at 2-2. Sheena Fotheringham then put Fife in front ensuring they could not be beaten as she beat Joyce Elder by the odd leg in five with a 16.27 average which included a 105 checkout in the fourth leg. It was all in vain though as the final set went to the visitors and the final result was a 3-3 draw.
The Men’s A match was the last of the day and first man for Fife was Rab Shaw who won 3-0 with a 120 checkout to win the third leg with an average of 21.47 before Nelson Brown then put Fife 2-0 up winning 3-2 with 26.66. Things then turned sour for the home side as it wasn’t for another seven sets before Fife got another chalk up on the board, a series of sets which gave the Highlander’s a lead which was sufficient to give them the match at 7-2 but there were still three sets to be played and Math Wilson won his set in superb form with 24.97 and his 3-2 win included a 100 finish to go 2-1 up and he sealed the set in the fifth leg with a 151 out shot for an 18 dart leg. The penultimate set went to the visitors and last man Alan Small had a fantastic performance with a 3-1 win for a 28.06 average making the final result 8-4 to Highland.
Players of the match were; Women’s B – Lesley Dawson (H) 16.43, Men’s B – James Scougall (F) 26.11, Women’s A – Olive Byamukama (H) 19.37, Men’s A – Alan Small (F) 28.06. There were six ton plus checkouts on the day and they were; 151 Math Wilson (F), 122 Euan Callander (H), 120 Rab Shaw (F), 118 Steven Mitchell (H), 105 Sheena Fotheringham (F), 100 Math Wilson (F). 180 scorers were; James Scougall (F), Nelson Brown (F), Euan Callander (H), Sandy Morrison (H), Dougie Milne (H) all with one and Barry MacLean (H) and Pete Naughton (F) with two maximums apiece.
Fife and Highland play a memorial trophy, the Spikey Shield, in their matches and it is decided on the overall sets score and on this occasion the result was 14-14. As in golf’s Ryder Cup, the format is if the match score is a draw then the previous winners retain the shield and as Highland had won the trophy last season, they get to keep it until the teams meet again next year.
Also on Thursday, round five of the women's Super League takes place and the fixtures are as follows; Auld Shank vs Kennoway Bowling Club, Railway Tavern vs Sunbeam Inn and Dunfermline vs CISWO at the Barley Sheaf.
Monday 5th December 2011
Thursday night sees the Auld Shank ladies involved in Super League action as they await the visit of the Sunbeam Inn team. The match starts at 8.00pm. On Saturday the CISWO hosts the Fife qualifier for the Scottish Mixed Doubles. Pairs can enter on the day and entry fee is £8 per team. The first game toes the oche at 1.00pm and the lucky qualifiers will go through to the national finals in January.
Monday 28th November 2011
Results from last Thursday’s men’s Super League saw Lochgelly A run out convincing winners at the Red Goth against Dunfermline A winning seven sets to one to extend their lead at the top of the table to six points. Elsewhere Glenrothes and Cowdenbeath fought out a 4-4 draw in the CISWO and Dunfermline B lost 3-5 to opponents Lochgelly B at the Silver Birch.
The league standings following the latest round has Lochgelly A in first place winning five games from five and having amassed 41 points and Glenrothes are second with 35 points. Third place are East Fife with 30 points who have a game in hand over Glenrothes and next come Cowdenbeath who are on 29 points following their third successive draw last week. Fifth is Lochgelly B with 20 points, Dunfermline A are in sixth with 14 and their B team counterparts sit bottom with 11 points.
The best players from the matches last week saw Alan Small (Lochgelly A) register the highest average with 30.06, the highest checkout was 160 which was by Colin Hepplewhite (Lochgelly A) and Math Wilson (Lochgelly B) had the fastest leg which was in 13 darts. Top of the averages following his 30.06 is Alan Small who goes into first position with a dynamic average of 31.53.
The Scottish Mixed Triples finals were held in Bannockburn Social Club on Saturday and two teams represented Fife. Both made it through to round two which was the last 32 and one select went out at this stage when Steph Gilmour’s team went down 3-1 to Lorraine Hyde, Keith Stephen and Steve Falconer from Grampian. Gordon Donnelly’s team won their way through to the last sixteen round though progressing by way of a 3-1 win against Moira Burnett’s select from Ayrshire. In the next round however they came up against Jenni Tully, Craig Baxter and Benny Keenan from Clackmannan and this was where they made their exit as they lost by three legs to nil. The Clackmannan trio went on to win their section to reach the final where they met George Dalglish, Irene Wylie and Mike Veitch and the result went 3-2 to Jenni’s triple to give them the title.
Thursday evening sees Fife Darts Association hold their next monthly meeting which will be held in the CISWO, Glenrothes and start from 7.30pm.
On Saturday Fife’s county players are once again in action, this time they have a home tie against Highland. The match takes place in the CISWO and the women’s B kick the day’s events off when they take to the stage at 10.30am. Spectators wishing to go along will be able to enter the venue by programme which costs £2 at the door.
Monday 21st November 2011
This Wednesday evening Lochgelly & District Darts Association hold their monthly meeting. The meeting will be held in Shardys and commence from 7.30pm.
Results from last Thursday’s women’s Super League matches saw top of the table Kennoway Bowling Club record a 4-1 home win over Dunfermline, the Railway Tavern went down 0-5 to the Auld Shank and the Sunbeam Inn lost 2-3 against the CISWO. The results keep Kennoway in first position with 23 points and have a five point lead over the Auld Shank who are in second place with 18 points as well as having a game in hand over the leaders. The CISWO have moved up into third place following their win and move onto 14pts, having swapped positions with Dunfermline who move down to fourth on 10pts. The Sunbeam is one point behind Dunfermline but they have a game in hand and bottom of the table are the Railway Tavern with two points. Top average from this round of games was 18.79 by Ina MacNeill (Auld Shank) and Frances Wood (Kennoway Bowling Club) and the fastest leg was in 22 darts by Steph Gilmour (Kennoway Bowling Club) and Jane Jarrett (Auld Shank).
This Thursday the men are back in action with Lochgelly A at home in the Red Goth, Lochore to Dunfermline A, Lochgelly B are away to Dunfermline B at the Barley Sheaf and in the remaining tie Glenrothes have a home tie at the CISWO and await the visit of opponents Cowdenbeath. East Fife receives the bye in this round.
On Saturday the national finals of the Scottish Mixed Triples will be contested at Bannockburn Social Club and Fife has two teams representing them at this stage. The triples who qualified from the regional playoff recently were a Gordon Donnelly select with Gordon’s playing partners being Ian Cochrane and Brenda Hunter and the Steph Gilmour select of Steph, Colin McClements and Ryan Thomson. The finals will be starting at 1.00pm so all teams should be in the venue by 12.30 to register.
Last Saturday Fife was in Inter County action once more and this time they were on the road to East Stirlingshire at Pennies Bar, Falkirk. The day started well for the visiting Fifer’s as the women’s B team had an excellent 4-0 win with all players winning without dropping a leg. In order the winning team and their averages were; Lauren Torrance (13.18), Toni McLaren (13.36), Izzy Docherty (10.66) and Gillian Hepplewhite (13.73). Next up were the men’s B and the first two set both went against the darts with Allan Candlish levelling the match at 1-1 in the second set with a 3-2 win for 23.81. The home side then won the next three sets to ensure victory before Raymy Gardiner made the score look a bit respectable winning 3-1 with a 23.25 average.
The women’s A match was next and Steph Gilmour put Fife in front with a 3-0 win for 18.56 however the Shire ladies took control of the match by taking the next three sets to go 3-1 ahead. Sheena Fotheringham pulled a set back for Fife with a 3-0 win with 18.79 to put the score at 3-2 before Frances Wood squared the match at three sets each winning 3-1 with a 14.27 average to take a share of the points for the Fife ladies.
