Darts results: Neil Duff wins Lakeside final to become first World Champion from Northern Ireland
Neil Duff became the first Northern Irishman to win a World Darts Championship as he defeated Thibault Tricole in the Lakeside final.
The 49-year-old had pledged all week to win this title as an 18th birthday present for his daughter Hayley but his family had to endure the nerves of a deciding set before he clinched an absorbing final 6-5.
Duff, who had never won a televised title before arriving at Lakeside, looked in real trouble after being whitewashed in the opening two sets - and the fourth - to fall 3-1 down but bounced back to restore parity at three apiece.
Tricole was made to pay for missing set darts at 2-0 up in the seventh as Duff went ahead for the first time in the match and would suffer the same fate in the ninth to fall 5-4 down.
The first Frenchman to reach a world final bounced back in imperious fashion to take the 10th 3-0 and force a decider only for Duff to return the favour in the 11th and storm over the finish line with an average of 87.73 compared to his opponent's 86.95.
Duff, who memorably came from 3-0 down to defeat Jim McEwan 4-3 in the quarter-finals with an average of 94.28 before upsetting the highly fancied Richard Veenstra 5-2 in the semi-finals, is the first debutant to triumph at the Lakeside since Christian Kist back in 2012.
Darts: Related content
- 2022 Premier League schedule
- 2022 PDC Darts Calendar
- 2021 PDC Darts Results
- Best players never to win a major
- World number ones in darts
- Greatest darts rivalries
- Phil Taylor's greatest display
- World Cup of Great Darts performances
- Fantasy Darts: Bristow v MVG
- Fantasy Darts: Cross v Deller
- Fantasy Darts: Taylor v Burnett
- Fantasy Darts: Hankey v Durrant
- Fantasy Darts: Rees v Price
- Sky Bet's darts odds
