Thursday 30th March saw a first for Northern Ireland and a first for Antrim as The Dunsilly Hotel hosted the first ever World Disability Darts Association (WDDA) Home International with the host team Northern Ireland Compris Darts Association (NICDA) holding their first ever major event.
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales where in attendance for this 4day event.
Thursday evening saw the women’s individuals up first with 3 boards being played off in a round robin allowing the top 2 ladies of each board to go through to the straight knockout stage. 2 Northern Ireland ladies G Mullan, K Devlin were up against the top 4 Scottish ladies K Monaghan, A Patrick, L Turner, C Hunter. The scoring from the ladies were top shelf darts and each game was fast and furious as the 2 finalist N Ireland G Mullan v Scotland L Turner meet. These ladies were a credit to their teams and countries as the games were quick it was a battle for the doubles and Lauren came out on top to claim the ladies individual champion.
Friday 31st March was an early start and the men’s individual Classic division which was played off 2 boards, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland the top 8 players went through to the knock-out. These players kept the games interesting and sped through them legs quickly. It all came down to 2 Scottish players for the finals D Callery v R Sutherland jnr. This was a tit for tat game and neither man was making it easy but Drew snatched that much needed finish to get the Men’s Classic Individual championship title,
The Compris Division was like every other competition best of 3 and 8 groups of 3 in the round robin with the top 2 players in each group going through to the straight knock-out. This play off gave us 8 N Ireland, 3 Welsh and 5 Scottish players. These were fast boards and each and everyone of these gentlemen kept the motivation going till we got to the final which saw N Ireland D Ward up against P Hannaway of Scotland, these men didn’t half believe in leaving you at the edge of your seat as Derek and Paul went one leg each with the 3rd and final leg coming up quickly to the conclusion, Derek just missed the double but 2nd dart in Paul pinned this finish to claim the Compris Individual title.
Friday evening saw the Ladies team event N Ireland and Scotland A&B. Up first was Scotland A v N Ireland, Scotland pulled ahead and got the 1st overall match and then was Scotland A&B Scotland A got a 4-2 win and this was enough to put the 2 Scottish teams through to the final on Sunday as N Ireland pulled out.
Saturday 1st April saw the Men’s Classic & Compris team event. Up First was the Men’s Classic’s as this was the finals too for Wales & Scotland. The men kept the games rolling and had great markers in each and every game as Scotland took a 4-0 win over Wales and the Classic’s title.
The Men’s Compris Division team event had Northern Ireland A&B, Scotland A&B and Wales A. A round robin was played of 2 boards best of 3 4 single games, 2 double games and then a 4-a-side best of 701 first to 2, it was arranged that if a country wasn’t playing then they had to mark the games there was local county and league players who made themselves available to help as and when needed this all help to get us to a nail biting conclusion and the final teams for Sunday who where N Ireland A & Scotland A.
Saturday afternoon saw a 1st for the WDDA as we opened our doors to an any ability youth dart competition with JDC Scotland & Northern Ireland and some NIDO members. These young players are the future of the game and even at such a young age not one of them let themselves down and it was an honour to watch our youth playing and what they might become.
Q finals L Sutherland Scotland
A O’Toole N Ireland
R Fowles N Ireland
A McCauley N Ireland
Semi finals O Armstrong N Ireland
C Murtagh N Ireland
Runner up J Todd N Ireland
Winner R Sutherland Scotland
All these Lads & Lasses are a credit to the JDC and the NIDO.
Sunday 2nd April The Ladies team event was played first with Scotland A V Scotland B each team took every alternative leg in the 4 single games leaving them to go into the pairs and this is were Scotland A stepped it up a notch and took the 2 vital pair games and a well deserved ladies division champion title.
The Mens Compris Team finals was a nerve wreaking match and it went to the butts as Northern Ireland A V Scotland A came head to head. The lads didn’t mess about and with 2v2 in the single games it went on to the pairs again these men took it 1v1 in the pairs here the teams took a 5 min break before the 4-a-sides. Northern Ireland took the lead in this game pushing them to take the next leg in a battle of the doubles but eventually the N Ireland team did it and won their 1st major event in 4 years and hopefully not the last.
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