The final match of the day was the men’s A and the Fife were 2-0 down after the first two sets. Colin Miller put a chalk up on the board for Fife with a 3-1 win with 27.47 which was followed up by a 3-1 win from Stewart Rattray who posted a 29.48 average on the way to making the score two sets all. Kevin Feeley then put Fife ahead with a 3-2 win with 23.02 before Pete Naughton secured the next set with a fifth leg decider for another 3-2 win for a 26.78 average which put the visitors firmly in front at 4-2 halfway through the match. East Stirling are a quality side and their strength in depth showed as they reeled off the remaining six sets losing only six legs on their way to an 8-4 victory. Two of the sets had gone to the final fifth leg so a share of the points could have been on the cards for the visitors had things gone differently but it wasn’t to be and East Stirling ran out winners on this occasion in another excellent match between the two counties. The team averages in the men’s A reflected how high the standard was with East Stirling at 26.46 and Fife not far behind with 25.36.
Players of the match were; Ladies B – Gillian Hepplewhite (Fife) with 13.73, Men’s B – John Donaldson (East Stirling) with 30.06, Ladies A – Sheena Fotheringham (Fife) with 18.79 and the Men’s A was Duncan Hastings (East Stirling) with 31.71. 180 scorers were; Duncan Hastings (E/S) with an incredible four maximums in five legs of darts, while Christine Jenkins (E/S), Alan Burnett (E/S), Ian Swan (E/S), John Goldie (E/S), Colin Miller (F), Stewart Rattray (F), Brian Donaldson (E/S), Iain Jones (E/S) and Math Wilson (F) all scored one each. The highest checkouts on the day were; 156 by John Robertson (E/S), 148 by John Donaldson (E/S), 125 by Iain Jones (E/S) and 103 by John Goldie (E/S).
Monday 14th November 2011
Last Thursday the latest round of matches in the men’s Super League were played and the results saw Lochgelly A come out their match with a 7-1 victory over Dunfermline B at the Red Goth. East Fife had a fine 6-2 win over Glenrothes and in the other match Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly B fought out a 4-4 draw. The results mark the return to the top of the table of last season’s champions Lochgelly A and they now sit in first place with 32 points and have a narrow two point lead over both Glenrothes and East Fife who share second place with 30pts each and both with a similar leg average. Lochgelly A also have a game in hand over both these teams. In fourth place are Cowdenbeath with 24pts, fifth are Dunfermline A with 13 and although Lochgelly B have moved onto the same points total, their leg difference puts them behind the Dunfermline side in sixth position. Holding up the table are Dunfermline B who sit bottom on 8 points. The player of the round was Alan Small (Lochgelly A) with a 28.90 average. The highest checkout was 141 by Rab Shaw (Glenrothes) and the fastest leg was in 15 darts which came from Kevin O’Hagan (Lochgelly B). Top of the averages is Pete Naughton (Lochgelly A) with a dynamic average of 29.92.
This Thursday it is the turn of the women and round four fixtures have the leaders Kennoway Bowling Club at home against Dunfermline, while elsewhere the Railway Tavern are at home to the Auld Shank and the Sunbeam play hosts to the CISWO in the remaining tie.
On Saturday Fife’s Inter County teams will be in action as they face the short trip to Falkirk to play East Stirlingshire. The venue for the match will be Pennies Bar and bus pick up points and times will be; Golden Acorn, Glenrothes at 8.30am, Chapel Farm roundabout at 8.40 followed by the flyover at Cowdenbeath at 8.45 before the final call at Lauder College at 8.55. Any players who are unable to attend should contact their team manager.
Last Saturday Fife held their qualifier for the Scottish Mixed Triples and the two board finals saw Gordon Donnelly select win against Kath Aldred select by three legs to one and Steph Gilmour select won 3-2 against Gill Hepplewhite select. Gordon’s team consisting of him, Brenda Hunter and Ian Cochrane and Steph’s partners, Colin McClements and Ryan Thomson, will now all go through to Bannockburn on the 26th of this month to compete in the national finals.
Fife also held their annual youth competition on Saturday and the players making their way through to the semi finals saw Jordan Forbes (Glenrothes) win his way to the final with a 3-0 win against Liam McCormick (Dunfermline) and in the other semi Jamie Clark (Dunfermline) and Brendyn Donnelly (Ballingry) fought out one of the best games of the day with Brendyn winning a fifth leg shoot out to stake his place in the final where he then went on to win by three legs to one to win the title. This was a significant win for Brendyn, who is pictured with one of his sponsors, Ronnie Grant of R.B. Grant Electrical Contractors, as he has been looking for that magnificent seventh youth title having won six on the bounce earlier in the year only to lose in two finals of the last three tournaments he has played in complete with a semi-final exit at the recent Berwick weekend. Not only was this Brendyn’s seventh competitive win but it also meant he had won the Fife Youth Singles for a third year in succession.
Monday 7th November 2011
Fife Darts Association has recently started up a Youth Academy in the hope that it will bring through future stars for the county and the first night was held last week. If there are enough youngsters attending regularly, then Fife will be running them to the Scottish Youth tournaments which take place at Riley’s in Stirling. The Academy is open to all players – boys and girls – mainly between the ages of 13 and 18 but if there is anyone younger and wanting to come along, please feel free to as no one will get turned away. Events on the evenings will vary from playing darts, helping with numeracy skills and learning how to count the various ways for finishing and going on to scoring a match on a laptop using the Darts for Windows programme which all teams use for Super League and Inter Counties.
For anyone who has children who are interested in the game and wish to pursue their hobby further, the Academy takes place each Wednesday evening between the hours of 7.00 and 9.00pm in the CISWO, Glenrothes and there is no charge for the players who turn up on the night.
While on the subject of youth darts, there will also be a tournament on Saturday, run by Fife Darts and this will also be held in the CISWO and run alongside the Fife qualifier for the Scottish Mixed Triples. Entry for the youth tournament is only £1 and for the Mixed Triples it will be £9 per team. The darts will start at 1.00pm so players should be in the venue and registered prior to then. For those who qualify from the Mixed Triples play-off, the national finals take place in Bannockburn Social Club on Saturday 26th November.
On Thursday night, round five of the men’s Super League goes ahead and the fixtures are as follows; East Fife vs Glenrothes at the Brig Tavern, Methil, Lochgelly A vs Dunfermline B at the Red Goth, Lochore and Cowdenbeath vs Lochgelly B at the Junction Bar. The bye this time around goes to Dunfermline’s A team.
Monday 31st October 2011
Fife Darts Association will be holding their monthly meeting for November this Thursday evening. The meeting will be held in the CISWO, Glenrothes, and start from 7.30pm.
The results from last Thursday’s men’s Super League saw Glenrothes remain top of the table following a 5-3 win against Dunfermline A while East Fife went down 6-2 to Lochgelly A and in the remaining match Dunfermline B and Cowdenbeath slogged out a 4-4 draw. The results see Glenrothes stay in pole position with 28pts, Lochgelly A leapfrog East Fife to move into second place and are five points behind the leaders with a game in hand. East Fife slip a place to third with 22pts and Cowdenbeath are in fourth with 19. In fifth place are Dunfermline A on 13pts, sixth place is Lochgelly B with 8 and Dunfermline B sit bottom, one point behind with seven.
There was a game in the women’s Super League which took place on Thursday as well and the result saw Kennoway Bowling Club come away with a fine 3-2 home victory over last season’s winners, the CISWO. This result means Kennoway extend their lead at the top and now sit with 17 points. The Auld Shank are in second with 11pts and a game in hand over the top team. In third are Dunfermline with 10pts, fourth place goes to the CISWO who are on 9. The Sunbeam are fifth with 7 points, but they also have a game in hand and bottom team are the Railway Tavern with 2 points.
Monday 24th October 2011
This Thursday night is round four for the men in Fife’s Super League and leaders Glenrothes have a home tie at the CISWO against Dunfermline A. Second placed East Fife meet third placed Lochgelly A in the tie of the round with the Methil throwers at home at the Brig Tavern and in the other match, Dunfermline B take on Cowdenbeath with the Cowden players only having to travel up to the Silver Birch for their match. The bye this time out goes to Lochgelly B.
