THE winner of Event 2 in Division B of the INDO Players Championships has admitted he didn't even give the idea of being champion a single thought.
For top Monaghan county darts player, Conall McCann, just winning a couple of games on his debut in the competition would have sufficed.
However, Conall went much better than that by winning all of his five games on the spin to pick up the winner's prize.
His success has also now put him in the frame for one of the top two spots up for grabs in Division B for the WDF World Masters.
Speaking to Darts In Ireland after his big win, Conall said: "I never would have thought I would win an INDO tournament. I just came here to win a game or two and get a bit of confidence going for the rest of the weekend."
Conall's incredible run saw him pick up early wins over leading Youths player Thomas Keane and Edward McDonald, before he had to come from behind against Galway's Johnny Bowles to record a 5-3 win in his quarter final.
That set up a clash with Event 1 winner, Brian Todd, of Limerick in the semi-final, when Conall started to believe he would go all the way.
He said: "I went 3-0 up in the semi final and only then did I start to think that maybe I could win this."
Todd did peg him back to 3-2 to make the game a little nervier, but Conall took out the following two legs in 36 darts to make it into the final.
There he met another Limerick player, Davy Orr, who had impressed with a brilliant 88 average in his semi-final win over Andrew Dempsey.
However, Conall didn't give Davy a sniff in the final, coming out a 5-0 winner.
Conall now sits fourth in the Division B table and is well placed to compete for the two spots at the WDF World Masters.
Speaking about that he said: "I honestly didn't even know there were two spots going at the World Masters before I came to play here.
"Now that it's an option it would be great to get it, but if I don't then I won't be too disappointed as it wasn't a goal of mine at the start.
"I will take it as it comes along. I am happy with the points I got from this weekend and hopefully I can rack up more throughout the year."
Conall revealed that the rising standards of the game in Monaghan, who count reigning WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk and former Ireland international Michael McNeaney amongst their ranks, has helped improve his game significantly.
He said: "I put a lot of practice in but I honestly think that playing against the likes of Shane and Mickey has really helped to improve my standard too.
"What's brought me to my level now was playing against these boys week in, week out and getting thrashed by them at the same time.
"Eventually you start to get some wins against them and you start to believe in yourself more and that is what has helped me."
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