Bono and the lads will be stopping at the Citywest Arena quite soon, but last week it was all about the darts fans.

The Irish entrepreneur Jim Mansfield has done an amazing job in doubling the capacity since last year - and we can now fit 4,000 loonies in on any given night.

The crowd were amazing. Every fancy dress shop in Dublin must have been sold out because I've never seen so many people in costumes. The venue is about 10 miles from the city centre and the tram doesn't stop there - so they were all coming on buses and donkey carts dressed as super heroes and giant chickens!

Van Barneveld: improved as week went on

We gave them a great show. The stage area is twice as high as it used to be so we could put on a really big set and four giant screens. We gave them the full rock-and-roll Premier League experience and I'm sure the Premier League consider stopping off there soon.

Admittedly, the hotel isn't completely finished yet. When I got lost on the way to the commentary box I found myself staring at the golf course through a sheet of plastic. Hopefully there will be a wall there next year!

But the main room was perfect and the whole event was a 100 per cent success. The people of Ireland really appreciate having a major tournament on their soil.

Grand Slam Taylor

In the end, Phil Taylor sealed the Grand Slam, despite not being at his mercurial best.

The Power tends to be able to put his finger on things and he said he was struggling to get the balance right between practice and rest.

He did look a bit tired in the final and that explains his poor start to the match. He threw six 160 starts in an earlier match, but he was struggling to find a double and a treble in the first two-and-a-half sets against Raymond van Barneveld.

But the other big story was Barney himself, who returned from a three-month break after being diagnosed with diabetes.

He really got himself together as the tournament progressed. While Taylor has totally readapted his throw, Barney has never messed with his natural technique and that helps when he's struggling a bit physically.

Barney seems to play better when he's playing somebody that he likes. He gets on well with Taylor and they were applauding each other's shots at times.

He was also perplexed by the way thousands of people could boo him against Jacko Barry - and then the next night they were all buying orange Barney berets and cheering him!

Best ever

Apart from the two finalists I was most impressed by Andy Hamilton and Adrian Lewis.

Adrian's match with Gary Anderson is the greatest we've ever seen in Ireland and I think those two might have booked their places in next season's Premier League.

It was a great match and I've subsequently found out what all the arguments were about.

Apparently there was a loose floorboard just behind the oche and Anderson accused Lewis of deliberately pressing on it to put him off. I think they sorted things out fairly quickly afterwards.

I was left holding the baby - literally - after Lewis eventually went out to Taylor. 'Daddy Cool' has matured a lot in recent times and whereas in the past he might have sulked about losing, he took the defeat calmly.

Effectively he was beaten by Taylor doing brilliant things in three deciding legs - and Lewis will learn from that and move on.

The odd couple

Wes Newton deserves a mention for running Barney close in round two, but one of my personal highlights of the week was the "odd couple" film starring Terry Jenkins and Andy Smith.

If you missed it, Jenks was sat drinking tea and eating cakes demanding more sandwiches from Smith - who was washing up in pink rubber gloves.

It was the funniest featurette we've ever done. You don't see stuff like that in any other sport!

Speaking of funny films, look out for a new Sky Sports advert that will be coming to your screens around Christmas time. It's set to feature the likes of Jeff Stelling and Georgie Thompson and I filmed my bit last week.

I think the idea is that I'm in the make-up room and one of the Sky Sports snowmen sneezes - then her carrot nose flies off and hits the bullseye.

It was one of the most bizarre shoots I've ever done!

Champion Jocky

The next big event on Sky Sports is the Jocky Wilson Cup which is going to be something else.

It will see Taylor and James Wade against Anderson and Robert Thornton in a battle of England v Scotland. It should rekindle the great days of Anglo-Scottish rivalry.

I remember when Scottish fans used to throw full cans of Export at Eric Bristow, who would pretend to drink them in between throwing 60's. On one infamous occasion the England team had to leave in an unmarked lorry via the back door, such was the rivalry!

It will be great to honour little Jocky, who is a great friend of mine. In 1982, I spent four months following him around the country after he'd won the World Championship to write his life story.

You wouldn't believe some of the jobs Jocky had. He was a coal miner, a commi chef (he made a great rhubarb pie), an army trainer and he even worked in a paint powder factory. Every time you saw him he looked like a harlequin!

They used to say if you looked down any dirty hole in Fife, you'd probably find Jocky Wilson at the bottom!

I hope he turns up on December 5. It would be great to see him.

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