The St Pierre Park Hotel in Guernsey recently played host to the first-ever Island Internationals tournament. Darts World’s “The Pearly King “ acted as caller, official and on the spot reporter as the latest multi nation event hit the darting calendar :
The event was originally due to have taken place in the Isle of Man, but Covid put it on hold and thus it was Guernsey who had the honour of staging the inaugural event.
Along with the Manxmen and women, teams from Jersey and the Republic of Ireland made up the four sides vying to become the overall Champions.
The weekend’s festivities began with a Men’s and Ladies singles competition. In a pre-cursor to what was to follow, events were dominated by the arrowsmiths from the Emerald Isle. In the Final, Offaly’s Pat Barrett took the honours with a 5-2 victory over Adrian Devine (Donegal).
The Ladies’ best of seven legs Final saw a real ding-dong battle. Katie Sheldon looked odds on to be declared the winner as she raced into an early (3-0) lead. Her opponent, compatriot Robyn Byrne then responded in kind, as she took the next three legs before completing a brilliant comeback to take the title.
But of course, the main focus was the team tournament, and it all began on Saturday morning as each team was introduced during the Opening Ceremony. The round-robin section began at high noon, with two matches taking place simultaneously. Jersey began with a contest against the Irish, whilst Guernsey took to the main stage to face the Isle of Man.
The ladies from the Republic set down an early marker, only dropping one leg as they whitewashed Jersey seven-nil. Robyn Byrne (71.74) and Katie Sheldon (68.32) were the standout performers, with Jenna Avrill (51.05) and Ema Hawley (48.74) playing well in defeat for Jersey. The Guernsey ladies started slowly, losing the first two matches before eventually coming out with a 5-2 win. Margaret Kelly (42.94) and Wendy Andrews (45.55) took the points for the Isle of Man, with Yvonne Le Gallic (47.71) and Jo Ellis (42.54) the most impressive of the five Guernsey winners.
Next up were the men. On the second stage, the Republic’s men started in the same vein as their female counterparts, as they defeated Jersey 11-2. Shane Walsh (85.08) and David Concannon (83.50) led the way, with Steve Eusebini (71.80) and Lewis Bell (68.15) gaining the points for Jersey. The result was in doubt throughout as Guernsey faced off against the Isle of Man, the hosts taking three of the last four matches for a narrow 7-6 win.
The Manxmen took the first three matches of the session, with Alan Young, match award winner Tony Kennaugh (70.31) and Steve Moran winning their contests. Guernsey then hit back with three of their own and it was nip and tuck from that point on. Adie Exall (69.03) and Michael Ogier (62.76) were the pick of the winners with Callum Ferbrache (63.51) firing in the double for the vital win.
The Irish ladies continued their dominance, with a 6-1 victory over the Isle of Man. Again it was Byrne (80.52) with a magnificent performance and Sheldon who led the way, with Janine Halsall (44.21) taking the solitary point for the Manx ladies.
The main stage saw old rivals Guernsey and Jersey lock horns. The scores were tied with one match remaining, Yvonne Le Gallic, Tracy De la Haye and Debbie Hamon (50.10) won for Guernsey, while Jenna Avrill (50.00) Hope Hopwood and Casey Lodwidge (51,47) were on the board for Jersey. Ema Hawley (51.24) bagged the winning point for Jersey.
In the Men’s section, the Republic again only dropped one point to the Isle of Man. Keanen Norris (86.71), Ray Mulvey (79.11) and Brian Fletcher Jnr (78.00) were the pick of the bunch, with Alan Young (60.12) gaining the consolation point.
Guernsey took the opening Men’s match before Jersey reeled off five wins in succession. After ten matches, Jersey were in an unassailable 8-2 lead before Guernsey took the last three points to reduce the deficit. Lewis Bell (71.57), Craig Quemard (70.02) and Dave Parlby (70.13) impressed most for Jersey with Ken Waters (59.05) and Lee Smith (59.52) the best from a disappointing performance by Guernsey.
Sunday saw the concluding round-robin matches. The Jersey Ladies started well, Hope Hopwood and Casey Lodwidge coming back with wins for an early two-nil advantage. From that point on though, it was one way traffic as the Isle of Man rattled off five straight victories. Margaret Kelly and Nikki Bardsley both recorded identical 52.43 averages as they each won in straight legs to round things off.
Guernsey started off in fine style with Debbie Hamon (54.67) winning in five legs to kick things off against the Irish. That win spurred the Irish ladies into action, as they took all six games to follow. Once again Robyn Byrne was impressive (69.35), but Aoife McCormack surpassed that average with a fine 72.73 of her own.
The Jersey men ground out a 9-4 sectional win over the Isle of Man. Lewis Bell (81.98), Dave Parlby (77.74) and Mark Buckingham (76.42) stood out for Jersey, while Alan Young (77.77) kept up his good form. Robbie Lawson, Tony Kennaugh and Walter McCarthy completed the victorious Isle of Man quartet. The Republic of Ireland men were in no mood to show any sympathy to their hosts, and whitewashed Guernsey 13-0. Mark Fehily with an outstanding display (93.94), Pat Barrett (81.98) and Michael Meaney (80.39) led the charge. Adie Exall (89.60), Simon De La Mare and Phil Dodd came closest to getting a point on the Guernsey scoreboard.
The weekend ended with the sectional finals. In the Ladies event, the Isle of Man took third place with a 4-0 victory, the points coming from Rachel Robertson, Margaret Kelly, Nikki Bardsley and Sophie Moore. It was a similar scoreline on the main stage. Teresa King, Ailish Finnan, Robyn Byrne gave the Republic of Ireland a three-nil advantage before Aoife McCormack produced legs of 18 and 17 darts respectively to come from two one behind to gain the all-important point for the title and leave Guernsey in the second spot.
The third-place playoff in the Men’s competition saw Guernsey edge to a 7-4 win over the Isle of Man. Shaun Allez, Phil Dodd, Adie Exall, Lee Smith, Ken Waters, Callum Ferbrache all won before Michael Ogier got the match-winning point. Alan Young remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, with Jack Saxon, Robbie Lawson, and Mark Venables also coming out on top for the Manxmen.
The Republic’s men capped off a successful weekend for the Emerald Isle with a 7-1 victory in the final against Jersey. Joe De Sousa got the solitary chalk on the board for Jersey, with Michael McNeeney, Keanan Norris, William Fouhy (92.02), Brian Fletcher Jnr, Adrian Devine, and Michael Meaney all winning for the Irish. Ray Mulvey (85.08) had the honour of hitting the match-winning double.
The Irish made it a clean sweep, as they took the overall event with a total of 55 points. The battle for the minor honours was close, Jersey came second with 25 points, Guernsey were third (21) and the Isle of Man finished fourth on 19 points.
The consensus amongst all who took part was that it was a fabulous weekend with all feeling confident and enthusiastic that the Island Internationals would quickly establish itself in the darting calendar with all eyes eagerly looking forward to next year’s renewal in the Isle of Man.
—–ENDS—–
Words: The Pearly King (with Smilers UK Ltd.)
Catch the latest Channel Island Updates in Darts World and Darts World Extra