Devine overcomes travel disruption to complete title hat-trick in Jersey

DUNAMANAGH’S Adrian Devine completed a hat-trick of Islands International title successes in Jersey last weekend following a war of attrition just to get there.

With Storm Eowyn causing havoc across Ireland, Devine and his team-mates, including his County Donegal colleagues Cathan Boyle and Gerard McGlynn, as well as the women’s team, which included Pettigo’s Denise Cassidy, had their flights to the Channel Island canceled. That resulted in an early dash through the subsequent snow and ice to the airport on Saturday morning to get a hastily rearranged flight, thanks to the efforts of the Irish National Darts Organisation.

After arriving late to the venue, and thanks to the Jersey organisers rearranging the event, Ireland were straight into action against Guernsey, who they thumped 13-1 with Devine scoring a 100.2 average during a 3-0 win over Carl Gauvain.

“We nearly never got playing at all because of that Storm Eowyn landing!,” Devine exclaimed.

“But we got on flights on Saturday morning and they were touch and go as well. We eventually got there and Jersey had to rejig the competition and we had to play Guernsey late on Saturday and I had the highest average.

“We were knackered, some of us never slept the night before, so I think I need to stay up and not sleep any more before a competition to get 100-plus averages!

“A lot of people said we were silly for even trying to go, but we got there and it was worth it in the end.”

After enjoying a successful if exhausting start to the tournament, Devine, who became the first player to win the event three times, and his team-mates went on to beat Isle of Man 10-3 and Jersey 9-4 to win the event for a third time, while the ladies won all three of their games 6-1 to make it double delight for Ireland.

Having also won the Donegal Grand Prix recently, Devine has enjoyed a successful start to 2025 after suffering disappointment at PDC Q-School in Wigan earlier this month.

“After Q-School I didn’t even want to look at a board,” Devine admitted after narrowly missing out on the final stage of qualifying.

“I had more or less qualified for the final stages and if I hadn’t gone to the last day I’d have been through. Hindsight is a great thing, but a few other lads knew not to go on the last day but I didn’t.

“But I won the Donegal Grand Prix the next weekend and that gave me a pick up.”