Good to see our links to the Union are as strong as ever.
Van Barneveld takes title in Citywest
Raymond Van Barneveld defeated Kevin McDine 8-2 to win the Blue Square UK Open Irish Regional Final at the Citywest Hotel.
The Dutchman the defending UK Open champion - picked up the Regional Final title in Dublin for a second successive year with some sensational darts, including an imperious display in the final.
He landed five 180s against McDine, and also took out finishes of 136, 119 and 96 in seeing off the 22-year-old Geordie.
McDine, playing in his first PDC final only a week after qualifying for the PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts, held his own early in the contest to be level at 2-2 before van Barneveld took out six straight legs for the 6,000 (8,662) winner’s cheque.
Van Barneveld opened with a 136 finish, with McDine sat on 71 before the youngster hit back with a 64 checkout on double 16 to level.
The Dutchman hit his first maximum in leg three before checking out 119, with McDine again on a finish.
Leg four went the way of McDine on double 10, after van Barneveld missed three darts for a 3-1 lead - but an 11-darter from the World Champion in the next put him 3-2 up.
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McDine paid for missing three darts at a double in the next leg, with van Barneveld taking out double eight with his third dart to finally put daylight between the pair at 4-2.
He never looked back, landing a fourth 180 in leg seven, hitting double eight in the next and then finishing 86 on the bullseye to move 7-2 up.
Another maximum gave van Barneveld the edge in leg 10, and he landed double 10 to seal the win.
He had earlier whitewashed Colin Monk 7-0 in the semi-finals and romped to a 6-2 win against Adrian Lewis in the last eight, as well as seeing off in-form world number three James Wade 5-1 in the last 16.
McDine, whose previous best performance came with a run to the semi-finals of April’s Midlands Regional Final, overcame Yorkshireman Chris Thompson - a newcomer to the PDC this summer - with a 7-4 semi-final win.
He also defeated Andy Smith, Alex Roy, Shayne Passey, Mick McGowan and Ian Branks on his way to the final.
Dutch teenager Toon Greebe reached his first PDC Pro Tour quarter-final in an impressive day of darts - defeating Dennis Smith, Wayne Jones, John Part and Roland Scholten before losing to Monk in the last eight.
Phil Taylor, who won Saturday’s Irish Players Championship, was knocked out in the last 16 by Adrian Lewis in a close contest which saw the 13-time World Champion miss darts for victory.
