The final night of matches in the inaugural Isle of Man Darts Super League took place at the RAOB Club in Ramsey recently.

Championship play-off:

East 10-8 West

The East and West had taken part in two very closely-contested matches during the regular season and the match for the title delivered another nail-biting finish.

Once again the West got off to a great start, with Jess Corlett putting them in front with a fine 3-1 win against the experienced Rachel Robertson, before Paul Williamson extended the lead with a 3-0 victory against Ian Roberts.

Aaron Bradley then hit a 15-dart leg in his 3-1 win against Robbie Nelson before Vicki Cannan put the West 4-0 up with a 3-0 win against debutant Donna Winterburn.

Nikki Bardsley got the East on the board after coming out on top in a high-quality game against Sophie Hicklin. Both players showed great form, with the latter hitting a 177 and a 20-dart leg to level the match before Bardsley hit 2x140s on her way to winning the deciding leg in 21 darts.

Paul Sertin then kept the ball rolling, hitting a 16-dart leg in a 3-2 win over Peter Sayle. With Janet Maynard winning the last women’s game 3-0 against Louise Gregory and Alan Young hitting a 16-dart leg in a 3-0 win over Walter McCarthy, the score was all-square at 4-4.

Rob Corrin put the East in front for the first time with a 3-0 win against Alan Teare and Tony Kennaugh extended the lead with a solid performance in a 3-1 win over Willie Biggane.

Mark Venables was able to stop the rot for the West when he got the better of Ian Fields 3-1, including a 16-dart winning leg. But in the last singles game Steve Moran beat Kevin Biggane 3-0 to give the East a 7-5 lead going into the pairs.

Corlett and Hicklin closed the gap for the West with a 2-0 win against Winterburn and Bardsley, but Moran and Young pulled off an excellent 2-1 win against Bradley and Sayle to ease Eastern nerves.

Sertin and Nelson then put the East one game away from victory with a 2-0 win against Venables and Williamson.

But the West were not going down without a fight and Cannan and Gregory beat Janet Maynard and Robertson 2-0 to keep hopes alive.

Teare and McCarthy then beat Corrin and Kennaugh 2-1 to make the score 9-8 going into the last pairs game, with the prospect of an overall tie and a sudden death game looking very real.

But Roberts and Fields managed to hold their nerve against the Biggane brothers, with an 80-finish from Roberts winning the last leg and taking the match 10-8.

North 9-9 South

The third/fourth place play-off also promised to be a close affair, with the teams having a win apiece over the course of the season and it couldn’t have been closer.

The South sent out island champion Sarah Taylor to start the match and she didn’t disappoint with a 3-0 victory over Laura Howard.

Jamie Kelly levelled the scores, hitting 17- and 19-dart legs in a come-from-behind 3-2 win against Louis Faragher.

Sophe Moore edged the South back in front with a 3-2 win against Judith Wellings that included a 22-dart leg, before Andy Foulis levelled the match again with a 3-0 win against Sam Clague.

The match continued to ebb and flow, with Margret Kelly hitting a 21-dart leg in a 3-0 victory over Cat Tracy before Scott Dalton levelled the score again with a 3-1 win against Danny Cowin.

The North finally got their noses in front when Alana Timoney beat Ann-Marie Martinez 3-0 and Robbie Lawson then extended the lead, defying a 19-dart leg from Klye Lunn to win 3-2.

Ryan Teare put the North 6-3 ahead with a fine 3-1 win against Jack Saxon before Colin Tyrer got the South back in the match, hitting a 17-dart leg on the way to a 3-0 win against Brian Gelling.

Gary Jones then recovered from two legs down to beat Chris Gelling and narrow the gap further.

Kevin Lane showed his quality to ensure the North had the lead going into the pairs, as he smashed in 12- and 18-dart legs on the way to a 3-0 win over John Halsall.

The Southern women, as always, were strong in the pairs, winning both games to level the scores at 7-7. Cowin and Faragher then put the South in front with a 2-1 win against Kelly and Lawson who won their leg in 19 darts.

Lane and Dalton then levelled the match once again at 8-8, including a 16-darter. Jones and Halsall edged the South in front with a 2-0 win against Jak Stott and Ryan Teare.

But in the last game of the night, with Andy Foulis and Ben Pickett tied at a leg apiece with Colin Tyrer and Sam Clague, Foulis produced the best moment of the night (and probably the season) when the pinged a 170 finish to win the game and seal a 9-9 draw.

With the match all-square, the managers decided that was the perfect way to finish the season and settled on a draw.

Congratulations to the East on an unbeaten season and thank you to every one of the 79 players who played at least one game in a season that really did exceed all expectations.

Thanks also to Jayne and Bobby at the RAOB club for being such great hosts on the night.

The Super League season will finish off with a knockout competition this Friday at the Whitestone in Ballasalla between the 16 top-ranked men and eight top-ranked women.

The line-up is as follows:

Men

Aaron Bradley (1)

v Robbie Lawson (16)

Ben Brogan (8)

v Robbie Nelson (9)

Mark Venables (5)

v Paul Sertin (12)

Colin Tyrer (4)

v Chris Gilbert (13)

Ady Hogg (3) v Rob Corrin (14)

Peter Sayle (6) v Ian Fields (11)

Jamie Kelly (7)

v Wayne Harrison (10)

Kevin Lane (2)

v Willie Biggane (15)

Women

Margaret Kelly (1)

v Jess Corlett (8)

Rachel Robertson (4)

v Sophie Hicklin (5)

Sarah Taylor (3)

v Vicki Cannan (6)

Nikki Bardsley (2)

v Janine Halsall (7).