Several withdrawals both before and after the April League got underway meant that only 49 of the 56 scheduled matches were played this however didn't make much difference to how competitive the leagues were.

League 1 was the closest league of all with Stevie Linklater winning his final game against Iain Wilkie 9-6 to prevent a five-way tie and finish top with three wins. Ivan Leslie, Robbie Stanger and Bruce Moar all finished with two wins and two defeats with Iain at the bottom with a very good 9-5 win against Ivan. Highlights of the month in League 1 were Bruce Moar's 161 checkout against Ivan Leslie and Robbie Stanger's four 180's against Iain Wilkie including two in one leg. Robbie joins Bruce Moar, Martin Peace and Stevie Linklater in a very exclusive club of players to have four 180's in a match.

A return to form saw Davy Cooper win all four games for the first time since November 2009 to take top spot in League 2 closely followed by Michael Moodie who had three wins. Robert Gatt finished third with two wins after narrowly losing out to Michael Moodie 9-8. Michael Muir finished in fourth with one win but wasn't far off the pace with two of his losses being very close, a 9-8 defeat to Michael Moodie and a 9-7 loss to Robert Gatt.

Leigh Shearer hit form in April to win all his games in League 3 with Ross Donaldson the only player to give him a close game before eventually losing 9-8. Colin Ross finished second with three comfortable wins over Ross 9-4, Neil Tait 9-6 and Lee MacPherson 9-2. Ross Donaldson also had another close 9-7 defeat to Lee but his 9-1 win over Neil was enough to give him third place on leg difference over Lee and Neil. Although Neil managed to beat Lee, Neil had the inferior leg difference and had to settle for bottom spot.

Michael Bain comfortably won all his games in League 4 although his Mum, Noreen, gave him a good battle before eventually losing 9-7. With only one loss, a 9-4 defeat to Michael, Craig Moar took the runner-up spot with three convincing wins in his remaining matches. Roy Griffiths had two wins to take the mid-table position with Sean Stanger and Noreen Bain finishing fourth and fifth respectively, Sean winning their match 9-4.

In League 5 a withdrawal after the League had been set up meant the remaining competitors only had three matches each in April and Martin Peace duly won all three of his games to finish top. Susie Bain took second place after beating Linda Ratter 9-3 and Linda Harcus 9-8 despite Linda H getting a 171. In the battle of the two Lindas for third place Linda R just managed to beat Linda H 9-6.

Another late withdrawal meant there were only three players left in League 6 and Colin Findlay won both his matches to finish top. In the other match Mike Lucas beat Sarah Jane Garrioch 9-3 to leave Sarah Jane firmly rooted to the bottom spot.

Seventeen players hit a total of 38 x 180's in April with Robbie Stanger hitting a record eight in the month to give him a season total of thirty six which is another new record. This thrashes the previous best for a season of thirty from 2008-09 which was held by Martin Peace and doubles Robbie's season high of eighteen from last season. Other maximum scorers in April were Michael Moodie 4, Ivan Leslie 4, Stevie Linklater 3, Davy Cooper 3, Michael Bain 3, Leigh Shearer 2, Martin Peace 2, Iain Wilkie, Bruce Moar, Robert Gatt, Craig Moar, Lee MacPherson, Derek Farmer, Michael Muir, Colin Findlay and Roy Griffiths.

Sixteen players hit 22 ton plus checkouts which was well down on the previous couple of months. Best of the month came from Bruce Moar with his 161 in his 9-4 loss to Ivan Leslie. Bruce also had a 100 checkout. Others came from Roy Griffiths 118, 104, 100, Leigh Shearer 154, 116, Ross Donaldson 140, 103, Michael Bain 104, 100, Davy Cooper 123, Robert Gatt 119, Michael Muir 117, Colin Ross 116, Robbie Stanger 114, Craig Moar 108, Lee MacPherson 104, Sean Stanger 104, Ivan Leslie 101 and Iain Wilkie and Martin Peace both had 100 checkouts.

The final tables are posted on the website http://www.spanglefish.com/orkneydartsassociation/

Finally on behalf of all the players in the Orkney Darts Association we pass on our condolences to the Cooper family after the sudden death of Davy Cooper. Davy, one of the finest players in Orkney, always had a smile on his face when he was at the darts, but when it came down to the serious business of playing he was more than a match for most. All the players in the ODA Singles League and Parish Cup will miss playing both with Davy and against him.