There is also a women’s fixture taking place on Thursday as the postponed match between Kennoway Bowling Club and the CISWO will be played.
The women’s results from last Thursday saw the Auld Shank win 3-2 at home to Dunfermline while Kennoway Bowling Club won by the same score at near neighbours, the Sunbeam Inn. In the other match the CISWO ran out 4-1 winners at home to the Railway Tavern. Player of the round was Steph Gilmour with the highest finish, fastest leg and also the top average with a 90 checkout, a 21 dart leg and a 19.12 average.
These results put the league table as follows; 1st Kennoway Bowling Club (12pts), 2nd Auld Shank (11pts), 3rd Dunfermline 10pts, 4th CISWO (7pts), 5th Sunbeam (7pts) and 6th Railway Tavern (2pts).
Last Saturday the Scottish doubles finals were held at Bannockburn Social Club and in the women’s competition Janette Adam and Sheena Fotheringham made it through to the last sixteen round before bowing out to Clare and Michelle Cruikshanks and Fife’s other representatives, Gillian Hepplewhite and Pearl Scott made it a round further by reaching the quarter finals before losing out to Lynn Cowan and Susana Young.
In the men’s event, two pairs made it through to the latter stages. Ian Cochrane and James Scougall made their exit in the last thirty two round losing by the odd leg to the Central pairing of M.Airnes and J.Stirling. In the same round Davie Lessels and Wullie Stuart won without the loss of a leg to get through to the last sixteen of the competition where they lost out in the deciding leg against Gary Stone and A.Jamieson from East Renfrewshire.
The two pairs which won their respective titles were Drew Callary and John Murdoch (West Ayrshire) with a 3-1 win against Alan Soutar and B.Beattie from Angus and the women’s winners were the Lothian duo of Danielle Fenwick and Amanda Cox who also won 3-1 against Tay Valley’s Irene Hancock and J.Whyte.
Monday 17th October 2011
This Thursday night sees round three of the women’s Super League take place and the fixtures have the Auld Shank at home to leaders Dunfermline, the CISWO meet the Railway Tavern in Glenrothes and the final match sees the big derby match where The Sunbeam are at home to Kennoway Bowling Club.
On Saturday several Fife players will travel to Bannockburn to represent the Kingdom at the national finals of the Scottish Doubles. Competing in the women’s doubles will be Sheena Fotheringham & Janette Adam and Gillian Hepplewhite & Pearl Scott. In the men’s event the competitors are; Kevin Feeley & Colin Hepplewhite, Ian Cochrane & James Scougall, Chris Izatt & Rab Shaw and Davie Lessels & Willie Stuart. All players are reminded to be in the venue and be registered by 12 noon as the darts will start at 12.30pm.
In last Thursday’s men’s Super League the match between Lochgelly A and Glenrothes at the Red Goth, Lochore, saw some fantastic darts. None more so than the match between Colin Feeley and Rab Shaw which Rab won 3-1 with an average of 30.13. Colin Miller’s twelve dart leg in the final set where he checked out 121 on the bull was quite spectacular as well. Other ton plus checkouts came from; James Scougall (Lochgelly) 123, Pete Naughton (Lochgelly) and Rab Shaw (Glenrothes) with 116 and Stuart McGaulley (Lochgelly) with 109. Maximum scorers were Pete Naughton and Colin Miller with one each. The outcome of the match was decided in the penultimate set when Colin Hepplewhite beat John Carrett to put Lochgelly 5-2 ahead but Glenrothes won the final set to make the final score 5-3.
In the Lochgelly B versus Dunfermline A match, Lochgelly could have won their first point of the season, but at 4-3 up they lost the last set for a creditable draw against their opponents. There were three 25-plus averages in the game, the highest coming from Dunfermline’s Allan Candlish with 25.91. Math Wilson (Lochgelly) registered 25.67 and Craig Mellon (Dunfermline) had 25.05.
The score from the remaining match saw East Fife lose at home, going down 5-3 to visitors Cowdenbeath. These results mean the league table now sits as; 1st Glenrothes (21pts), 2nd East Fife (20pts), 3rd Lochgelly (15pts with a game in hand), 4th Cowdenbeath (14pts, also with a game in hand), 5th Dunfermline A 10pts, 6th Lochgelly B (8pts) and 7th Dunfermline B (2pts).
In Fife’s Inter County match against Perthshire recently, Fife came away with a 17-11 win from the match with three of the four teams all recording a second win in their respective divisions.
The day started with the women’s B and Margaret Burns got Fife of to a leading start winning her game 2-0 with 13.73 only to see this cancelled out after Perthshire won the next set. However, Toni McLaren (13.92) and Lauren Torrance (15.90) both won 2-0 to help give Fife a 3-1 win.
In the men’s B Colin McClements (22.77) and Allan Candlish (25.05) both won 3-0 to put Fife two nil in front but Perth pulled a set back in the next game before then squaring the match at 2-2. Raymond Gardiner (23.30) then put Fife back in front with a 3-0 win and Kevin O’Hagan won the deciding leg in his set to make the score 4-2 for Fife with a 3-2 win for 19.36.
The women’s A match were next on and Fife got off to a good start with Frances Wood winning 3-0 (12.12). This was followed up with three successive wins for the home team as Sheena Fotheringham (15.49) won 3-1, Ina MacNeil won 3-1 with 12.43 and Steph Gilmour sealed the victory with a 3-2 win for 15.74) to give Fife a 4-0 lead. Perth won the next set but Brenda Hunter restored the four point gap winning 3-1 with an average of 16.63 making the final score 5-1 in Fife’s favour.
The men’s A match was last on and Colin Miller (21.76) won 3-2 then Alan Small put Fife 2-0 up with a 3-1 win for 26.89. However, a combination of missed doubles from the Fife side and some fine performances from the Perthshire players saw the visitors reel off the next seven sets in succession to put them 7-2 up and put the result beyond Fife. The last three sets went Fife’s way though to make the final score a bit more respectable looking at 7-5 to Perthshire as Gordon Donnelly won 3-2 with 22.35, then Colin Feeley and Colin Hepplewhite rounded off the match with 3-1 wins with 29.76 and 25.51 averages respectively.
Player of the match awards were as follows; Women’s B – Lauren Torrance (Fife) with 15.90, Men’s B – Allan Candlish (Fife) with 25.05, Women’s A – Brenda Hunter (Fife) with 16.63 and the Men’s A was Fife’s Colin Feeley with 29.76.
Monday 10th October 2011
This Thursday night, the third round of the men’s Super League goes ahead with the league leaders Glenrothes travelling to the Red Goth in Lochore to take on Lochgelly A. Lochgelly B play hosts to Dunfermline A at the Railway Tavern in Bowhill and in the other tie Cowdenbeath have a home tie against East Fife at the Junction Bar. The bye this time around goes to Dunfermline B.
In the recent challenge match where members of the Fife county squad faced a select team from East Fife and Glenrothes, the day proved to be a big success and over £2000 was raised for the beneficiaries with proceeds from the day being split between the widow and family of the late Steve Scobie, cancer victim George Walker as well as some of the money also being donated to the CISWO’s effort to raise money for the families of the Welsh Mining disaster.
Before the match was started the Fife committee announced that should any of the select team manage to win with an average that was higher than the best winning average from the members of the county select that they would be rewarded with an invitation to sign up and become part of the Fife squad.
To start the day off, George Walker played Alex Scobie and Podge, playing for the select team won the first set 3-1. In the next set Colin Hepplewhite met Chris Izatt with Chris setting the benchmark for the rest of the select team as he won 3-2 with a 24.89 average staking his claim for the available spot in the Fife squad. Gordon Donnelly also lost his set for Fife as Jeff Wardlaw won 3-2 with 21.97.
