THE Western Tavern was a buzz of activity over the weekend for the inaugural St Pats Dart Tournament.
The event had attracted some big names in the sport including current and former state champions.
The Limestone Coast was also well represented, with the Invitational on the Saturday made up of 14 locals and 14 travellers.
Murray Bridge player Mark Smyth claimed the honours, in a strong display of darts Saturday night over Adelaide’s Kevin Young.
The event kicked off Friday with the drawn doubles, with 28 players involved and plenty of spectators filling the sports bar to add to the atmosphere.
Eventual winners were Adeliade’s Dylan Mitchell and Amanda Loch.
Mitchell won the 2017 State Singles Championship, while Loch is also a State representative.
Both played impressive darts all night to make it through undefeated.
Runners-up were Smyth and Adelaide’s Ben Weight, who won the playoff against locals Wayne Devlin and event organiser Danny Scally.
The Saturday saw the Invitational take centre stage, with 28 players competing.
Once again the sports bar had a great atmosphere all day, with spectators flooding in while the players battled out what was a 10-hour event.
Nathan Tana, Karl Shaefer, Craig Lynch, Scally and Troy Snell were among the locals who claimed victories over state players in the minor rounds.
The final 16 locals Carl Davies, Snell, Scally, Shaefer, Lynch, Jason Fulham, James Brooks and John Simpson make up half of the field.
In the quarter finals and the local hopes had been reduced to just three, with Snell, Davies and Fulham remaining.
Snell lost a close battle with Young and Fulham went on to lose what was one of the highest quality matches of the finals to Smyth.
Meanwhile Davies lost to Dylan Mitchell in a last-leg decider and Torrens Valley’s Johnny Kay provided the upset of the round, defeating 2018 state singles champion Laurie Loch.
Young then defeated Mitchell in a high-standard match, while Smyth proved too strong for Kay.
The final saw another cracking match with Smyth’s all round game a feature, winning 4-1 over Young to claim the title.
All up there were 55 180’s thrown for the weekend and many low dart matches.
Smyth took out the most 180’s prize, while state player Michael Conlan took out the highest peg of 150.
The finals featured a caller on the microphone and one of the large TV’s had live video streaming, so everyone in the venue could hear and see the action.
Players had their own walk-on songs selected which added to the atmosphere.
They were also sporting their specially designed St Pat’s shirts, with the bar a sea of Irish flag colours.
Scally said the players’ and spectators’ feedback was “fantastic”, with kitchen facilities having extended hours and the service second to none.
“The players will certainly be back next year and plans are for a bigger event in 2019, with the inclusion of more players and possibly an extra day’s play, since St Patricks day will be on the Sunday,” he said.
