The Smithfield Hotel in Dounby was the place to be for darts last Saturday night as they hosted the 2011 Orkney Darts Association Parish Cup Final. After fourteen matches involving 115 players from fifteen different parishes it all came down to a re-run of last year's Sandwick v Holm `final. Both teams were at full strength as Sandwick set out to retain the trophy they won last season with an impressive 11-7 victory over their East Mainland counterparts.

It was decided to play the doubles on one board and the first match of the day teamed up Sandwick brothers Stevie and Ian Linklater against the Holm pairing of Robbie Stanger and Bruce Moar. After a tentative start both pairings started to pick up their form and by the deciding leg a high standard had been set for the rest of the match. Stevie and Ian won the third leg to draw first blood and put Sandwick 1-0 in front.

Holm took the next game when Billy Ward and Freddie Tait scored well to beat Derry and Jimmick Sinclair 2-1 and then Tone Stevenson and Leigh Shearer defeated Paul Foubister and Juicy Johnston 2-0 to give Holm a 2-1 lead going into the first singles.

First singles game on was Derry against Leigh and some quickfire, clinical finishing from Derry gave him a very good 2-1 win to draw the match level. Paul Foubister and Tone Stevenson, two players who are returning to form, were second singles on and it was Paul who held on to win 2-1 to give Sandwick a 3-2 lead.

Sandwick's Juicy Johnston checked out a 111 checkout against Robbie Stanger to make the score 1-1 in their game but Robbie dug in to level the match at 3-3 with a good 2-1 win. The two skippers were on next and Ian Linklater got off to a flyer to take the first leg. A good leg from Bruce levelled the score at 1-1 before Ian powered his way to a 2-1 win to put Sandwick back in front.

Stevie Linklater beat Holm's Billy Ward 2-0 to extend the Sandwick lead to 5-3 before Freddie Tait played some very steady darts in his 2-0 win over Jimmick Sinclair to claw the score back to 5-4 at the half time break.
 
By the time half time came the Smithfield was starting to resemble a night at the PDC Premier League darts as a bus load of superheroes and even a couple of Mr T's entered the bar to join the already boisterous remains from the early evening blackening. Add to that another party of ladies on a bus trip and it was a good time to sit down in the porch and enjoy an excellent supper provided by the Smithfield.

On completion of the supper everyone returned to a slightly quieter bar to play out the second half of the final. Both skippers had switched the order of their doubles pairings to try and outfox each other but when all was revealed it was the same pairings that would lock horns again, the only exception being Alec Stanger replacing Jimmick in the doubles.

First on in the second half was Paul and Juicy who were trying to avenge their 2-0 loss to Tone and Leigh in the first half and after a very close game Paul Foubister banged in a brilliant 158 checkout to win the all important third leg. Next up was Alec and Derry against Billy and Freddie and despite some good scoring from the Holm boys it wasn't good enough to stop Alec and Derry from winning two straight and extend Sandwick's lead to 7-4. The final doubles of the match saw Ian and Stevie play Bruce and Robbie again but by this time Ian Linklater was on top form and ably abetted by his brother Stevie they saw off the Holm pair to put Holm in deep trouble at 8-4 down with only the singles to play.

At this stage Holm had to win at least five out of the final six singles to have a chance of winning the cup so with that target in mind they set about their task. First games on were Derry against Tone and Juicy against Bruce. Good scoring and poor finishing was the story of Juicy and Bruce's game and after Juicy failed to finish Bruce off in the second leg, Bruce came back to win the third and give Holm a much needed point.

A total contrast of styles made Derry and Tone's game an interesting battle. Derry, a very rapid thrower, looked to struggle with Tone's very deliberate pace and eventually Tone won 2-1 to make the score 8-6 and you could sense that a comeback from Holm was a very serious possibility.

Next on were Ian Linklater and Robbie Stanger on board one while Jimmick took on Leigh Shearer on board two. Ian started off with a 180 in the first leg and despite scoring well throughout the leg Robbie got down and took the double first to go 1-0 ahead. Ian started the second leg with another 180 and this time he made no mistake in taking the leg and eventually going on to beat Robbie 2-1 to the satisfaction of all the Sandwick supporters as this gave them an unassailable 9 points. While all the drama was going on on board one Leigh quietly went about his business and beat Jimmick two straight, so with two singles games left the score stood at 9-7 in Sandwick's favour.

Stevie Linklater faced Billy Ward, a repeat of their first half clash and on the other board Paul Foubister took on Freddie Tait. Billy scored very well against Stevie and missed a chance to finish when Stevie checked out a 114 to put Sandwick on the verge of winning. Into the second leg and Billy again went about his business in a very determined way getting to the double first again but he couldn't get the all important double and Stevie eventually grabbed his chance to beat Billy 2-0 and win the cup for Sandwick.

On the other board Freddie played another very steady game to beat Paul Foubister 2-0 but alas it was all in vain as the final score ended 10-8 to Sandwick.

Both teams put on a tremendous performance in a hotly contested and fairly intense match which was played in the right spirit throughout the evening. The atmosphere in the bar added to the occasion and as several folk commented later, it was classic pub darts at its best.

Bruce Moar, on behalf of the Orkney Darts Association, thanked the Smithfield for hosting the final and for providing an excellent supper for everyone. This was met with unanimous approval. He then called on invited guest Ian Donaldson, a very popular stalwart of the West Mainland darting scene for many years, to come forward and present the cup to Sandwick Captain Ian Linklater who few could argue was the best player on the night.