| Darts 2006 report |
HOME!!! Darts 2006 took place on the 14th April and here's the report from another brilliant darts events!! MINISTER POWERS DOWN ROBOT THREAT Gary Corcoran 2 - 0 Neil Corcoran An intruiging first round match as the two veteran brothers clashed for the first time in tournament history. Sources reported that Neil "Super Robot" was keen to get back to winning ways and had prepared well for Darts 2006. Indeed he started the first leg scoring strongly including a 107. However as he faltered on the doubles the "Jocked up" Minister stole in to take a double 14 on the first attempt. The second leg saw a closer affair but again the Minister close out well with a double 13. Big disappointment for the 2001 King of darts but superior finishing saw the Minister through. MARSHALL DISMISSES THE TRUTH Denis Reilly 2 - 0 Tom Henry An exciting clash between two former champs saw a great first leg between the two popular hard living stars. Both men went neck and neck until Reilly hit a ton to move ahead of "Triple T" to set up a double 14 checkout. The second leg saw the quality dip a bit as Henry drew the match into a brawl. Low scores abounded before a bonanza of missed doubles set up a shootout, in which it was the 2002 King of darts who pipped his 97 counterpart to take the shootout by a nose. TWO DARTS DOWNS HANRATTY Sean Laphen 2 - 0 Brendan Hanratty A repeat of a Darts 2003 First Round clash between these two rivals saw Laphen take his place in the quarters with a solid performance. Hanratty started well until his game disintegrated towards the end of the first leg by which time Laphen had set himself up for a finish and checked out on double 8. The second leg, "TwoDarts" Laphen used the cushion to play consistently and keep ahead of his rival and nail a double one with Hanratty behind. HALL STORMS THROUGH AGAINST HENRY Gregor Hall 2 - 0 James Henry A superb performance from Gregor Hall saw him advance to the quarter finals despite a fine game from veteran James Henry. The giant Scotsman made all his darts count as his consistent scoring saw him attempt to close out over 100 ahead of the Druid. However, with Hall stuck on a tricky 33, Henry closed the gap but Hall fired back to smash in a double 8 finish. The second leg saw Hall build on his momentum and keep the scorer troubled. Henry plugged on bravely attempting to close the gap but Hall rammed home a double one to advance. REVENGE FOR BYRNE AS CHAMPION DETHRONED Cormac Byrne 2 - 0 Barney Johnson A massive quarter final clash that was played as an early first round match but ended up being a quarter final due to withdrawals. It was nip and tuck in the first leg until three big scoring visits from Johnson had him in the checkout zone with Byrne behind. However Bad News ended up on tricky odd numbers and ran in difficulty allowing Byrne to close the gap and checkout on double 7. In a second leg of high quality the two men were again neck and neck but a superb finish from Byrne saw him through gaining revenge for last year's final defeat. HALL LEAVES CONROY STARING AT THE WALL Gregor Hall 2 - 0 Barry Conroy Gregor Hall lit up the tournament with more amazing darts as the first round match experience stood to him against plucky Barry Conroy. Conroy got off to a good start before getting bogged down with low scores in the first leg allowing Hall to ram home 103, 80 and a double 19 to checkout. Hall again carried on the momentum to move ahead and despite some good late pressure from Conroy, the Scotch beast closed out a double 4 to move to the semis. MINISTER JOCKS DOWN MARSHALL IN EPIC Gary Corcoran 2 - 1 Denis Reilly A repeat of the Darts 2002 semi final saw the massively experienced veterans step up to the oche for a dogfight. A moderate scoring first leg saw the Minister and Marshall move closely towards the finish but the Minister was slightly ahead and checked out on double one with the Marshall stuck on double 3. The second leg saw the Marshall up the pace and he moved over a hundred ahead midway and checked out on double 10 despite a late flurry from Corcoran. The first match of the day to go to a deciding leg saw the Marshall move ahead with some bigger scores. The Minister clawed down the gap and at a tense finish checked out on double 9 with the Marshall stuck on 11. TWO DARTS GUNS DOWN SEMIKHATOV Sean Laphen 2 - 0 Serguei Semikhatov Serguei Semikhatov was determined to continue of his improved showing in Darts 2005 and came up against Sean Laphen who was starting to hit form. But it was the giant Russian who scored more sharply in the first leg to move over 100 ahead of Laphen. Laphen closed down the gap with the Behemoth struggling at the doubles and eventually checked out on double 4 with Semikhatov stuck on double 1. The second leg descended into a brawl with the two men neck and neck until the quality dipped and the men took a half eternity on the checkouts. Eventually a shootout was invoked and despite a dreadful first three darts Laphen hit an 81 to snatch the match at the death. BYRNE ADVANCES TO FINAL AFTER ALL TIME CLASSIC Cormac Byrne 2 - 1 Gregor Hall The resilient Cormac Bryne came up against the form player of the event in a gripping semi final. The men were neck and neck until three strong visits from Hall saw him ahead in the checkout zone while Byrne floundered. However it was Hall's turn to flounder as he saw multiple misses on double one before Byrne stole in to take a 39 checkout. Hall bounced back in the second leg hitting a 100 and 120 to romp over 200 ahead and nail a tricky double 3 to tie the match. Each men hit 100 at the start of the third in what was proving a brilliant match, and Hall again went well ahead with Byrne 150 behind but ended on a tricky checkout. When Hall eventually got shooting at double 16, Byrne had eaten up the gap and rammed home a double 8 to reach the final for the second year running. MINISTER JOCKS OUT TWODARTS IN DOGFIGHT Gary Corcoran 2 - 1 Sean Laphen Gary Corcoran and Sean Laphen met with a place in the final at stake which saw unspectacular scores until the Minister hit 120 to move towards a checkout. However solid scores from TwoDarts saw him move down and hit a brilliant 58 checkout to take the first leg from the Minister's nose. In the second leg the Minister scored more consistently to get into the checkout zone but a 97 from Laphen set him up for a shot at a 64 checkout which he narrowly missed allowing Corcoran to hit a double 3 to tie the match. The third leg involved both men going neck and neck with solid scores till a 91 from Laphen got him down to double 3. The Minister closed to down to double 8 and following a number of attempts from the both men Corcoran pushed the button to close out and reach his first final. GARY CORCORAN CROWNED 2006 KING OF DARTS Gary Corcoran 3 - 1 Cormac Byrne Byrne and Corcoran served up a classic final described as one of the greatest ever. The first leg was tense scoring with the two men neck and neck but Corcoran moved slightly ahead and snatched a 44 checkout at first attempt. The second leg was again solid with reasonable scores but again Corcoran checked out, this time with a double 10 with Byrne slightly behind. The third leg saw the pace slow down somewhat and Byrne upped his game with a fine 100 to set himself up for a double 10 with Corcoran well behind to pull a leg back. The fourth saw Byrne begin with superb scores of 100 and 105 to move over 230 ahead and saw him firing at the doubles with Corcoran back in the 260's. However a number of missed attempts by Byrne gave Corcoran the impetus to whittle away at the score and an 84 put him back in contention. With Byrne stuck on double one, Corcoran sneaked in a double 11 to steal the leg, win the match and end ten years of frustration to be crowned King of Darts. |