Players from all over the country gathered in the Tony Currie Suite at Sheffield United’s Bramhall Lane ground on Sunday 6^th December for the 2015 Redtooth National Darts final.

Players were drawn out into groups of four for the early stages, guaranteeing everyone at least three matches before moving on to the knock-out phase to decide the eight players who would win places at Q School in January and also to crown the 2015 Champion.

For the first time ever we had a female qualifier for the finals, Shanna Kirkland from the Star Hotel in Kirkudbright. After a spirited display the understandably nervous Shanna was eliminated at the group stage.

Unluckiest player in the group stages was Lee Slack (The Wilton, Rotherham), with three players all tied on two wins each, Lee was eliminated by the narrowest of margins on leg difference.

In the last 32 knock-out round we lost four of the group winners who had progressed to that stage with unbeaten records; Neil Hood (New Crown Hotel, Bridlington), Joe Lynch & Brian Jenkins (Eagle Coaching Inn, Dundee) and Adam Colin (Warsop Ex-Servicemens, Warsop).

With Q School places up for grabs the last 16 knock-out provided some of the closest matches of the day.

The lucky eight who all qualify for Q School in January are as follows;-

Craig Breeze (Royal Oak, Barlborough)

Jason Kirkland (Star Hotel, Twynholm)

Jono Poole (Hop Pole, Long Eaton)

Norman McHenry (Star Hotel, Kirkudbright)

Paul Burrows (The Ball Room, Edinburgh)

Paul Siddle (Warsop Ex Servicemen’s, Warsop)

Rob Pierce (Gigmill, Netherton)

Stephen Limer (Bridge Inn, Oldham)

The quarter final results saw 4-2 wins for Craig Breeze over Jono Poole, Paul Burrows over Stephen Limer and Jason Kirkland over Paul Siddle, Rob Pierce completed the semi-final line up with a 4-0 win over Norman McHenry.

Both semi-finals finished with 5-2 score lines with victories for Paul over Jason and Rob over Craig, with the losers winning £250 each.

The final between Paul Burrows and Rob Pierce was a fitting end to the day with Paul romping to a 4-0 lead before a great fight back from Rob; eventually Paul secured a 6-4 win, picking up the £1,000 first prize and the trophy whilst valiant loser, Rob had to settle for the runner-up trophy and £500.

Good luck to all the qualifiers at Q School in January, a report on their progress will be posted on here later.

The Midlands Regional Final took place at Rileys in Leicester on 15th November.

Following the round robin heats, the final 8 going to the oche were:-

Craig Breeze & Carl Creswick from the Royal Oak/Apollo in Barlborough, Dale Atkin & Danny Daykin from the Hop Pole in Nottingham, Chris Wharton & Steve Sperry from Rileys, and Owen Cubitt & Lee Slack from the Wilton, Rotherham.

Craig, Chris, & Steve won their quarter finals without losing a leg, going through 4 – 0.  Lee going through 4 -1.

Craig Breeze and Steve Sperry made it through to the finals.  Craig throwing great arrows in the first 4 legs to get to 3 – 1 up, but then Steve warmed up to take the lead and then winning 5 – 3.

Good luck to all the qualifiers at the National Final in December.

15^th August 2015

Riley’s in Leicester was once again the venue for the Midlands quarterly final.

After the group stages Craig Breeze, Royal Oak, Barlborough was looking on top form having won all of his games 3-0, however in the semi-final his form on doubles deserted him and eventually he fell 4-1 to Steve Sperry (Riley’s, Leicester).

In the other semi Darren Bluer, Wilton, Rotherham edged out Chris Wharton, Riley’s, Leicester by a score of 4-3.

The exciting final saw Darren race into a 3-0 lead before Steve found a hot streak o form and fought back to win 5-3.

Congratulations to all the players who qualify for the National final in December along with Lee Siddle and Brian Randall (both Warsop Ex-Servicemen’s Club), Steve Hudson (Royal Oak) and Martin Pell (Wilton)

Pilkeys in Keighley was the venue once again for the Northern quarterly final.

After the group stages only two players, both from The Duke of Bridgewater, Darren Cooper and Kenneth Greenhall remained with 100% records.

Probably the most surprising result of the day was Darren’s 4-2 defeat by Neil Hood (New Crown) in the semi-final. In the other semi Kenneth won by the same scoreline, 4-2, against Trevor Dawson (Duke of Bridgewater).

The final resulted in a 5-1 victory for Kenneth although missed doubles by Neil could have made the score much closer.

Riley’s in Leicester was the venue for the Midlands quarterly regional final.
The group stages provided some very close and exciting matches, with one group finishing in a three-way tie resulting in a one leg play-off in which the first two to finish would go through to the knock-out stages.
Both semi-finals resulted in convincing wins; Andrew Edwards defeating Jono Poole 4-0, which included a tremendous 154 check out, and a 4-1 win for Craig Ingram over Julian Bilbie.
The final was eagerly anticipated and did not disappoint, a see-saw battle resulted in a 5-3 win for Craig Ingram which culminated with an 11 dart leg to clinch the match.

Presentation took place for the winners of each Pub with a Trophy and certificate awarded.

The draw was made and the players were ready to rock with some top names in the draw.

With Alex Tweedie, Chris Gray, Chris Kirkcaldy, Jason Kirkland, Wullie Fullerton, Martin Fairburn, Joe Lynch and Ralph Hirst throwing some fantastic darts to make it through to the last 8 Quarter Finals.

Quarter Finals:

Jason Kirkland 3 – 0 Martin Fairburn

Wullie Fullerton 3 – 0 Chris Kirkcaldy

Alex Tweedie 3 – 2 Joe Lynch

Ralph Hirst 3 – 2 Chris Gray

Well done to the 4 qualifiers.

Semi Finals:

Jason Kirkland 4 – 1 Wullie Fullerton

Alex Tweedie 4 – 0 Ralph Hirst

Final

Alex Tweedie 5 – 2 Jason Kirkland

Well done Alex on becoming the Scotland regional champion throwing great darts through-out the day. It was unlucky for Jason in the final, missing a few doubles.  Well done all for making it a great day and all the best to the top 4 at the National Finals.

With the presentation underway and trophies presented it was time to make the draw for the groups – the players then battled it out to the last 8. 

Q-Final
Paul Burrows 3-1 Alex  Tweedie
Grant Robertson 3-2 Chris Kirkcaldy
David McHenry 3-2 Fred Thompson
George Brown 3-1 Ralph Hirst

Semi-Final
Paul Burrows 4-1 Grant Robertson
George Brown 4-1 David McHenry 

Final
Cracking final from start to finish best game of the day with the two top players on their game unfortunately there had to be a loser unlucky to Paul losing out 3-5 to the best player of the day George Brown.

Congratulations to George who was the best player on the day throwing fantastic darts from the first game of the day. 

Special mention to David McHenry, who qualified for his first big event,  throwing some great darts throughout the day.  Well done David.

A slightly disappointing day for the Redtooth team with Michael Power, Brian Lewis and Lee Cusworth all losing in the first round and Jack Fuller, Ryan Hoggarth and Mikey Groover all exiting in the second round along with former Redtooth champ Bob Fuller.

The best performance of the day was by another former champ, Paul Amos who went out in the fourth round to Dutchman Mike De Decker by a score of 5-2. Previously Paul had beaten Kurt Parry in round one, 5-2, James Thompson in round two, 5-0 and Gary Spedding in round three, 5-1.

Let’s hope for a better day on Friday.