LEITRIM darts star Ray Mulvey has hailed his win at the INDO National Singles ranking event last weekend as one of the best of his career.
Mulvey was in superb form in Ballina last Saturday night as he came through a tough side of the draw to eventually defeat Ireland captain Stephen Rosney 6-3 in a top class final.
Speaking after his big win, Mulvey told Darts In Ireland he was relieved to have finally got over the line in such a big event.
He said: "I'm delighted with that win as I've been knocking on the door lately, playing well but getting nowhere.
"This time I got a bit of luck, which went for me in my last 16 game with Gerard McGlynn, and it went well for me after that. You need a bit of luck sometimes and I took advantage of it."
In that last 16 clash with Ireland international McGlynn, Mulvey incredibly came from 5-1 down to edge out the Donegal man 6-5 to secure an unlikely win.
Mulvey also showed his powers of recovery in his semi-final with Carlow's Mark Cullen, when some sensational finishing saw him come from 4-1 down in that game to progress 6-4.
He said: "I was happier with the game against Mark, as against Gerard I didn't play too well to come back, but against Mark I played well and done my stuff and felt like I won that game rather than my opponent losing it."
Not even a broken stem in the final against Rosney could put Mulvey off his stride as he won that game while averaging over 90.
"I was going well in the final at 2-1 up and then one of my darts went through my stem and broke it," he recalls.
"I couldn't find the right spare stem and that knocked me off for a leg or two. I just said to myself to focus again and then I won the next four legs to win the match."
The rankings win put Mulvey back in with a shout of making the Republic of Ireland team for the Island Internationals in January.
A run to the last 16 of the National Singles on Sunday also kept him in with a chance, but Mulvey eventually just missed out on making that team by two places.
However he wasn't too downbeat about that.
Ray said: "I just missed out but I wasn't coming into the weekend even thinking about that.
"I was coming in with my friend Jason Vickers as he was still in with a chance, too, and I wanted to support him.
"Coming down I told him I just wanted to win a ranking event but I wasn't even thinking about the Ireland team as I was too far down the rankings.
"I hit my goal this weekend by winning a ranking event and that is good enough for me."
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