more photos to follow:
The main event of the Shetland darting calendar took place last weekend as the Orkney (KDDL) Men and the Kirkwall ladies arrived in Shetland for the annual Intercounty & Intertown matches which was held upstairs on the stage of the Lerwick Legion.
It was the Lerwick Ladies who first took to the stage on Thursday night playing on two boards against their Kirkwall rivals, with the Lerwick Lasses looking to hold onto the trophy for a fifth consecutive year. With matches between the two sides been close affairs in the previous two years, this again proved to be another with the score sitting all square at 9-9 after the Doubles and Singles matches. Again nothing could separate the teams after the first 2 four-a-side matches it came down to the last match of the night to separate the 2 sides, the final leg saw the Kirkwall ladies open up as large advantage reaching the double first, but the Lerwick side showed their determination and clawed back the deficit and have a shot to win the match, but it was Kirkwall side who held to claim the trophy.
Friday saw the Shetland men take to the Stage against their Orkney in front of a packed Legion venue which had transformed with the inclusion of large screens, scoreboards and player’s walk-on music to create a Premier league like atmosphere.
The first game onto the stage was the reserve pairings of Ian Blance and Liam Sutherland for Shetland against Orkneys David Henderson and Ian Findlay. Despite a good performance from the Shetland duo, Liam making his debut they fell to a 2 -1 defeat. David also hit a 180 with the very first throw of the night.
The main event began with the double and first onto the stage were Neal Redfern & Jim Wood who took on Brian and Bruce Moar with the Shetland Pairing getting the home side off to a perfect start winning 2-1.
Next up were the Whalsay pairing of Gordon Irvine & Roger Irvine against Ian & Stevie Linklater, with the Whalsay pair running out 2-0 winners.
The 3rd pair up for Shetland were Alan Patterson & George Smith Jnr who met Orkney doubles champions Kevin Gray & Derek Firth who took the game 2-0 to put Orkney on the scoreboard.
Next up were the Posties duo of Gareth MacRitchie & Stuart Paul who defeated Ivan Leslie & Michael Moodie 2-1 to restore Shetlands advantage.
Philip Mowat then paired up with Marc Henry & took on Ian Wilkie & Robbie Stanger with the Shetland pairing contusing the good start with a 2-1 victory
The Final doubles match saw Trows pair Barry Couper & Raymond Laurenson beat Neil Croy & Gary Wilson 2-0.
The score line after the doubles read Shetland 5-1 Orkney (KDDL)
After a short interval the singles commenced with George Smith Jnr taking to the stage for Shetland were he met Neil Croy of Orkney, George emerged a 2-1 winner despite Neil hitting a 180 to give Shetland an overall 6-1 lead.
Up next for Shetland was Gordon Irvine who went down 2-0 against Brian Moar who hit a 180 along the way the score now stood Shetland 6 Orkney 2.
Third on for the hosts was Postie’s player Stuart Paul who was edged out in a tight match against Ivan Leslie. Shetland 6- Orkney 3
Shetlands Neal Redfern was beaten 2-1 in another close game this time by Robbie Stanger
Shetland 6-4 Orkney
Next on stage was each sides league singles champion Roger Irvine against Orkneys Derek firth, and it was the later who emerged as a 2-0 winner despite Roger hitting a 180. Shetland 6-5 Orkney
Orkney then levelled up proceedings after Kevin Gray defeated Philip Mowat 2-0. Shetland 6-6 Orkney
Alan Paterson then took to the stage looking to put Shetland back in front, despite going 1-0 down to Orkneys Stevie Linklater Alan turned the match around to emerge a 2-1 winner. Shetland 7-6 Orkney
Orkney then levelled the match again with Ian Linklater beating Marc Henry 2-0. Shetland 7-7 Orkney
Gareth MacRitchie took on Bruce Moar in the 8th game but missed chances in the 1st & 3rd legs resulted in Bruce emerging a 2-1 winner. Shetland 7-8 Orkney
Game 9 saw Trows player Barry Couper meet Michael Moodie which saw the Orkney man again emerge the victor. Shetland 7-9.
Iain Wilkie put Orkney on the verge of Victory after a 2-1 win over Jim wood. Shetland 7-10 Orkney.
On to the last singles match and it was up to Raymond Laurenson to win his match to take it to the 4-a-sides, and that’s what he did beating Gary Wilson 2-0, and hitting a 180 also. Shetland 8- Orkney 10.
The first 4-a-side onto the stage for Shetland were Marc Henry, Philip Mowat, Alan Patterson and George Smith Jnr against the Orkney 4 of Ian &Stevie Linklater and Brian & Bruce Moar. Orkney edged the scoring and reached the double first were they made no mistake to retain the trophy for the 6th consecutive year with an overall 11-8 victory.
The man of the match award went to Orkneys Derek Firth for the 2nd year in a row. Top five 3 dart averages on the night were:
1st Derek Firth (Orkney) 84.92,
2nd Gareth MacRitchie (Shetland) 79.57,
3rd Stevie Linklater (Orkney) 77.93,
4th Michael Moodie (Orkney) 75.70,
5th Kevin Gray (Orkney) 71. 91,
Great commitment was shown by both sets of players on the night with all 28 players from both sides giving their all on the night to represent their respective county.
Saturday saw the day the afternoons events begin with the Shetland darts association Prize giving were all of this seasons league and competition winners were presented with their followed by the anniversary singles competition which was held downstairs in the Lerwick Legion. The Men’s competition saw 46 entrants and after the early rounds 4 Shetlanders and Orcadians remained in the Quarter finals. The 1st saw Gareth MacRitchie lose 3-2 to Orkneys Ian Linklater, Stevie Linklater beat fellow Orkney player Robbie Stanger, Orkneys Kevin Gray then defeated Shetlands Stuart Paul 3-0., and the Final quarter final saw an all Shetland tie with Alan Patterson beating John Robert Scott 3-2. In the semi-finals Stevie run out a 4-0 winner against Ian whilst Kevin beat Alan 4-1. In an all Orkney final Stevie ran out a 5-1 winner to take the title.
In the women’s competition 39 players entered and after some close encounters in the early rounds the semi-finals saw Iris Anderson beat Michelle Hunter 3-0 and in all Orkney tie Irene Thomson beat Shona Gray 3-1. In a close final iris narrowly defeated Irene by 3 legs to 2 to retrain the trophy she won last year.
A big thank you must go to the Legion its, bar staff and committee members for hosting the event, markers on the evening Paul Scarsbrook for being M.C for the evening sponsors of the event photogragers Malcolm Younger and Kevin Jones, supporters of both teams and the KDDL continued association with Shetland darts.
