Taylor spoils Dolan party

Phil Taylor claimed a 10th World Grand Prix title after grinding out a 6-3 victory over crowd favourite Brendan Dolan in Dublin.

'The Power' was quite a way below his usual brilliant best but still had enough to see off the spirited challenge of the surprise finalist.
Taylor could have been forgiven for expecting an easy night as he surged out into a 2-0 lead but Dolan scrapped his way back into the contest, although he did not find a way to overturn the deficit.
"I think every emotion went through my body there," a victorious Taylor told Sky Sports after the match.
"Halfway through the game I was giving up and then I was pushing - the crowd got to me, I'll be honest with you.
"The booing every time you're throwing for a double does get to you, it's very, very off-putting but I knew what was going to happen and I just had to keep focusing."

Outsider

Dolan, who entered the tournament as a rank outsider, admitted that he did not expect to make it so far.
He added: "I didn't dream of it because of the way I was playing coming into it, but I knuckled down and analysed my throw, changed things, and it has worked for me."
Dolan fired up an already raucous crowd by hitting a maximum on his way to breaking Taylor's throw in the first leg of the match but the 15-time world champion instantly returned the favour.

"I think every emotion went through my body there."

The Northern Irishman then struggled to get off the mark with doubles during the rest of the set as Taylor eased into a 1-0 advantage.
Taylor continued in the same vein at the start of the second set, breaking his opponent's throw in the first game and began to hit top gear as he made it six legs on the spin to go 2-0 up.
A glut of treble 20s helped Dolan finally stop the rot in the second leg of the third set and went on to halve his deficit by taking out double eight in the fourth leg.

Maximum checkout

Dolan, who hit a nine-darter in the semi-finals, nailed a maximum 170 checkout in the fourth set but it was not enough to stop a consistent Taylor from regaining the two-set advantage.
The next set was a scrappy affair, with Taylor missing darts for the set before Dolan made him pay by taking out 86 in the deciding leg to peg back the deficit again.
Taylor restored order by taking the sixth set, although he was given a fright when his 2-0 lead was wiped out by a Dolan comeback and had to come through a tight deciding set.
He moved to the brink of victory by taking the seventh set as the averages continued to plummet but Dolan upped the standard as he hit a 124 checkout in the process of winning the next set to make it 5-3.
But Taylor did not crumble under the pressure and completed the win in the next set, taking out 56 to end the contest.