Mick Egan makes it a Kenny Cup/Kelly Cup double!!

All that is good about Roscommon Darts was summed up on Sunday last as The 3rd annual Martin Kelly Cup darts tournament was decided with a very memorable final at The Church Street Station Bar in Roscommon town. Mick Egan proved popular winner for in front of the home crowd as he recorded a well deserved 6-4 victory over 2007 Kelly Cup champion, and Irish Ranked No. 1 Aodhagen O Neill. A total of 42 players entered on the day from 8 different counties namely Longford, Cavan, Westmeath, Sligo, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and Roscommon. Members of the recent All-Ireland winning Roscommon Youths darts team featured strongly with David Concannon and Thomas Concannon both reaching the Semi Finals producing darts which contributed to that All-Ireland success. Thomas Concannon polished off a 14 darter to come from 3-1 down in the Last 8 to win 4-3 against Longford's Stephen O' Reilly. And after going 4-0 down in his Semi Final clash with Aodhagen O' Neill he battled back to make it 4-3 aided by a 149 checkout- the highest of the days action- although his efforts fell just short of the mark.

O Neill got the better start in the final, taking the first leg in 18 darts. Egan replied with a 16 darter- a leg which included a 180. Egan hit a second 180 in the third leg but O Neill took it in 20 darts. A third 180 from Egan at the beginning of leg 4 led to a 19 darter- and a 20 darter in leg 5 was good enough to break the throw and take a 3-2 lead. Leg six was a sloppy one with both players dipping slightly- but Egan managed to further his lead to 4-2. O Neill then lifted his game and produced 16 and 17 dart legs to level it 4-4 and that was as good as it got for him. Egan broke the darts again in leg nine to make it 5-4 as O Neill missed costly darts at doubles. The best leg was saved till last as Egan hit scores of 85, 92, 125, 137,and a 62 checkout to round of a superb 6-4 win over one of the best players in Ireland. Mick Egan has had a very good past few months on the local darts scene winning The Tommy Kenny Cup at Creaton's of Loughlynn in December and Hannon's Hotel County Singles in January.
Final Stats.
M.Egan 6-4 A.O'Neill
11 100+ 16
2 140+ 4
3 180's 0
76.41 Average 74.31
Final Standings.
Last 16- M.Egan bt A.Dempsey; K.MacGyver bt J.Flynn; D.Concannon bt N.Reilly; K.Wesolowski bt L.Concannon; A.O'Neill bt G.Concannon;G.Murphy bt A.Wall;T.Concannon bt M.Kilroe; S.Reilly bt S.Finan.
Quarter Finals- M.Egan 4 Khalid MacGyver 2; D.Concannon 4 K.Wesolowski 1; A.O'Neill 4 G.Murphy 0;T.Concannon 4 S.Reilly 3.
Semi Final- M.Egan 5 D.Concannon 0; A.O'Neill 5 T.Concannon 3.
Final- Mick Egan (Roscommon) 6 Aodhagen O'Neill (Cavan) 4.

Lady of the tournament- Joan Flynn (Kilkenny).
Highest Checkout- Thomas Concannon 149. Others- 130 Aodhagen O Neill, Stephen Victory 109.

A total of €420 was raised on the day for Cancer Research. Thank you to everybody who contributed in any way to the successful running of this years tournament and to those who travelled distances to take part.
Roll of Honour.
2006- Winner- Sean Finan (Roscommon). Runner-Up Sean McGowan (Sligo).
2007- Winner- Aodhagen O Neill (Cavan). Runner-Up Sean Fleming (Roscommon).
2008- Winner- Mick Egan (Roscommon). Runner-Up Aodhagen O Neill (Cavan).
Darts news both National and International can be viewed on RTE2 teletext Page 426.