Photos to follow..............
Friday night saw the return of the Men’s Intercounty Darts match between Shetland and Orkney (KDDL) for the first time since 2019 following the Covid-19 restrictions of the previous few years in front of a large crowd in the Lerwick Legion.
Captains Craig Taylor and Maurice Clark had met the previous night and agreed on the format of play, which was set as firstly Doubles, followed by Singles and finally 4 a sides, before exchanging team sheets earlier in the day prior to play starting later that night.
The night began with both teams gathering on stage for the traditional team photographs to be taken before the reserve’s players of both teams took to the stage to open the nights action. This saw the Shetland reserves consisting of Neal Redfern and John Robert Scott taking a 2-1 victory over Orkney’s Gary Wilson and Ian Findlay to warm up the crowd before the main event began.
First to take to the stage following the Reserves game were Shetland’s Roger Irvine and John Philip Sandison who took on the Orkney pairing of Brian Moar and Paul Foubister with the Orkney pair taking the opening game of the 2023 intercounty with a 2 leg to 1 victory, Orkney’s Brett Dickinson and Ian Linklater defeated Tommy Williamson and Andrew Simpson to put Orkney 2-0 up with Ian taking out a 112 checkout in the deciding leg.
Orkney’s fast start to the match continued with Orkney’s Kevin Gray and Alan Gray defeating the Shetland pairing of Ramsay Hogg and Craig Main 2-0 followed by Stevie Linklater and Kevin Peace beating Stuart Paul and Clive Burgess 2-1 with Kevin claiming the final leg with a 103 checkout.
With Orkney 4-0 up Shetland’s Liam Sutherland and Scott Williamson took on Orkney’s Bruce Moar and Erland Ritch with the Shetland pairing running out 2-0 winners to put the 1st points on the board for the home side, Barry Couper and Philip Mowat pulled another game back for the Shetland team with a 2-1 victory over Erlend Lennie and Jamie Drever to leave the overall score Shetland 2, Orkney 4 going into the Singles matches.
After a short interval the Singles matches were up next with Ramsay Hogg up first for the hosts against Orkney’s Brian Moar with the later taking the opening game of the 12 singles due to take place with a 2-1 victory.
The following two Singles matches were shared between the two teams with Tommy Williamson claiming a 2-1 victory over Paul Foubister and Orkney’s Bruce Moar defeating Shetland’s Clive Burgess 2-0 to give Orkney an overall 6-3 lead after the first 3 Singles Matches were played.
The 4th Singles match saw a battle between the 2 players who both finished top of their respective teams Intercounty ranking tables with Liam Sutherland taking on Orkney’s Kevin Gray, A high quality match from both players saw the Shetland player emerge a 2-0 winner with Liam hitting the highest checkout of the night, to the delight of the crowd finishing 150 in the opening leg. This made the score Shetland 4 Orkney 6.
Singles matches 5 and 6 saw Orkney again extend their overall lead to 8-4 following 2-0 victories for Stevie and Ian Linklater over John Philip Sandison and Scott Williamson.
Philp Mowat took to the stage in Singles match 7 against Orkney’s Brett Dickinson with Philip emerging a 2-0 winner to start a winning run of 5 straight games for the Shetland side with Craig Main defeating Orkneys Alan Gray 2-0, Stuart then produced Shetland’s first 180 of the night in singles game number 9, in a 2-1 victory of Kevin Peace who himself had a 105 checkout in the opening leg of this game.
Roger Irvine levelled the overall match at 8 a piece with a 2-1 victory in last leg decider against Orkney’s Erland Ritch, ensuring the tie would go to the 4-a-sides following the final two Singles games.
The penultimate singles saw Andrew Simpson put Shetland in front for the first time 9-8 as he run out a 2-0 winner over Orkney’s Erlend Lennie, Orkney needed a victory in the final match of the singles to level the match a 9-9 going into the into the fours with Jamie Drever taking to the stage to against Barry Couper, the Orkney player emerged the winner in the final game 2-1 to do just that.
After a short interval the Fours matches commenced with both sides knowing that victory in 2 of the 3 single leg 1001 games would see them overall victory. First to take to the stage for Shetland were Liam Sutherland, Scott Williamson Roger Irvine & John Philip Sandison who took on Orkney’s Kevin Gray, Alan Gray, Brian Moar, & Paul Foubister. Following a very close leg of darts which saw both sides have darts at the double, Roger Irvine stepped up to put the Shetland side 1 point away from victory hitting double 10.
The second fours game saw Philip Mowat, Barry Couper, Ramsay Hogg & Craig Main take on Orkney’s Stevie Linklater, Kevin Peace, Ian Linklater & Brett Dickinson again in very close leg of darts which saw Kevin Peace hit a 180 and both teams sitting on a double it was Philip Mowat who stepped up to and hit the winning double 40 to the joy of the home teams and the majority of the large crowd packed into the venue that had stayed to watch the closing stages to give Shetland an overall 11-9 victory to lift the Intercounty trophy for the first time since 2010.
Following the match both captains took to the stage and congratulated each other’s teams for being part of a terrific match which was played in the best of spirits before Orkney captain Craig Taylor presented the Intercouty trophy to the Shetland team Captain Maurice Clark.
The player of the match (highest average) award went to Orkney’s Kevin Gray with Shetland’s Liam Sutherland in second place.
The Shetland Darts Association would like to thank John Garriock & Bolts Filling Station for sponsoring the Shetland Men’s Intercounty Team, Lerwick Engineering & Fabrication (LEF) for sponsoring the SDA League Season, The SDA would also like to thank everyone who played a part in making the event an enjoyable weekend, the markers on the night, MC for the night Michael Grant, average takers, John Leask, Derek Hendry, Kevin Jones Photography, volunteers who helped build the stage, the Lerwick Legion and their bar staff for their work over the 3 days of action, and Shetland Women’s Darts League, Orkney (LKDDL) ladies and the Orkney (KDDL) Men Darts Teams.
Saturday saw the Anniversay shield take place in the Lerwick Legion with 64 players entering the men’s competition and 32 players entering the ladie’s competition. In the Men’s competition which produced some competitive darts throughout the day the quarter finals saw Roger Irvine beat Kevin Peace (Orkney) 3-2, Orkneys Kevin Gray beat fellow Orcadian Brian Moar 3-0, Stuart Paul defeat Aiden Couper 3-1 and John Philip Sandison lose out to Orkney’s Bruce Moar 3-1. The semi Finals were played over the best of 7 legs and saw Bruce Moar beat stuart Paul 4-2 to set up an all Orkney final after Kevin Gray defeated Roger Irvine 4-0, The Final was played over the best of 9 legs and saw Bruce emerge with the victory over Kevin to claim the Anniversay Shield Mens trophy.
In the Ladies Competition the quarter finals saw Andrea Henderson beat Melanie Scott 3-1, Gemma Irvine defeat Jackie Black by 3 legs to 2. An All Orkney quarter final saw Katie Croy beat Jean Monkman 3-1 and Alison Robertson beat Orkney’s Shona Gray 3-1, The semi finals saw Andrea Henderson progress through to the final with victory over Gemma Irvine, meanwhile Alison Robertson made it an all Shetland affair in the final with victory over Katie Croy. In the Best of 5 leg final it was Andrea Henderson that emerged the victor with a 3-0 victory to lift the Ladie’s Shield.
The SDA would again like to thank the Lerwick Legion for hosting Saturdays competition.