With Fife’s opponents not having any female players, Fife’s ladies team was split and playing for the “opponents” was Toni McLaren but the more experienced Sheena Fotheringham won their game 3-1. Back to the men and Rab Shaw faced Derek Rea and another five leg set saw no less than eighteen scores of a ton or over in one of the best games of the day which Rab lost 3-2 and also unfortunately for Chris Izatt, Derek registered an average of 25.94 to put him in the running for the county spot. However, Alan Small saw off George Little in the next set which not only put Fife’s first chalk of the day up on the scoreboard but also with his 26.65 average, he had dashed Derek’s chances as the bar had been raised and this was now the average the select team had to better if they wanted to join the county squad.
Back to the women and Margaret Hatton followed up Alan’s win for Fife winning 3-0 against Frances Wood putting the score at 4-3 to the select team. Colin Miller levelled the match in the next set with a 3-0 win against Lothian county player Tam Drummond and Kevin Feeley then put Fife ahead for the first time in the match with a formidable 3-0 win against former Fife player Nelson Brown. The inform lady player of the moment, Steph Gilmour, was up next and she won she saw off Gillian Hepplewhite with a three nil win with the best ladies average of the day of 21.47.
Next up for the select team was another ex-Fife player who made a welcome return to the county stage. Darren Moir, who had been part of the county A team which won the Scottish County Championship title 3 years in succession marked his return to darts by winning his game against Colin McClements by three legs to nil to pull one back and make the score 6-5 for Fife. Gordon Gerrard was the man who had the misfortune to be drawn against Colin Feeley but he proved to be a worthy opponent for Fife’s number one and although he pushed Colin all the way to the fifth leg, the Fife player pulled out the best leg of the day so far and put an end to Gordon’s challenge with a thirteen dart leg for a 25.56 average with Gordon close behind on 24.71.
Ina MacNeil versus Maggie Burns were the next two players and in their match the two players managed thirteen ton scores between them in a high scoring leg and it was only the misfortune of missed doubles that stopped them beating Steph’s average. Ina won the set 3-1 with 16.96 and Maggie wasn’t that far behind her with 15.93. Alan McIntyre beat Ian Cochrane in the next set to put the score at 8-6 before the “big” match of the day – Jock Martin versus Stuart Grubb.
During the build up throughout the day, the two had been needling each other to try and get the better and there was plenty of good natured and friendly banter. Also with Jock being recently recalled to the County squad he was more than ready for Stuart. In the first leg, both players missed doubles and Stuart took the leg only to see Jock square the tie at 1-1. The next two legs were also shared and at 2-2 the players shook hands and Jock got the crowd going with a maximum to set up double nineteen before checking out a thirteen dart leg leaving Stuart trailing in his wake on 258 with the crowd all shouting Jock’s name.
The final woman’s match of the day saw Fife play their Joker as Pearl Scott was introduced to the stage, however new call up to Fife, Lauren Torrance, showed why she warranted her selection with a fine performance winning 3-0 for a 15.99 average. This young girl who also won in her first county match recently certainly looks like she will be one for the future.
In the final two sets of the day, with the score standing at 9-7, a draw was still in the sights of the select team and Garry Berwick looked a sure bet to pull it back to only one set of a difference when he took a two nil lead over John Walker. Cheesy however had other ideas and he squared the tie at 2-2 taking the set to the deciding fifth leg which he then won to end up with a 26.00 average thus putting the match beyond the select team at 10-7. Last up were Brendyn Donnelly and Rab Page and Rab went 2-0 up but the teenager won the next two legs to level only to see Rab take the final leg of the match to make the final score a respectable 10-8.
There were a couple of players who played a reserve leg after the main event was over and young Jordan Forbes who had been having a ball during the day when he took to the stage to call some of the matches met Davie Shanks with Davie winning the leg with 18.56 and the young man having 17.96. The day’s darts were concluded when Alan Brewster lost to Richard Adam.
Although Fife won the match, the men’s select team came away with a more than creditable 6-6 draw but as one of the organisers, Stuart Grubb, later said, the only winners on the day and that was the people who would benefit from the money raised. During the break at the disco afterwards, a few shirts from top darts players such as Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Colin Lloyd were sold along with a celtic top signed by Bobby Lennox and between them they boost the funds for the charities by almost £500 for which the organisers gave immense thanks to everyone for their more than generous bids and also thanked everyone for attending what had been a successful day or all involved.
Monday 2nd October 2011
This Wednesday (5th Oct) there will be an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Lochgelly & District Darts Association following discussions at last week’s meeting. The EGM will be held in Shardys and starts from 7.30pm. Due to the topics up for discussion on the agenda, it is in the best interests of the members to be in attendance.
On Thursday evening Fife Darts Association will be holding their monthly meeting in the CISWO, Glenrothes and this will also start from 7.30pm.
On Saturday Fife’s Inter County squad will be in action at the CISWO as they await the visit of Perthshire. The match starts at 10.30am and first up will be the Ladies B. All players are reminded to inform their manager if they are unable to attend and all players should be in the venue for 10.00am. For spectators wanting to go along and lend their support, entry will be by programme which costs £2 at the door.
Last Thursday the second round of matched in the men’s and women’s Super League went ahead and in the women’s fixtures, all the results saw wins for the away teams. The Railway Tavern went down 5-0 against Kennoway Bowling Club, The Auld Shank won on the road at the CISWO with a 4-1 victory and in the final match Dunfermline lost 3-2 at home to the Sunbeam. The player of the round was Kennoway Bowling Club player, Steph Gilmour, who had a fantastic game, posting a 20.59 average.
In the men’s matches, Dunfermline B suffered a heavy defeat by losing 7-1 at home to Glenrothes. East Fife won 6-2 against Dunfermline A and in the Lochgelly derby the A team ram out 6-2 winners over the B team.
There were some great darts thrown at the Red Goth in this match and five players recorded averages of 27+; Pete Naughton (27.32), Kevin and Colin Feeley both registered 27.33, Alan Small had 27.73 and James Scougall recorded an average of 27.83. No fewer than six 180’s were scored with Chris Neilson and Math Wilson scoring one each for the B team while the A team players James Scougall and Brendyn Donnelly registering one each in their games and Alan Small scored two. The highest checkout was Pete Naughton’s 101.
Monday 26th September 2011
This Wednesday (28th) Lochgelly & District Darts Association hold their next monthly meeting. The meeting takes place in Shardys and starts from 7.30pm.
On Thursday evening the second round of matches in both the men’s and women’s Super League take place. In the women’s the CISWO are at home to the Auld Shank, Dunfermline Ladies await the visit of the Sunbeam at the Barley Sheaf and the other match sees the Bowhill Railway Tavern at home against Kennoway Bowling Club.
In the men’s fixtures, Cowdenbeath have the bye this time around and the ties see the Lochgelly derby taking place in the Red Goth, Lochore where the A team are the hosts to the B team. East Fife play Dunfermline A at the Brig Tavern, Methil and Dunfermline B are at home at the Silver Birch where their opponents will be Glenrothes.
On Saturday there will be a challenge match for charity taking place in the CISWO. The match will be contested between the current Fife squad and a select from players from the East Fife and Glenrothes League’s. Tickets cost £7.50 and the proceeds from the match will go to the beneficiaries’ who are the widow and family of the late Steve Scobie and cancer victim George Walker. The doors open at 12 noon with the match starting at 1.00pm. The match format will consist of 18 men and 6 women. Following the match there will be a buffet and a show which will be on from 7.30 until 1.00am. Tickets are available from the Fife Committee and/or Stuart Grubb so anyone who wants any, please contact any of the above.
