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The Louth Darts team, pictured following their victory over Area 7 in the Commercial Club in Dundalk
Tension, nerves, mixed with jovial banter and an undercurrent of determination were just some of the feelings that were buzzing around the Commercial Club on Saturday as the darts throwers of Louth and Area 7 (Newry and District) took part in the annual Cross Border challenge.
This event was introduced four years ago and has always proved a great success.
The CLDO has been busy all throughout the summer running county trials in order to select this year’s team. Once the trials were complete and the panel selected, a number of warm up challenge matches were organised against a select team from the Drogheda Summer League and against a team from Watters’ Bar in Duleek, with a few additional players. Louth were successful in both these and were in good form going into the event.
First in for Louth was Robert Wallace, a player with great potential. Robert started slow and was punished for it when Sean Devlin hit the first 180 of the day and went on to take the first leg. Robert fought back in the second but Sean kept the momentum going and finished the game out after Robert missed his double.
Sean Kavanagh, another Louth debutante, was up next. “JabbaMax”, as he is affectionately known, was up against a former Louth player in Ollie Thompson.
Ollie has massive experience at county level and has crossed the border to take on a new darting challenge. Sean started well and with the treble 20 being found regularly he took the first leg. Ollie fought back and levelled the game. The last leg was a true dogfight with scores being matched by both men before Sean took out double 10 to win the game and level the match at one apiece.
Mickey Kelly – outgoing secretary of the DDDL and an established county thrower – was in next and continued the winning ways for Louth. After Mickey was another rookie in Colm Boyle. Colm played well against Christy O’Brien, hitting yet another 180 and pushing Louth further into the lead.
The Louth team had the team captain up next in Owen Caffrey, who was in good form and edged the Louth men further ahead with another impressive display by taking out two 16 dart games. The men from across the border were 4-1 down and they weren’t happy and when Hamilton Smith played Sean McMurray things didn’t get any better as Louth went into a 5-1 lead needing two more games to win the event.
The Area 7 team was packed with some well-known names in darting circles and they were all in the latter end of the team sheet. This meant they were always likely to finish strongly and their attempt at a late comeback was started when Seamus Rice overcame Brian Fitzpatrick to double the score for Area 7.
Louth responded with Joey Englishby, who plays his darts in Collon, as he made it 6-2. Area 7 could only draw at this stage and they pushed for that result by winning the next three games and bringing it down to a final game decider.
In for Louth was Ray Harte, son of Kevin Harte who has worn the county jersey himself in the past, and he was playing Paddy Gibney – a man who has had considerable success in the Newry league.
Ray has been improving every year in the Dundalk league and he has made the step up to county darts this year. The tension was very evident in the venue as both players threw their practice darts and when the game started not a sound could be heard. Ray started well but Paddy is always a high scorer and the game went right down to the double, which Ray took out to take the lead.
Paddy fought back and he was as accurate as ever on the treble 20 but Ray was not to be moved and he matched every score and when he composed himself and hit the winning double the Louth team went wild.
Overall it was a great day of darts and despite both teams missing established players the new breed of players showed that there is an abundance of potential breaking through in the surrounding areas both north and south of the border.
The committee of CLDO would like to thank Area 7 for their continued support of this event and the staff and management of the Commercial Club in Dundalk who provided a great venue and provided food for the occasion.
The next event in the Commercial Club is on Saturday September 21st when it hosts the Louth Youth Trial No4 and all youth players are invited to attend this.
There will also be a darts exhibition by Robbie ‘Kong’ Green in Foley’s Bar in Drogheda on Thursday October 3rd.
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