European silver medal success for Adrian

DUNAMANAGH’S Adrian Devine played a captain’s role during Ireland’s incredible success at the WDF Europe Cup in Bratislava over the weekend, winning an individual silver medal in the process.

He travelled to Slovakia confident of achieving success with the men’s team after they suffered a near miss at the Six Nations where they narrowly missed out on a medal.

Again, on this occasion, the team which included Donegal’s Gerard McGlynn, Mayo’s Conor Heneghan and Limerick’s Michael Flynn, fell short of that aim, losing 9-7 to Sweden in the knockout stages after surging through a group that included Germany, Hungary, Latvia and Lichtenstein.

The County Donegal player didn’t let that disappointment affect his performances, however. He and McGlynn reached the last-16 of the pairs competition, losing out to Croatia’s Marko Janjić and Ivica Cavrić 4-1.

Again, the Irish team captain bounced back and he did so in style in the men’s singles beating Greece’s Angelos Moulangelis in the last-64 before overcoming Dutchman, Alexander Merlx 4-2 to book his spot in the last-16 where he had to dig deep and show his mettle in a last leg decider to edge past Scotland’s Scott Robertson, before he got revenge on Croatia’s Janjić, who sent him crashing out of the pairs, winning their quarter-final clash comfortably, 5-1.

That set Adrian up with a last-four clash with England’s Cam Crabtree and that match delivered one of the moments of the tournament as Devine clinched an emphatic 6-2 triumph in style with a stunning 156 checkout with his opponent sitting on a double.

Unfortunately, the Tyrone man, who will attempt to earn his PDC Tour card early next year, fell just short in the final and had to settle for a silver medal after being beaten 7-5 by Dennie Older Kalter of the Netherlands.

“Disappointed, but if I was told I’d be coming home with a silver medal at the start of the competition I’d have gladly taken it,” Devine acknowledged.

Overall, the WDF Europe Cup proved a huge success for the Irish National Darts Organisation squad, who returned home with a stunning haul of 14 medals, including a gold for leading ladies player Robyn Byrne and another silver for the ladies in the team event, while Conor Heneghan and Michael Flynn claimed bronze in the men’s pairs.