The Isle of Man Masters darts competition took place at the Rosemount in Douglas on Saturday.

There was a fantastic turnout of 65 players toeing the oche in the best-of-three sets format competition, with each set the best-of-five legs.

In the women’s event, Margaret Kelly continued her domination by storming to the title without losing a single set. 

The prelims saw Sheena Parker and Sophie Moore move through to the quarter-finals in the top half of the draw.

In the bottom half there were three big games, with Kelly beating one of her biggest rivals Wendy Andrews 2-0, Sophie Hicklin beating an out-of-sorts Nikki Bardsley 2-1 and Jess Corlett squeezing past Sarah Corkill 2-1. 

In the quarters, Parker’s dream debut continued with a 2-0 win against Janet Baily, while Nicola Libreri-Lane got the better of Moore. Kelly proved too strong for Rachel Robertson and Hicklin beat Corlett in the battle of the Peel players. 

In the semi-finals, Parker was unable to continue her run, with Libreri-Lane taking the first spot in the final. Kelly then eased past Hicklin 2-0 to make yet another big final.

In the final, Kelly’s superior scoring and finishing was too much for Libreri-Lane as she won all six legs in the contest, rounding off the match with a 98 finish. 

The men’s competition was much more open, with at least a dozen of the 52 entrants holding genuine hopes of taking home the title.

The prelims threw up some tasty match-ups, including Robbie Cannell rolling back the years with a fine 2-0 win against Paul Sertin, Ian Fields knocking in a 12-dart leg in beating Tony Barker 2-0 and some heavy scoring from Ady Hogg allowing him to get the better of Robbie Lawson.

There was also the first mini shock of the day when Kevin Biggane took down Lee Frearson 2-0.

Into the last-32 and the big games kept coming, with Richie Howland laying down his first marker of the day when he beat reigning island champion Colin Tyrer 2-1, surviving several match darts before winning in a last-leg decider.

There were further big games with Cannell putting in another strong performance to beat Glenn Moorley 2-0 and Geoff Howland surviving even more missed match darts than his brother in beating Fields 2-1.

Another old face, Mike Smedley also moved into the last-16 with a 2-1 win against Andy Evans.

In the last-16, Howland put an end to Cannell’s fine run with a 2-0 win, Robbie Nelson also won 2-0 against Hogg in a game of big scoring.

Aaron Bradley showed his quality in seeing off Tony Kennaugh 2-0, while Kevin Lane survived a couple of match darts before beating Alan Young in a last-leg decider before Willie Biggane saw off Smedley 2-0.

The quarter-finals saw the Howland brothers squaring off against each other, with Geoff thinking he had won the match after checking out 66, only to realise he had misread his remaining score and had in fact bust 64.

Richie took full advantage of Geoff’s error to firstly level the match at a set apiece, before racing away with the deciding set.

In the other quarter-final in the top half of the draw, Nelson cruised to a 2-0 win against surprise package Ben Parsons.

In the bottom half of the draw, Bradley won a tight match against Paul Kelly 2-1 and Lane eased past Willie Biggane 2-0. 

In the semi-finals, R. Howland again had to fight all the way to overcome Nelson 2-1, while Lane was looking in ominous form as he got the better of Bradley 2-0. 

In the final, Howland and Lane both exchanged big scores and big finishes throughout, with Lane taking the first set and landing a 156 finish in the second to put himself on the verge of victory. But with the score tied at 2-2, he missed the bull for a 121 finish and Howland stepped up to take out his double and send the game into a deciding set.

As he had done all through the day, Howland showed great resilience in the third set and, with Lane’s level dropping off slightly, he eased to the win that saw him make a triumphant return to island darts.

Isle of Man Darts Organisation would like to thank sponsor Okell’s for its continued support, Janet and the gang at the Rosemount for looking after everyone so well all day and the squad of helpers who keep things ticking over.

Special thanks go to Tony Kennaugh for quickly putting up two additional boards to allow organisers to cope with the excellent turnout.

It was particularly good to see a lot of new faces and a few old heads making a return, it really did make for a special day.

lIoMDO’s next event is also at the Rosemount, with the Christmas singles comp on Friday, December 29.