Last Friday night in the Craigie Bar, history was almost made as Colin Feeley came as close to a nine dart finish as you will ever get. In the second leg of his game he started off with a maximum and followed it up with a second 180 on his next throw. Requiring 141, Colin stepped up to the oche and dart number seven went into the treble twenty and with his team mates and the boys from the West End Bar all falling quiet, he followed it up with dart number eight bang in the centre of the treble nineteen bed. Eight perfect darts had been thrown and double twelve was beckoning and with players from both teams on their feet waiting in anticipation everyone urged him on but agonisingly Colin’s ninth dart went the wrong side of the wire and ended up in the double five bed and he was only millimetres away from the perfect leg of darts which would have been the first ever in the history of the League. With his head in his hands both teams gave him a round of applause for his effort and although his thirteen dart leg was a great achievement, he was inconsolable. The way the young man is playing at the moment though, not many people would bet against him getting another attempt before too long.
Last Saturday at The Venue in Methil, the singles darts tournament went ahead and due to varying circumstances there was only 30 players (25 men and 5 women) entered for the singles competition and for this reason, the organisers held a blind draw pairs tournament as well.
Making their way through to the first semi-final were Andy Boulton (West Ayrshire) and Derek Cunningham (Lanarkshire) and previous winner Andy Boulton won their tie 5-2. In the bottom half of the draw two players from the Craigie Bar’s A team made it to the semi finals where Colin Feeley met Alan Small with Colin winning the tie five legs to nil. In the final, if Colin had hit his doubles when he had the opportunity, he may well have been 4-2 up but missed efforts went against Colin and Andy never missed a double yet as he strolled through to take the winners prize of £400 with a 6-0 victory. Steph Gilmour was the furthest placed woman player after beating two men on her way to the quarter finals and for her efforts she received £20.
In the pairs there was a new star in the making in the shape of Jordan Forbes. Jordan who is only just coming up to thirteen years old made it through to the semi finals with partner Nelson Brown and although Nelson is a former county player, Jordan more than held his own and was a formidable opponent for those the two came up against. In the semi finals, the two put out Stuart Grubb and Lauren Torrance winning 3-2 with Jordan checking out two of their three legs, while in the other semi, the two Rabbies; Shaw and Watson, won their tie against Andy Boulton and Alex Lister by three legs to one. In the final, Nelson checked out 130 with a bull finish to take the first leg and in the second leg, Jordan set Nelson up with a double after he hit a 180 and Nelson took the double out on his throw. The two Rab’s then took the third and fourth legs with a display of excellent scoring and finishing took the match into the deciding leg. With the players getting down to the end of the leg, it fell to Jordan to take out double five to win the match with his third dart but unfortunately he hit double twelve and Rab took the opportunity to steal the match with a 3-2 win.
Monday 19th September 2011
Last Thursday the first round matches in the men’s Super League got underway but there were problems with the women’s as only one of the three games went ahead.
Results in the men’s saw Glenrothes win 7-1 at home to Lochgelly B, Dunfermline A lost 5-3 at home against Cowdenbeath and East Fife won on the road with a 7-1 win away to Dunfermline B. In the women’s section, the only match to take place was in Bowhill where the Railway Tavern played hosts to Dunfermline and the visitors came away with a 4-1 victory.
The matches between the Auld Shank and the Sunbeam and Kennoway Bowling Club versus CISWO will be rescheduled and teams will be informed of the new date as soon as possible.
On Saturday there was a good turnout for the Scottish Doubles qualifier at the CISWO and the pairs who made it through to the Scottish finals were; Janette Adam & Sheena Fotheringham, Gillian Hepplewhite & Pearl Scott, Kevin Feeley & Colin Hepplewhite, Ian Cochrane & James Scougall, Davie Lessels & Wullie Stuart and Chris Izatt & Rab Shaw. All will now represent Fife at the finals which will be held at Bannockburn Social Club on Saturday 22nd October.
As the darts finished earlier than expected, a singles competition was held after the doubles play-off’s and the winner was Ian Cochrane who beat Rab Shaw 3-2 in the final. The beaten semi finalists were Brendyn Donnelly and Keiran Gill.
Monday 12th September 2011
This Thursday evening the new Fife Super League season commences for everyone and the matches in the first round of the women’s division are as follows; Auld Shank vs Sunbeam, Kennoway Bowling Club vs CISWO and the Railway Tavern (Bowhill) are at home to Dunfermline.
In the men’s championship, last season’s winners, Lochgelly A, have the bye and the ties see Glenrothes at home at the CISWO against Lochgelly B; Dunfermline A await the visit of Cowdenbeath at the Barley Sheaf and Dunfermline B play hosts to East Fife at the Silver Birch, Cowdenbeath.
All matches will start at 8.00pm and team captains are reminded that all results/databases should be with the Super League Secretaries no later than 72hrs after the match. If all team captains could also let Bobby Adamson know their results by text as well, this will allow him to have the results in next week’s report.
On Saturday the darts are out once again, this time everyone will be at the CISWO, Glenrothes, for the Fife qualifier of the Scottish Doubles. Players are reminded to be in the venue by 12.30 for a 1 o’clock start. Those who qualify from Saturday will then be entered in the Scottish Finals on 22nd October. If there is any player who is unable to manage this date, then they are asked not to take part at the regional play-off.
Last Saturday Fife’s Inter County squad travelled to Bannockburn to take on opponents Central and all teams came away with wins in what was a good start to the season for the Fifer’s.
The women’s B started the day and Pearl Scott (2-0 with a 13.73 average) took the first set for Fife. Debutante Lauren Torrance was unfortunate to lose 2-1 in the next set but Toni McLaren won set three (2-1 with 10.59) before Margaret Burns marked her debut for the Kingdom with a 2-0 win for 15.42 to make the score 3-1 to Fife.
The men’s B were next up and Raymond van Gardner got Fife off to a good start winning 3-0 with 20.31 but Central levelled by taking the next set when Michael Airnes beat Paddy Reilly 3-2. Gordon Donnelly won 3-0 with 23.86 followed by John Carrett and Brendyn Donnelly both winning 3-2 with 17.72 and 20.96 respectively to put Fife 4-1 ahead. In the deciding leg in the final set, Steve Fairfull was unlucky at his attempt at 150, narrowly missing double 18 to leave 18, only to see Central’s Bobby Boyd check out 64 to take the set and make the score 4-2 for Fife.
Up next were the women’s A team and Fife’s first four players saw off their opponents with three legs to nil victories to put the match beyond the home side. Steph Gilmour was first up and won with 11.71 followed by Ina McNeill with 15.49 before Sheena Fotheringham made it three nil with 13.79. Brenda Hunter sealed the victory in set four with a fine performance winning with 16.52. Central then took the fifth set when Jenni Tully won 3-0 against Margaret Hatton and Sharon Macfarlane won 3-1 against Gillian Hepplewhite with 13.79 to make the final score 4-2 in Fife’s favour.
The last match on was the men’s A and Math Wilson got Fife’s first chalk up with a 3-2 win for an average of 27.22. Jim Gilmour then tied the match with a 3-2 win over Rab Shaw and James Scougall took a great scalp with a win against Steve Plank, 3-2 with 24.10. This was cancelled out though as John Walker lost out to Gerry Gray and the scores were level again. Derek Hall then put Central ahead for the first time during the day with a 3-2 win over Colin Hepplewhite but Pete Naughton put in one of his steady performances to make the score 3-3 courtesy of a 3-1 win with a 27.28 average. Fife never looked back and moved into cruise control after then, dropping only four legs as they took the remaining six sets of the match to win the match with a quite convincing 9-3 score line.
First of all Stewart Rattray won his set 3-0 with 26.84 before seeing Ian Cochrane win 3-1 against the darts with 23.83. Alan Small ensured Fife could not be beaten in the match as he put Fife 6-3 ahead with a 3-1 win for 25.77 and Kevin Feeley sealed the victory which put the result beyond Central when he won 3-1 for a 24.20 average. His brother Colin was next up and he won 3-0 with 26.84 in set eleven, and despite going 1-0 down, Colin Miller won the last set with a three legs to one win with a 25.44 average. This rounded off a great performance from the Fifer’s who had a team average of 24.83.
