The quarter finals of the inaugural Orkney Darts Association Parish Cup have been played over the last month and the semi final draw is now complete.

The first of the quarter finals was played at the Orkney Rugby Football Club when Eday played their first game in the competition. Unfortunately for them they came up against a very strong Sandwick team and went down 15-3. Sandwick won their first three doubles and two singles before Eday’s Bill Robertson stopped the rot by winning his match with Robbie Brass. Normal service was resumed though when Sandwick won their next five games to secure the tie. Eday didn’t give up and won another couple of matches to make the score 11-3 before Sandwick comfortably completed the scoring. Reports from both teams said that despite the score line it was a highly enjoyable evening with the Eday team saying they will definitely be back next year.

Sandwick’s opponents in the semi final will be their old rivals Birsay. Birsay made their first appearance in the Parish Cup against St.Andrew's and after a very close tie they proceeded to knock the East Mainland team out after the play-off leg.

An experienced Birsay team ended the first half 5-4 up and when captain John Norquoy and Keith Johnston won their singles in the second half it gave Birsay a 9-7 lead with two games remaining. St.Andrews, backed by their passionate home support, didn't give up though and wins for their skipper Fraser Laird and Colin Kirkpatrick set up a dramatic finale by the way of a 1001 play-off leg. Despite the tense atmosphere in the Quoyburray, Birsay held their nerve to win through to the semi-final. For St.Andrew’s there was a 180 for Colin Kirkpatrick and a 105 checkout for Fraser Laird and Birsay’s Keith Johnston had a 100 finish.

Sanday just squeezed past Firth in a close match which was played at the Commodore in Holm. Sanday started strongly winning the first two doubles to get their noses in front early on but it remained close throughout the first half with Sanday’s Michael Moodie winning his singles to give Sanday a narrow 5-4 lead at half time. In the second half it was Firth that started well and after the doubles the score was locked at 6-6. In the second half the singles were going Sanday’s way and with a 9-7 lead Sanday boys Edrian Skea and Michael Muir Jnr won the last two rubbers to give Sanday an 11-7 victory. Their reward is a home tie, at the Commodore, against Holm, winners of the final quarter final.

Holm take their place in the semi finals after a 12-6 victory over Stenness in the Commodore. Holm got off to a flying start winning all three of their doubles and their first two singles to take a 5-0 lead. Paul Irvine, best player on the day for Stenness, stopped the slide before Stenness finished the half strongly to trail 6-3 at half-time.

Both captains shuffled their teams around at half-time and after the first four games of the second half the score stood at 8-5 to Holm. The next two games were crucial to Stenness if they were to stage a comeback, but alas it was Holm that would prevail with Billy Ward holding off a determined challenge from Lenny Clouston to win 2-1 and Bruce Moar securing the match for Holm with an equally close 2-1 victory over Davy Cooper. Some very close games followed this with the final score ending 12-6 to Holm. Paul Irvine from Stenness had a 180 as did Holm’s Robbie Stanger and Robbie’s Holm team mate Billy Ward had a 101 checkout.
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Semi Finals
Sandwick v Birsay in the Smithfield Hotel, Dounby. (date/time tbc)Sanday v Holm in the Commodore, Holm (February 28^th at 2pm)