Gerard and Hugh take the honours in Pairs trophy

The bad weather on the night surely played a part in the unusual low turn out with only 23 teams being drawn from the hat on the night and with no stand out team drawn it was all to play for on the night.

Hugh and Gerard had contested the final last year with their respective partners and the experience clearly helped as they claimed their way to the title dropping only three legs on the way to victory.

There were seven preliminary ties with one of them seeing Liz McLaughlin claim the family bragging rights as she and partner Peter Morris got the better of Liz’s brother Stuart Matchett and Joe McGahan.

It was the preliminary round also that saw eventual beaten finalists John Cinnamond and Michael Scullion enter the fray with a 2-0 win over Conor Mallon and Christy Gribben.

In the first round proper seven of the eight victorious teams progressed after only two legs played with the exception of one match which went the full distance as Andrew Fairbairn and Micky Dunwoodie lost out in the deciding leg as Mark McLernon and John McDowell went through.

In the quarter-final stage Stevie Duff and Micky Campbell became the first team through to the semi-finals after they beat Roy White and James Henry by 2 legs to nil.

In the semi-final they came up against Gerard Crewe and Hugh Heaney as they beat last years other winner Shane Tallon and Hugh’s son Niall in both legs.

The bottom half of the draw saw wins for Eamon Duff and Michael Lamb over Mark McLernon and John McDowell by 2 legs to 1 and John Cinnamond and Michael Scullion over Davy Dunwoodie and Brian McCavigan by the same 2-1 score line to set up the second semi-final tie.

Semi-final number one seen Hugh and Gerard progress with a 3-1 over Stevie and Micky and John and Michael won all three legs played against Eamon Duff and Michael Lamb to set up the final .

With Hugh and Gerard both still recovering from recent back and geg surgery they could have been forgiven if the long night on the oche started to take its toll on them, but they were not to be denied as a 4-2 victory was enough to see them take the title and became the Craigavon District Darts League pairs champions for 2015.

The full results were as follows:

Quarter-final- Stevie Duff/Michael Campbell 2-0 Roy White James Henry; Gerard Crewe/Hugh Heaney 2-0 Shane Tallon/Niall Heaney ; Eamon Duff/Michael Lamb 2-1 Mark McLernon/John McDowell; John Cinnamond/Michael Scullion 2-1 Davy Dunwoodie/Brian McCavigan.

Semi-final: Gerard Crewe/Hugh Heaney 3-1 Stevie Duff/ Michael Campbell; John Cinnamond/Michael Scullion 3-0 Eamon Duff/Michael Lamb .

Final : Gerard Crewe/Hugh Heaney 4-2 John Cinnamond/Michael Scullion.