Aaron Bradley and Margaret Kelly took home the top All-Island Darts Open titles on a day of drama at 1886 Bar and Grill in Douglas recently.

Bradley was in fine form as he clinched the men’s singles title after cutting a swathe through the opposition on the Saturday night.

After some exciting early-round matches, there was a high-quality quarter-final line-up in which Paul Kelly won a tough battle with Wayne Harrison 5-3, before Alan Young produced an incredible comeback from 4-0 down to sneak past Robbie Cannell 5-4.

In the other half of the draw, Colin Tyrer proved too strong for Ben Brogan and eventual winner Bradley played superbly to beat his good friend Kev Lane 5-2.

Into the semis and first up Kelly came on strongly late on to get the better of Young 5-3 before Bradley beat an out-of-sorts Tyrer 5-0 to ease through to the title game.

Bradley was always in control of the final as Kelly got off to a slow start, the former taking an early lead and holding off a late rally from his opponent to close out the match 6-2.

It was a well-deserved title for Bradley whose great consistency all day saw him beat some of the island’s finest players.

In the women’s singles competition, Margaret Kelly has certainly come back to local darts with a bang as she followed up victory in the first ranking event a couple of weeks earlier by adding another island championship to her list of honours.

The quarter-finals saw 4-0 wins for Janine Halsall, Kelly and Nikki Bardsley, with Sarah Taylor completing the semi-final line-up with a 4-1 win over Helen Martin.

In the semis, the heavy scoring of Taylor saw her through 4-0 against Halsall, while Kelly put in a solid performance to get past Bardsley 4-1.

In the final, Kelly showed why she was the dominant force in local darts before taking a break from the game, as she put in an outstanding performance to get the better of a quality opponent.

Kelly ultimately ran out a 4-1 winner and therefore deservedly clinched the title of national women’s champion.

The pairs competitions were also held recently, with Robbie Nelson and Tyrer taking the men’s title after beating Wayne Harrison and Mark Venables 5-2 in the final.

In the women’s contest, final Bardsley and Taylor ran out 5-1 winners against Rachel Robertson and Sophie Hicklin.

Then in the mixed pairs, the power duo of Taylor and Bradley won the title in a last-leg decider against Lorna and Colin Tyrer 5-4 to make it two titles apiece.

Thanks go to all the players and officials for helping ensure the competition ran so well, as well as a special thanks to James and Diane at 1886 and all the sponsors for their support.