Players of the match were; Women’s B – Margaret Burns (Fife) with a 15.42 average, Men’s B – Bobby Boyd (Central) with 23.98, Women’s A – Jenni Tully (Central) 18.79 and Men’s A – Pete Naughton with 27.28. Maximum scorers on the day were; John Stirling (Central) and Steve Fairfull (Fife) in the men’s B, and in the men’s A, William Sharp (Central), Pete Naughton (Fife), Stewart Rattray (Fife), Ian Cochrane (Fife) and Colin Miller (Fife). There were three ton plus checkouts on the day, coming from; Jenni Tully (Central) in the third leg of her set with 109, and both Math Wilson and Colin Hepplewhite (both Fife) with 100.
The weekend before last saw the WINMAU World Masters take place at Hull as well as the international qualifier for the Lakeside World Championship.
Playing in the Boys WINMAU Masters was Brendyn Donnelly and he was joined with a few of the youth players from Scotland who had also qualified for this event; Gordon Hastings, Neil Cooper and David Shepherd and three of them had the misfortune to be drawn in the same qualifying section, with Brendyn, David and Neil all drawn in Group 1.
All players made it through to the last sixty four round before exiting the competition and with it being the first time for most of them, the experience and lessons learned will hold them in good stead for the future and hopefully they will all make it back to next year’s Masters event.
First up was David and he lost out 4-0 to Dutch player Jimmy van Schie. Brendo was on shortly afterwards and he was paired against Swedish player Royne Hallberg and the Swede took the match by four legs to one. Neil was the only one left in this group and unfortunately he lost out to Spaniard Lorenzo Pena Barcelo in the deciding seventh leg. This meant all hope lay with Gordon Hastings but the English player Sam Fuller ended Scottish hopes with a 4-1 win.
In the Girls Masters there was good news as Sole representative, Grampian’s Emily Davidson, was making steady progress through the rounds. In the first match she disposed of Welsh player Kirsty Bullock 4-0 and repeated this result in the next round with a win over German opponent Jenny Steiert. In the last sixteen Emily had the bad misfortune to drop her first two legs of the day but she came through the tie with Sharon Jansen (Netherlands) with a 4-2 victory. In the quarter finals she had more German opposition in the form of Ann-Kathrin Wigmann and Emily’s darts saw her through to the semi finals without the loss of a leg as she won 4-0.
Onto the next day and Emily was paired against Stacey Ellis (England) and in the other semi Joyce Jansenns (Belgium) was up against recent Europe Youth Cup Girls Champion Alannah Waters of Wales and both Emily and Alannah progressed through to meet each other in the final with 4-1 wins.
In the final Emily checked out 84 to win the first leg before taking the next two legs to go three nil ahead and her scoring in the fourth leg was superb as she checked out in 20 darts to take the title of Girls WINMAU Master 2011 with a 4-0 victory. Emily’s average in the final was 21.09.
Onto the Lakeside as Fife had no representatives in the senior events of the Master and Steph Gilmour bowed out in the second round to Linda Ithurralde of County Durham by three legs to nil. In the men’s qualifiers Stewart Rattray won his first round game against Surrey’s Kurtis Atkins by two sets to nil before losing out in the deciding leg in the third set in the next round against Angus player Alan Soutar.
Colin Feeley was the only Fifer remaining and after a 2-1 win over Kurt Parry (Glamorgan) then a two sets to nil win over Devonshire’s Matt Dickinson, Colin had made it through to the last thirty two and set up a tie against Alan Norris and he was potentially only three wins away from qualifying and in the form he was in during his previous matches, not many would have bet against the possibility of him making it through.
However, controversy was to surround the decision made by the organisers as they put him out the tournament at this stage on a time fault where it was alleged that Colin had arrived outwith the window of time players are given to register at the control desk prior to the match. A somewhat heated debate took place as Colin had been marking a match to help keep the tournament running and had arrived in time but Alan refused to play him when asked so and the BDO were called in to make a decision on the matter and ruled against Colin. What made matters worse for Colin was that Alan had then went on to qualify after winning his next two matches so this was a very costly decision on his behalf but Colin has learned a valuable lesson from this experience and will take note for the future.
Monday 5th September 2011
This Saturday Fife begins their Inter County campaign and their first match is an away tie against Central. The game will be held in Bannockburn Social Club and first on will be the Ladies B match which commences at 10.30am.
Bus pick up points are as follows; Golden Acorn, Glenrothes – 8.30am, Chapel Farm roundabout – 8.40, the flyover at Cowdenbeath – 8.45 and Lauder College at 8.55.
Any player who is unable to attend should also inform their county manager as to whether or not they will be available for selection, or if anyone is travelling by means of their own transport should also let their team manager know.
Monday 29th August 2011
This Thursday night the next monthly meeting of the Fife Darts Association will be held in the CISWO, Glenrothes. The meeting starts from 7.30pm.
This weekend Hull Arena will host the international qualifiers for the Lakeside 2012 World Professional Championship and the WINMAU World Masters Finals. Three local players from Fife’s Inter County squad as the Fife Lakeside qualifiers Steph Gilmour and Colin Feeley will be joined by Stewart Rattray who earns his place due to his international status as a member of the Scotland squad.
The darts starts on Thursday with the floor stages of the WINMAU, then on the Friday the Lakeside qualifier is scheduled for between 9.00am and 2.00pm. From 3.00pm on Friday the first round of the televised Stage matches for the WINMAU take place until the latter stages are reached. Saturday morning sees the conclusion of the Lakeside qualifiers between 9.00 and 3.00 then we return to the WINMAU from 4.00pm onwards with the final stages being held on the Sunday from 1.00pm.
Anyone wanting to follow the darts on television this year should note that the weekend’s events will not be on the BBC as normal but Eurosport and ESPN will be covering the televised stages. Your best bet for ESPN would be Freeview channel 34 or if you want to keep up to date online, the BDO website will have a copy of the draw and this will be updated throughout the weekend.
Best wishes go to Steph, Colin and Stewart for the weekend and hopefully Stewart can have a repeat of last year’s WINMAU where he reached the last sixteen stage and maybe he or one of the others can go that little bit further?
For those of you who haven't heard through the grapevine, The Weavers Bar in Kirkcaldy have become the latest team to become members of Lochgelly & District Darts Association. The updated fixture list which includes The Weavers in the draw can be downloaded from the Association's website.
The first week of the new season does not take place until next Friday (9th Sept) so teams still have time to sign players in time for their first match.
Monday 9th August 2011
The Jim Thornber Memorial Tournament was held in McPhails, Leven and there was a good turn out from all over the Kingdom to pay their respects to the former Fife County player. The format was a blind draw doubles competition and from the near sixty entrants those who made it through to the semi-finals were Ryan Thomson and Chris Izatt, Gordon Donnelly and Steph Gilmour, Alan Brewster and Tam Bettley and Vicky Wallbank and Ian Cochrane. In the first semi Ryan and Chris won 2-0 against Gordon and Steph, while Alan and Tam won by the same score in their match with Vicky and Ian. The final was stepped up to best of five legs and it was Ryan and Chris who held their own to come through and take the tie by three legs to one to become the competition’s first champions.
The Red Goth in Lochore held their Open darts tournament recently and with players coming from all over the country the standard of darts on the day was as good as anything seen at competitions elsewhere in recent months. With the field being taken down to the quarter final stages, there was a representative from Lochgelly League in each of the ties so the prospect for a local player to win was still an option but only one managed to make it through to the semi finals. Alex Jeffery won a difficult match with John Donaldson 4-2 to set up a meeting with Andy Boulton (Ayrshire) after he had won his match with James Scougall 4-1. In the other quarter finals, Steven Johnstone (East Stirling) won 4-0 against Stuart McGaulley and Rab Shaw put paid to Alan Small’s hopes by winning 4-2. The semi final results looked like they were a bit one sided but both losing players gave their all and it was just their opponents proved to be hungrier as both Rab and Andy won their matches 5-0 before Alan saw off Rab 6-0 in the final to take the title.
