Article by Mark Farrell.
The final games of the group stages in all 4 divisions of the Cork Darts Orginisation were completed on Monday last, and we are now down to the quarter final stage in the Super, 1st and 2nd divisions. All quarter final games will be played in various venues across the city on Monday, March 14th. and are scheduled for a 9:15pm start.
The Super league quarter finals will be at the Gallows bar. The fixtures are; Top of the Hill v Local 1 & Cow v Quinlans. The Groves 1 and the Joshua Tree 2 are through to the semifinals and will await the winners of the above ties.
The Joshua Tree will be holding the division 1 quarter final games and it’s Gallows 2 v Hanna Bawns & Ma Dullea’s 1 v Gerald Griffin. The Riverlane and the Gallows are through to the semifainals in that division.
In Division 2, D’Anglers v Glenryan 1 & Jack Fordes v Local 2 at the Local bar, Military hill. Glenryan 2 & Aunties are through to the Semis and will play the winners of the quarterfinal games on Friday, March 25th. All quarterfinal games are scheduled for a 9:15 start.
The Semifinals and finals of the 3 divisions will be played on Friday, March 25th.
The Semi-finals and final of the Junior C division will be held on Monday March 17th at the Riverlane, Blarney street. Games are down for an 8:30pm start and it’s the Tower bar v Riverlane 2 & Muskerry v Groves 3, with the final to follow.
On Friday last, at the Joshua Tree, the Cork Darts Orginisation held their annual charity shield, sponsored by Jason Galway Painting and decorating. With 62 entries on the night, the overall winner was Cork’s legend, Steve Coveney, beating an irish national champion, Ken Murphy in a fantastic final by 4 games to 3. Ken nudged out Damien O’Driscoll in the semi finals and Coveney got the better of John Paul Dowdall in the other semis.
Cork Youth Darts took 3 teams to Navan, to represent Cork in the INDO inter-county championship last weekend. 23 superstars put on the red jersey and played their hearts out for their County. With a maximum of 3 teams allowed per county, and 5 play per game, it was a tough task for the managers and mentors to insure that all get to play, and that they did. CYD are more or less starting from scratch to build teams again as 5 out of the 6 players that crowned Cork All Ireland Champions in 2020, are now young men and had to part ways from the playing side of things. It was a first competitive tournament for the majority of our guys but a great experience for them. Cork 1 were beaten by a great Laois side in the quarter final stage of the Cup. Laois went on to the final but were pipped be a fantastic and experienced Tipp team. Cork 2 lost in the last 16 to Galway, and Cork 3 were knocked out in the Semi-finals of the shield by Wexford.
The first ranking of the new season will be held at the Harp bar on Saturday, March 26th at 12:30. All boys & girls from ages 7-17 are welcome to come along.
Mark Farrell.