Pictured from left are, runner up Derek Firth, league president Craig Taylor, league secretary Jim Scollie, and Festive Singles winner Kevin Gray.

The last KDDL ranking points competition of the year took place on Friday with a great entry of 60 players for the festive open singles, an entry which would have been even higher if it had not been for the winter weather.
League secretary Jim Scollie, who has not been well recently, was warmly welcomed by all at the darts in the Masonic, having been taken to the darts by his sister Evelyn.
With those all important ranking points up for grabs there were some great matches on the night, which saw a total of  20 180’s being scored and 10 finishes of over 100.
Reigning Festive Singles champion Robbie Stanger was in Tenerife, missing the chance to compete for a hat-trick of festive wins in a row, but with Storm Caroline hitting Orkney the day before, followed by a day of snow and ice, who could blame him!
A great 158 checkout by Steven Low in the very first round looked to be the top finish of the night, but two rounds later he met Jim Hamilton, who hit the highest checkout possible in darts, a 170, which was great to see, as they don’t come along that often.
In the top half of the draw Brain Moar met Stevie Linklater in the quarters, with Stevie going through with the help of a 100 checkout. Derek Firth progressed by beating Trevor Shearer, with Derek hitting a 180 in the match.
Despite Stevie hitting two 180’s in the semi that followed, on form Derek, helped by a 15 dart leg and clinical finishing, won through to the final by a 4-1 scoreline.
In the lower half, a 180 by Kevin Gray in his match against Ben Hogan helped him win through, while Ivan Leslie progressed by taking out Steven Low, ending his great run the competition.
In the top quality semi, Kevin and Ivan hit a 180 each, with Kevin going on to seal the win by 4 legs to 1 with a fantastic 121 checkout.
Despite the late hour, it was really good to see so many players and spectators staying to watch the final.
It was Kevin who took the title, beating Derek 5-2 in a match which saw some great darts by both players. Averages were 82.46 Kevin and 78.35 Derek. As winner Kevin picked up a nice Christmas bonus of the £100 prize money, Derek winning £50.
League president Craig Taylor thanked everyone for making it such a good night, adding it was super to see Jim along enjoying the darts and making the presentation that followed.
The big festive drinks raffle also took place, a vital fundraiser for the league. Marie Walker agreed to pull out the winning tickets from the tombola, with Maureen Firth winning first prize, Thorfinn Eunson second. There were also various other individual winners.
Many thanks to all who bought and sold tickets.

League
The penultimate round of first half fixtures in the Williamsons Butchers ‘A’ league saw first play second as the Legion maintained their unbeaten run with a 10-2 win over Untouchables in a high quality match by all accounts.  
Orkney Golf Club took advantage of the Untouchables failure by beating Quoyburray ‘B’ 11-1, moving the Golf Club into second place but seven points adrift of the leaders.  
Recent season’s results would suggest that large a gap to be insurmountable but nothing is certain in this league.  
Another crunch match took place in the bottom half of the table and Graham Firth played superbly to seal a 7-5 win for the Arrows over Quoyburray, which once more moves them out of the relegation zone.  
Indeed Graham was once again on form later in the week, hitting a 13 dart leg but was unable to prevent Wanderers beating the Arrows 8-4 in an extremely hard fought game.  Unfortunately for Quoyburray their week was only to get worse as Sanday overturned them 10-2 and they remain rooted to the bottom with a solitary point.  
Another hard fought match in the bottom half saw Warriors and Shapinsay draw 6-6, which was also the result between Sanday and Untouchables A.
For the first time this season there was no change in the top two places in the ‘B’ league.  Top played bottom with Nomads having a comfortable 10-2 win over the Ale Stars, while second placed Tankerness had an 8-4 triumph over the Sands. Third place is now occupied once again by Murray Arms, who conquered Streamline 9-3 while the Bilco Boys moved exactly even on points and game difference with the Muppets by defeating them 9-3.  
Also on the same points but marginally better off on game difference are the Vikings who could only muster a draw against a stubborn Sanday ‘B’ side.  9 games in and the top six are merely separated by six points in what has been one of the best contested leagues for many a year.

180s this week were hit by: Eddie Drever, Colin Leslie, Roy Foubister, Jim Hamilton, Graham Firth, Andrew Clouston, John Garson, Mark Shearer, Steven Low, Ben Hogan, Ian Findlay, Michael Moodie, Brian Murray, Stuart Thomson, Craig Moar, Patrick Sinclair, Keith Bain, Toby Penwarden, Erlend Lennie, Gary Wilson, Darryl Robertson (two), Stevie Linklater (two), Derek Firth (two), Ivan Leslie (three), Leigh Shearer (three), Davy Henderson (three) and Kevin Gray (five).  Kevin Gray and John Thomson both also scored 171.

Ton-plus checkouts came from:  Brett Dickinson 100, John Garson 103, Graham Louttit 104, Ivan Leslie 104, Colin Leslie 112, Ben Hogan 112, Davy Henderson 116, Wayne Small 119, Kevin Gray 121, Derrick Firth 125, Robbie Norqouy 128, Gary Wilson 130, Andrew Moar 130, Bruce Moar 132, Steven Low 158, Stevie Linklater (100 & 100), Derek Firth (100, 100, 116 & 116) and Jim Hamilton pulled a Christmas cracker at the Festive singles, nailing a maximum 170 checkout.

Results
A league: Quoyburray 5, Legion Arrows; Quoyburray ‘B’ 1, OGC 11; Sanday 6, Untouchables ‘A’ 6; Legion 10, Untouchables 2; Warriors 6, Shapinsay 6; Wanderers 8, Legion Arrows 4;
Quoyburray 2, Sanday 10.

B League    
Sands 4, Tankerness 8; Nomads 10, Ale Stars 2; Bilco Boys 9, Muppets 3; Vikings 6, Sanday ‘B’ 6; Streamline 3, Murray Arms 9.

Fixtures
There are a number of outstanding games still to be played, and teams are urged to have these games complete as soon as possible, before the second half commences in the New Year.
The next cup fixture is on Monday Jan 8, it’s the Swannay Cup in the Masonic at 7.30pm.
Full second half cup and league fixtures will be posted on the Orkney Darts Facebook page soon, and displayed in all venues before New Year.