Luke Humphries claims Premier League victory in Belfast with dominant display over Chris Dobey

Luke Humphries reigned supreme in Belfast as he claimed the opening night of the Premier League at the SSE Arena with a comprehensive performance against Chris Dobey in the Final.

The World No.1 came into the night as the favourite and with a steely determination after finishing runner-up to Luke Littler last year and didn’t disappoint, knocking off Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen on his way to the decider where he made light work of former Belfast champion Dobey, going six-for-seven on the doubles to claim a 6-1 win in the Final.

Coming off the high of being crowned World Masters champion just over a week prior, ‘Cool Hand’ averaged over 100 in his opening win over Aspinall and would ride some clinical finishing to walk away £10,000 richer for his efforts for winning the night.

“I thought I played pretty well in the first game. Against Michael I was very fortunate, it’s not like him to miss that many doubles. In that Final, it was breezy and tough to play through but it was pushing my darts into the doubles,” said Humphries.

“It’s a tough game to play when you’re mates, those guys are all close friends of mine, but I’m happy to get off to a good start. Top-four is all that matters, doesn’t matter if you’re first, second, third or fourth, it just matters about getting there. So, happy to get off to a good start.

“The last two years I haven’t got off to a good start. It’s nice to have this kind of start to the season.”

It was another raucous night in front of the Belfast fans, with around 9,000 packed into the SSE Arena and they were treated to a superb standard of darts, particularly in the Quarter-Final containing the 18-year-old reigning Premier League and world champion.

Indeed, perhaps the only disappointment on the night was that the match between Van Gerwen and Littler was the third of the night as opposed to the decider as the pair played out one of the greatest Premier League matches of all-time.

Despite creating some positive history by posting the highest average ever seen in Belfast, finishing with a whopping 113.91, it was bittersweet for Littler as it also proved to be historic in another way, the second highest losing average in a Premier League match ever.

Although there was tangible disappointment within the arena that the star attraction had exited at the first hurdle, the quality of the match — which saw Van Gerwen average 105.91 himself — more than made up for it.

“It took two of us to produce a game that good,” said Van Gerwen as he came off the stage.

Unfortunately, that would prove to be his undoing as the Dutchman ran out of steam in the Semi-Finals, going a break up on Humphries but unable to maintain that momentum as he was taken to an 11th-leg decider for the second time in the night and came unstuck on the doubles, allowing Humphries back in and, eventually, to claim the win.

Dobey, meanwhile, hit 60 per cent of his doubles to make it past Gerwyn Price, who couldn’t replicate his nine-darter magic from a few years ago in Belfast, in the Quarter-Finals and he would then battle past Rob Cross, who had defeated Stephen Bunting in his opening match, to reach his second Final in as many appearances in Belfast.

But he would run into a red-hot Humphries who simply could not miss on the outer ring, the World No.1 taking out 128 and 100 in the opening two legs to race a break ahead, and he would be 4-0 up when Dobey missed two darts at double-16 in the fourth leg and he hit double-14 himself.

To Dobey’s credit, the Newcastle man never bowed down as he claimed a ton-plus finish of his own to ensure it wouldn’t be a whitewash, the fifth leg going the Newcastle man’s way when he hit the bullseye for 126, but Humphries would not be denied.

The Leeds ace pinned double-tops in the seventh leg for a comfortable win and to be crowned king of Belfast.

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