OB Reaches Another Lakeside Quarter Final

Plymouth's golden girl of darts Maria O'Brien did her city and county proud once again after bowing out at the quarter final stage of another Women's World Championship.

O'Brien qualified as the 7th seed for the tournament, now under the WDF umbrella due to the collapse of the BDO, thanks to victories at the Italian Grand Masters and Italian Open in November.

This meant the Devon stalwart received direct entry into the second round of the tournament where she would await the winner of Suffolk based Amanda Harwood and Dutch qualifier Marjolein Noijens.

Noijens edged through a close encounter 2-1 to setup the tie with O'Brien and it was the seed who shot out of the blocks with a fine 21 dart leg finished with double top.

However, the Dutch lady fired back with legs of 21, 23 and 20 to take the first set after some scrappy scoring from O'Brien.

O'Brien was put further onto the ropes in the first leg of the second set with Noijens dispatching 74 to go 1-0 up in the second set of the best of three format.

The fantastic scoring game that has made O'Brien one of the best lady players in the world finally returned as she found the treble twenty bed with regularity to win the next three in 17, 22 and 17 for a 3-1 set win.

Another 22 dart leg was started with a 140 to take a 1-0 lead in the decider before the qualifier levelled following some scintillating scoring from both players.

Both ladies started the third leg with the infamous 26 before O'Brien took control with 443 in just four visits to the board before 32 in three for an 18 darter.

A 21 dart leg killed with double top gave O'Brien (70.98) safe passage into the quarter final where she would face the much fancied Welsh international Rhian O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan finished runner-up in both of her first two visits to Lakeside before taking time away from the professional ranks to start a family.

'OB', as she's affectionately known, took a small tumble during the walk on of her quarter final match, from which she hobbled away. It looked like O'Brien may have aggravated an old Achilles injury that hampered her darting progress through much of 2021.

However, Plymouth's former England international wasn't initially phased by that as she dispatched a 15 dart leg with a 135 checkout.

O'Sullivan then fired a 14 darter of her own before O'Brien restored her advantage with a leg in 20 after both players missed doubles.

This only seemed to inspired O'Sullivan's best form with back to back 16 darters blowing away some patchy scoring from the Business Development Manager.

The world class darts continued from O'Sullivan at the start of the second set with the Swansea born player breaking the throw with an 18 dart leg before following with a hold in 17.

With O'Sullivan (89.21) now just one leg away from victory, O'Brien finally got a foothold into the set with a leg in 19 before the Welsh lady closed out the match in a brilliant 14 darts.

O'Brien's (75.14) was the second highest losing average of the World Championship and faced the second highest average overall from the former runner-up.

After the match, OB put out a statement on social media thanking her sponsors L-Style, PPS Ltd, Magic Wear and the Victory Inn for all of their support.

She also added regards the performance of Rhian O'Sullivan: "What a player and a great friend. I have the upmost respect for such a great person."

During O'Brien's pre-match interview with Eurosport, O'Brien stated she would no longer represent Devon in the UKDA National League and would pursue other darting avenues.

One of those is a return to the soft tip arena where O'Brien is a former team and individual World Champion having represented Great Britain in 2016 in Hong Kong.

Only O'Brien and her close friends and family know when and where she'll play next but all of her supporters in Plymouth, Devon and the wider darting world wish her all the very best in those endeavours.