In the women’s singles all quarter final results, with one exception, saw the winners go through winning by three legs to nil as Brenda Hunter, Claire McCallum and Lynn Cowan won through and were joined by Agnes Gallagher who won her match 3-1. In the semi’s Brenda won against her doubles partner Agnes by four legs to nil and Lynn won 4-1 against Claire to go through to the final against Brenda. In the first leg, Lynn recorded a 112 checkout but this didn’t trouble Brenda as she levelled the tie by taking the next leg. The next four legs were shared and in the seventh leg Brenda took the throw against the darts before then winning the match in the next leg to take the title with a 5-3 win.
While the “main” events were going on upstairs, there was a consolation tournament for those who lost out in the preliminary and first rounds of the singles and the final of this competition was contested between Stewart Rattray and Colin Hepplewhite, which Colin won courtesy of a three legs to nil win in the final.
With the presentations being made to the singles champions by Sandra, Colin Feeley and Bobby Adamson, Bobby gave thanks to the sponsors, the Red Goth and Tennents who supplied the trophies, Andy Bathgate who put up money towards the ladies singles tournament, and also thanked Watty Watson for the work he put in during the day, as well as the bar staff and hosts Derek and Sandra for holding the event.
The Cleikum Inn’s tournament which ran its qualifying week’s during the summer, held its Finals night recently and making their way through to the semi finals were Alan Small, Davie Stein and brothers John and Brian Notman. In the first semi Alan won by the odd leg in five over Davie and John won against sibling rival Brian by three legs to nil. The final ran true to form and favourite to lift the title, Alan Small threw some fantastic darts, including an eleven darter, to win 4-1 against John.
The finals of the CISWO’s Summer Open were held the weekend before last and with each of the sixteen competitors who made their way through to this stage all capable of being tournament winners, the bar was full and expectant of a great night’s darts.
The first tie paired Danny Cunningham with Davie Stein and the former Scotland international player was true to form and saw Davie off 3-1 with a 25.18 average. Next up were Kevin O’Hagan, who has just been recalled to the Fife county squad, against Jeff Wardlaw and despite Jeff going 2-0 up, Kevin held his nerve to square the match and then take the deciding leg to win through to the quarters with a three legs to two win. Match three saw Ian Jolly (Tay Valley) win quite convincingly against Scott Carstairs with a three nil win with 25.05 and John Walker beat the darting butcher, Colin Nicoll, 3-1 with a 25.64 average. In the bottom half of the draw Colin Feeley was up against Graeme Gunn and he saw him off 3-0 with 24.64. In the neat tie, Stevie Fairfull took a scrappy first leg in forty two darts against Craig Abercrombie but then upped a gear or two to take the next two legs and win their match 3-0. Alan Small brushed aside Paul Coughlin in the next tie 3-0 before Colin Miller saw off Stuart McGaulley with a three nil win which included a 12-darter and a 121 checkout in the second leg to give Colin an average of 28.90.
Onto the quarter finals and Kevin O’Hagan faced defeat in the face once more as he trailed Danny Cunningham 2-0. Most players would have crumbled but in one of the games of the night Kevin stuck at it and forced his way back into the match by taking the third leg before then levelling the tie. However Danny’s experience pulled him through and he took the deciding leg to give him a place in the semi finals. Danny’s average was 29.42, Kevin’s was 28.57. The following tie saw John Walker burst himself with 81 on the board at 1-0 down, but eventually he checked out to square the match at one leg apiece, only to see Ian take the next two legs to win the match. Colin Feeley was drawn against Steve Fairfull next and although Steve’s darts had improved after his first round match, Colin was too strong for him in the end and the Ballingry lad won 3-0 with a 26.37 average. Colin Miller kept up his phenomenal darts from the first round against Alan Small this time and with Alan leaving finishes very leg, Colin never let him have a shot at them and the match was all over in fifty darts as Colin won by three legs to nil with the highest average of the night so far with 30.06.
In the semi’s, Danny Cunningham, who had won this tournament more than any player since it first began, took legs one and three with the darts, but Ian Jolly’s persistence, accompanied with finishes of 100 and 105 saw him level the match at two legs all. The deciding leg was a tense affair and with both players ending up in the madhouse, Ian persevered to take the leg and await the winner of the next tie to see who he would play in the final. One thing was certain was he would be playing Colin, but which one? Colin Feeley versus Colin Miller was the draw and after Mr Feeley took the first leg, he finished the next with a 115 checkout and took the third leg with a fifteen darter for a three nil win with 28.36 against 26.22 to make it to the final.
Ian Jolly certainly had his work cut out as in the first leg Colin’s steady darts saw him take an early lead but after Colin missed double twelve for a 104 finish, Ian pulled a leg back to tie the match at one leg each. The third leg saw Colin check out 157 for a fifteen dart leg to go 2-1 up and he followed this up with another fifteen darter to take the fourth leg and win the match 3-1 thus giving him the title of 2011 CISWO Summer Open Champion. Colin kept the best average of the night for the final as he won the match recording an average of 30.18.
Once the darts were over and everybody had settled down and given their congratulations, Club Chairman Tony Gregory made the presentations and thanked everyone involved from the workers on the night to the players who supported the competition throughout the close season and informed everyone that the club would be once again hosting the tournament next year.
Pictured Colin Feeley Ciswo open 2011 Champion
This Saturday the Cardenden Open will be held in the Railway Tavern in Bowhill. Anyone wishing to enter should please note that the entry fee of £5 per player should be paid in advance as no entries will be accepted on the day. There will be a prize of £500 for the men’s winner and £250 for the women’s. Toe the oche time will be 1.30pm for the first match. Anyone not yet entered should contact either Alison Duncan or the pub on 01592 721077 or 722751 prior to next Saturday.
Monday 9th August 2011
It has been a busy time recently for darts players in the Kingdom with competitions going on pre-season.
Lochgelly A’s Super League team travelled to Pennies Bar in Falkirk to compete in the Scottish finals of the Champions Cup. With only six counties turning up, the draw was made and in the top half, the bye went to Ayrshire, with Central playing Grampian. In the bottom half of the draw, the bye went to East Stirling and the Fifers were drawn away against Lothian.
With the match format being best of nine sets, the teams were split into three lots of three and the first players drawn out for Lochgelly were Colin Hepplewhite, Colin Feeley and Kevin Feeley and Lochgelly went 2-1 down after Colin Hepplewhite lost 3-2 and Kevin Feeley lost 3-1 but Colin Feeley won his match 3-0. In the middle three Alan Small and Stuart McGaulley both won 3-0 but James Scougall lost his set by a reversal of their wins which made the score 3-3 with it all to play for in the last round and the Lochgelly trio of Gordon Donnelly, Pete Naughton and Paddy Reilly all won their ties by three legs to one to make the final result 6-3 to Lochgelly and saw them safely through to the semi-finals.
In the other first round tie, Grampian won 6-3 against Central to set up a meeting with Ayrshire, the outcome of which saw a 5-4 win for the Grampian throwers to put them into the final. Next up were East Stirling and Fife and the draw saw James Scougall, Colin Feeley and Pete Naughton drawn out as the first trio for Lochgelly. As in the first match, Lochgelly went 2-1 down with James winning 3-0 against Gordon Hastings, Colin losing 3-1 against John Donaldson and Pete losing 3-0 to Alex Lister. Representing Lochgelly in the middle part of the draw were Stuart McGaulley, Alan Small and Gordon Donnelly with Alan and Gordon winning 3-0 and 3-2 respectively and Stuart losing 3-1, once again squaring the match at 3-3 so it was down to the final three players to decide the outcome of the match. The Lochgelly players were drawn in seventh, eighth and ninth as Colin Hepplewhite, Paddy Reilly and Brendyn Donnelly and with both Colin and Brendyn losing out 3-0, that made the match result beyond Lochgelly but Paddy won his tie 3-0 to make the final score 5-4 to East Stirling. While it was a bitter pill to swallow for the Fifer’s, it was a fair result.
