Luke Littler produced an astonishing comeback from 5-0 down to stun Gerwyn Price 6-5 and win week seven of Premier League Darts in Dublin.
Price, who won in Dublin last year, was dominant as he raced into the lead, but he missed chance after chance to kill off the game as the world champion came roaring back.
As the Welshman missed five darts for the match, Littler reeled off six legs on the spin for his second weekly victory of the season.
Littler had earlier beaten Michael van Gerwen in another 6-5 thriller that contained two maximum 170 finishes.
Price had been clinical when whitewashing winless Josh Rock 6-0 and then thumping defending Premier League champion Luke Humphries 6-1.
Price’s Missed Opportunities
Price’s game deserted him in the end when just one more double would have seen him finish off an otherwise dominant display.
Littler avoided the whitewash, with an ironic celebration showing he felt it was nothing more than a consolation.
Price then missed three match darts in the next leg, which seemed to destroy his confidence.
The 41-year-old tightened up with two more missed match darts as the impossible turned to the improbable, and eventually the inevitable, as Littler pinched a memorable success.
Littler’s Reaction
Littler himself summed up the final when he told Sky Sports after the match: “I have no idea how I’ve done that.”
In his own words, he was “gone” with Price 5-0 up and allowing Littler to have just one double attempt, in the opening leg, such was his scoring dominance.
“It was very strange,” he admitted. “The first leg was a bit of fun, got my 180 and then waved them goodbye because when Gerwyn Price is on double tops he doesn’t usually miss.
“I was so gone. I might as well as have been off stage, but this is darts, things happen. Darts is a silly old game.”
Van Gerwen Thriller
It was a pedestrian start to Littler’s semi-final with Van Gerwen, with the Dutchman taking time to warm up having received a bye due to Gian van Veen having to pull out with kidney stones.
Van Gerwen lit the blue touch paper by winning legs in 12 and 11 darts to lead 4-3, and that sparked some sheer darting chaos as the two traded some electric arrows – and two maximum finishes.
Littler is renowned for hitting the ‘Big Fish’ but he missed his first try.
Stats Don’t Tell the Story
Littler finished with a 95.54 average in the final with four 180s and a 50% checkout rate in the end – but the stats hardly tell any of the story as Price went away kicking himself and Littler walking off with the trophy still in a state of disbelief.
Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen both hit maximum 170 checkouts in the same match.
The 19-year-old cut the gap to league leader Jonny Clayton down to just three points after a thrilling night of Premier League action with some eye-catching performances.