IN THE end, Luke Humphries was almost too good. Needing to check out on 125 to win the 2024 World Darts Championship, he hit the centre of the bull twice.

So often a player requiring a bullseye for 50 will hit the outer bull, 25 ring, but when Humphries needed a 25 from his first two darts, he of course hit two 50s.

“Oh no! Luke Humphries was too good!” exclaimed commentator Dan Dawson.

Surely aiming for the bull twice would produce one 25, but instead, Humphries had to set himself up for the next visit and hope his opponent, Luke Littler, missed.

It was to be the case, and Humphries got another chance, returning to the oche to hit a double eight and win the Championship.

All of the focus ahead of this final, and even much of the focus after it, was on Humphries’s 16-year-old opponent, Littler.

The teenager from Warrington has been a revelation in the tournament, and in the sport as a whole, seeing off all contenders on his way to the final with relative ease and losing just six of 31 sets played in that run.

Littler started well in the final, too. That he was even holding his own at the beginning of such an occasion against a pre-tournament favourite was remarkable in itself.

It was typical of his run to the final, where at his worst he had held his own with older, more experienced and more fancied opponents.

At his best, which he so regularly was throughout these few weeks on the big stage of darts at Alexandra Palace, he had breezed his way through games with quick thinking and accurate arrows.

Littler’s unerring darts unsettled his opponents. At times, they looked at a loss as to how to stop him.

Rob Cross didn’t play badly in his semifinal meeting with Littler. In fact, he played very well, registering an average of 102.77 and a checkout percentage of 41.7.

The problem for Cross was that Littler averaged 106.05 and a checkout percentage of 46.8.

It had been the same story for many other players who crossed Littler in this tournament, including Littler’s idol Raymond van Barneveld, whose post-match embrace with the young prodigy was one of the memorable moments from this year’s event.

As the World Championship reached the final stages, Humphries looked like the only player who could give Littler a game, never mind defeat him.

The 28-year-old came into the tournament having won the last three major titles and, in his semifinal with Scott Williams, threw an average of 108.74, checking out at 60 per cent.

Humphries’s staid stance and relaxed action support his nickname, Cool Hand Luke, but by the time the darts reach the board, there is nothing mundane about his game, and any characterisations of him as boring miss the board altogether.

Not only did he win the tournament, but by the end of it he was ranked number one in the world, had the highest average score in any game at the championship from that semi against Williams, and also won the quirky Ballon d’Art trophy for hitting the most 180s.

In Set 7 of the final, he almost followed up a 170 checkout, the highest possible in darts, with a 10 dart leg, but missed his doubles.

It’s a testament to Littler’s quality that he won that leg at the following visit with his 12th dart.

It was a key set. Littler had won the last three in a row and had a chance to make it 5-2 with a go at double two, but he paused to check his count for the only time in the game, probably the only time in the tournament, and missed, nudging the wire on the wrong side of the double.

Humphries stepped up to land double 14 with one dart to win the set and went on to win each subsequent set to lift the trophy.

The pair of Lukes both had averages of over 100, a 170 checkout to their name in this final, which was a classic in its own genre due to Littler’s presence.

After the game, attention immediately turned to the Premier League, and whether Littler would be present on the eight-man tour.

He made it despite being ranked 31, but his rise from 164 and the attention he has brought to the sport convinced the organisers to include him on this darts roadshow.

Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross and Peter Wright will join the two Lukes in the 2024 Premier League.

Eight seems a harsh cut-off point, and while Littler made the cut players like Chris Dobey, Stephen Bunting, Danny Noppert and a handful of others can feel unlucky to miss out.

The extra attention on the game and the depth of quality just outside of those eight players suggests the Premier League can be expanded.

A whole spectrum of media, from the Morning Star to the Wall Street Journal, from TV news to TikTok channels, have covered this tournament, which has provided an extra boost for a sport that was already doing well.

A record peak audience for a non-football event on Sky Sports of 3.75 million tuned in to watch the final.

“I will never dominate,” said Humphries after the win, keen to highlight the depth of quality in the game.

“We're in a sport now, where there are too many good players, and the world of the sport has changed these last three weeks, I think. There’s a big buzz about it.”

And with his number one ranking and world title, Humphries is now undoubtedly the best player in that world.