In the final, although Grampian had a better leg score with 18-14, the set score was what mattered and East Stirling won the match five sets to four to win the match and become Scottish Champions for another year. Thanks go to those who came along to support the players, to Glen of Saltire Cabs and Shug Rafferty for providing the transport and to Ian Cochrane, Rab Watson and Raymy Gardiner for providing the use of their county shirts for the team.
The day before, the WINMAU Masters Scottish Finals were held at Bannockburn Social Club and in the women’s section Sheena Fotheringham went out in round one and in the second round, both Ina MacNeill and Gillian Hepplewhite won their matches 3-1. This was followed up in the next round by 3-2 wins for the two which set up a meeting in the board semi finals between the two which Ina went on to win by three legs to one. In the tie which decided the qualifiers for Hull, unfortunately Ina came up against international player Kate Smith and the Tay Valley player won the match 3-0 to qualify. The other lady joining Kate was Sharon Leslie (Grampian) who beat Linda Marshall (Borders) 3-2 in their game.
In the men’s draw, Rab Shaw, Brendyn Donnelly and Pete Naughton all exited in round one. In the second round, Allan Candlish lost by two sets to one and Colin McClements lost 2-0 but Colin Hepplewhite and Colin Feeley both won their matches 2-0 to reach the last thirty two round joining Alan Small who had received a second bye as his opponent didn’t turn up. Alan finally got a game in the next round and it was unfortunate that he had to play Colin Feeley as the two players have performed fantastically for Fife and in other competitions over the country but Alan’s darts proved to be the better as he won by two sets to one to progress into the last sixteen. Fife’s other representative Colin Hepplewhite didn’t make it through though as he lost 2-0 to his opponent. Alan then went onto win 2-0 against Steven Johnstone to reach the board final where he was unlucky to have lost out in the deciding leg of the third set against Grampian player, Jason Hogg. The other players who will be joining Jason at Hull will be Ewan Hyslop from the Borders and two Lothian players, Gus Santana and George Dalglish.
Former Lochgelly resident Craig Robertson represented the Borders region at the Scottish finals but was unfortunate to lose out in round one, but he has qualified from their region to play at the international qualifiers for the Lakeside World Championship in Hull next month.
While on the subject of the Lakeside, Craig will be joined by the two winners from the Fife qualifier held at the CISWO last weekend, Steph Gilmour and Colin Feeley. Steph won her place by coming through a very close match with Brenda Hunter in the women’s final. Brenda started the match well and took a two nil lead before Steph got herself back in the game by taking the next leg. In the fourth leg Brenda missed a few chances at doubles only to see Steph check out to level the tie at 2-2 and in the deciding leg Steph came through to win the match.
Colin’s route to the final came courtesy of a 3-1 win in round one over Davie Lessels of Dunfermline before strangely and down to the misfortune of the draw, each of his opponents in the preceding rounds up to the final saw Colin meet a few of his Craigie Bar team mates. Firstly, Gordon Donnelly and then James Scougall were both brushed aside three legs to nil before he came up once more against Alan Small for the second time in the space of a week in a major qualifying competition. This time, Colin took the honours as he won the tie 3-2 to stake his place in the final. His opponent in the final was guaranteed to be one of last season’s Shardys team and it came in the form of the Lochgelly singles champion, Paddy Reilly after he saw off Stuart McGaulley by a three legs to nil win in their semi final encounter. In the final, Colin took the first leg before Paddy tied the match but Colin went into overdrive in the next two legs and Paddy had no reply to Colin’s power darts as he took the next two legs in no less than thirty darts to win the match 3-1.
The Red Goth in Lochore held their Open darts tournament last weekend and while the number of entrants wasn’t what was hoped for in the tournament’s first year, the prize money still attracted players from all over the country and the standard of darts on the day was as good as anything seen at competitions elsewhere in recent months.
With the field being taken down to the quarter final stages, there was a representative from Lochgelly League in each of the matches so the hope for a local player to win was still an option but only one managed to make it through to the semi finals. Alex Jeffery won a difficult match with John Donaldson 4-2 to set up a meeting with Andy Boulton (Ayrshire) after he had won his match with James Scougall 4-1. In the other quarter finals, Steven Johnstone (East Stirling) won 4-0 against Stuart McGaulley and Rab Shaw put paid to Alan Small’s hopes by winning 4-2. The semi final results looked like they were a bit one sided but both losing players gave their all and it was just their opponents proved to be hungrier as both Rab and Andy won their matches 5-0 before Alan saw off Rab 6-0 in the final to take the title.
In the women’s singles all quarter final results, with one exception, saw the winners go through winning by three legs to nil as Brenda Hunter, Claire McCallum and Lynn Cowan won through and were joined by Agnes Gallagher who won her match 3-1. In the semi’s Brenda won against her doubles partner Agnes by four legs to nil and Lynn won 4-1 against Claire to go through to the final against Brenda. In the first leg, Lynn recorded a 112 checkout but this didn’t trouble Brenda as she levelled the tie by taking the next leg. The next four legs were shared and in the seventh leg Brenda took the throw against the darts before then winning the match in the next leg to take the title with a 5-3 win.
While the “main” events were going on upstairs, there was a consolation tournament for those who lost out in the preliminary and first rounds of the singles and the final of this competition was contested between Stewart Rattray and Colin Hepplewhite, which Colin won courtesy of a three legs to nil win in the final.
With the presentations being made to the singles champions by Sandra, Colin Feeley and Bobby Adamson, Bobby gave thanks to the sponsors, the Red Goth and Tennents who supplied the trophies, as well as Andy Bathgate who put up money towards the ladies singles tournament, and also thanked Watty Watson for the work he put in during the day, the bar staff and hosts Derek and Sandra for holding the tournament plus those who managed to come along and support the event.
The Cleikum Inn’s tournament which ran its qualifying week’s during the summer, held its Finals night recently and making their way through to the semi finals were Alan Small, Davie Stein and brothers John and Brian Notman. In the first semi Alan won by the odd leg in five over Davie and John won against sibling rival Brian by three legs to nil. The final ran true to form and favourite to lift the title, Alan Small threw some fantastic darts, including an eleven darter, to win 4-1 against John.
There was a change in Committee at the Lochgelly League’s Annual General Meeting as long-serving member, Tam Faulds, who has held the position of Treasurer for some 37 years had decided to call it a day and step down from his post and hand over the reins to someone else. Craig Abercrombie, who had joined the Committee only last season as Vice-Chairman was voted into the Treasurer’s position by those present at the AGM and stepping into Craig’s shoes as the new Vice-Chairman was Mike Garrett. Whilst he is still continuing his playing career within the League, Tam will certainly be a hard act to follow and Craig has a difficult job ahead of him to keep up the good work Tam done over the years and it was for all his time and effort over the years that the position of Honorary Treasurer was bestowed upon Tam by the members as a reward and a thank you to him. In the other Committee posts, Bobby Adamson remains as Chairman and Fife Rep while Wullie Ford was successfully re-elected as Secretary. All teams who came along to the AGM indicating their intention to participate in the League next season are reminded that the Registration Meeting takes place on Wednesday (17th) and will be held in Shardys starting from 7.30pm. Please note that any teams not represented will not be included in the draw for the forthcoming season.
Next Saturday the Cardenden Open will be held in the Railway Tavern in Bowhill. Anyone wishing to enter should please note that the entry fee of £5 per player should be paid in advance as no entries will be accepted on the day. There will be a prize of £500 for the men’s winner and £250 for the women’s. Toe the oche time will be 1.30pm for the first match. Anyone not yet entered should contact either Alison Duncan or the pub on 01592 721077 or 722751 prior to next Saturday.