Sean Marshall - - Up and Running !

Photo Right

Well done to our good friend, Sean Marshall, who participated in the Liberties Fun Run in Dublin last month in aid of St. James' Hospital.

This was a magnificent achievement by Sean who had undergone a major Bone Marrow Transplant operation earlier in the year.   We hope to see him back on the oche soon !

  Irish Qualifiers for World Championships

 Photo - Paddy Meaney - one of the favourites to qualify for the World Championship

On the weekend of August 28th./ 29th. two World Championship qualifying competitions will be held at the Green Isle Hotel, Newland's Cross, Dublin.

The 2010 Irish Under-21 Irish Matchplay Championship takes place on the Saturday at 3.00pm and two players will qualify on the day to compete in the last 64 of the new PDC Under-21 World Championship in Barnsley in November.

The final two players in this inaugural World Championship will compete on stage at Alexandra Palace in London before the final of the Ladbrokes.com World Championship.

There will be a prize fund of Stg.£30,000 for the Under-21 Championship with the eventual World Champion taking home Stg.£10,000.     Paddy Meaney from Kilkenny will be one of the favourites to qualify for the world event, particulary after his great showing at the recent Europe Youth Cup in Germany where he won a Silver Medal in the Singles and a Bronze Medal with his partner, Dean Forde {Cork}, in the Youths' Doubles.

Photo - Ryan Maher {Dublin}.

Dublin's Ryan Maher, recently crowned Ireland Youths' Champion, will also fancy his chances of qualifying before his home supporters.

The age limits for the qualifying competition are over 16 years and under 22 years on January 3rd., 2011.

Photo - Tom Kirby.

On Day Two of the Green Isle weekend the Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay Championship will be held at 12 noon with a place in the Ladbrokes.com World Championship at stake.  

This qualifying competition is open to all Irish residents, except lapsed PDPA members from 2009, and the competition will be played down to the last two players on the day.

                          10 - 10 - 10 is the Big Day !

The final will be held on Sunday, October 10th., on stage at the City West Hotel, Dublin, before the final of the World Grand Prix Championship.     Current Irish PDPA members may opt to compete in the Tom Kirby event or the PDPA qualifiers in the UK - - but not in both !

 Intending participants are reminded that no entries will be accepted on the days of the qualifying competitions and that entries must be sent not later than August 20th.    Also please note that a STRICT DRESS CODE will apply on both days at the Green Isle. 

Tramore Autumn Darts Festival.

Photo - O'Shea's Hotel.

The 23rd. Annual Tramore Autumn Darts Festival will take place on the weekend of September 24th/ 25th/ 26th. at O'Shea's Hotel, County Waterford, and once again there will be a varied programme of events to suit all tastes.

The Festival will commence on the Friday night with Men's and Ladies' Doubles and will continue on Saturday with the Tramore Mixed Pairs Championship.

Photo - Mixed Pairs Champions Jason Cullen and Martina Scallan.

Wexford players took the honours in all of the doubles events at last year's Festival with Jason Cullen and Andrew McCormack coming out on top in the men's event and Martina Scallan and Ashling O'Leary winning the Ladies' Doubles.   Jason and Martina also teamed up to capture the Mixed Pairs title.

The Tramore Under-21 Singles will be held on tha Saturday afternoon and there will be separate Men's and Ladies' Singles competitions on the Sunday.

Photo - Colin Osborne, Ann Kirby, Terry Jenkins and Michael O'Sullivan.

One of the biding memories of last year's Festival was the large gathering of the late Tom Kirby's friends and darts colleagues who paid tribute to the 'Gentle Giant' as his widow Ann and long-time friend and doubles partner, Jack McKenna, scattered Tom's ashes on the beach in Tramore.

A memorial gathering will be held on the beach again this year at 12 noon on the Saturday to honour the memory of the great pioneer of Irish darts.

The Power Heading for Killarney

Photo - Phil Taylor with the John McEvoy Gold Dart Trophy

The 2010 Killarney Darts Festival will be held at the INEC/ Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry, and once again Phil Taylor will be favourite to capture the two main events, the Gleneagle Irish Masters and the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic Pro Tour event.

Phil Taylor will be appearing in an exhibition at the Gleneagle Hotel on Friday, October 15th., and it is expected that he will defend the titles that he won last year on the Saturday and Sunday.

Photo - The McEvoy presentation party pictured with Phil Taylor after the 2009 Classic.

The main event at the Festival will be the John McEvoy Classic on the Sunday and Irish players may qualify to compete in this at a special qualifying competition on the Friday night.

32 Irish players will go through on the night to compete against the PDPA pros on the Sunday.In accordance with PDPA rules the Pro Tour event on Sunday will be held in a separate area, upstairs in the INEC, with access only to PDPA members, qualifiers and officials.   Each player will be entitled to bring one guest.  However, there will be a continuous flow throughout the afternoon of selected matches from the Pro Tour on stage in the INEC with official PDC caller and markers.

The semi-finals and final of the Pro Tour in addition to the Ladies' and Youths' finals will also be played on stage in the INEC.    As usual the qualifiers on Friday night and the Gleneagle Irish Masters on Saturday will be played on 32 boards in the INEC and the Ladies' and Youths' Singles on Sunday will be played in the Ballroom in the Gleneagle Hotel.

Photo - Brendan Dolan receiving the trophy for the best Irish player in last year's Irish Masters from the sponsor, Robbie Kelly {Commercial Cleaning Services}.

The Gleneagle Irish Masters on the Saturday is open to all darts players aged sixteen years and over while on the Sunday the ladies and youths will be catered for with the Silver Dart Ladies' Open Singles and the Bronze Dart Youths' Open Singles.

Entry forms and full details for the 2010 Festival are available on www.dartsinireland.com or by contacting Michael O'Sullivan {087-2648291}.

Entry forms are also available at the Reception Desks at the INEC and Gleneagle Hotel.   Special accommodation rates have been arranged at the Gleneagle group of hotels and bookings may be made by contacting the Reservations Office at 00-353-{0}64-6671550.