Darts in Ireland

Results of Youths’ Open Singles at Shirley’s Bar, Kells, Co. Kilkenny.

Saturday, June 17th., 2006.

Winner - Patrick Meaney (Kilkenny) Runner-up - David Coyne (Kilkenny)

S/finalists - Ryan Courtney (Cork) and Sean McArdle (Dublin)

Q/finalists - Sean Fleming (Roscommon), David Colcannon (Roscommon], Gerald Murphy (Cork) and T.J.Dixon (Louth)

Paul Donovan Wins in Cork

Ian O’Connor, Paul Donovan, Darren O’Hea and Damian O’Hea.

An Under-18 Youths’ Singles competition was organised in conjunction with the 2006 Cork Festival of Darts at the Commons Inn Hotel and the winner was Paul Donovan from Cloyne in County Cork who defeated Darren O’Hea from Bantry in the final.

The beaten semi-finalists were Ian O’Connor and Damian O’Hea and the prize fund was € 200.

Results:

Winner - Paul Donovan (Cork) Runner-up - Darren O’Hea (Cork)

S/finalists - Ian O’Connor (Cork) and Damian O’Hea (Cork)

Q/finalists - Ryan Courtney (Cork), Gerald Murphy (Cork), Gary Condron (Cork) and Thomas Moylan (Cork)

Sean McArdle Wins Kilkenny Event

l to r Patrick Meaney, Ryan Courtney, Sean McArdle and Michael Meaney

Shirley’s Bar in Kells hosted one of the biggest Youths’ Singles competitions to be held in the country on Saturday, April 8th., with thirty six players competing.

The players were divided into eight groups and they played off on a round robin basis with some great darts being thrown by the players of the future.

Sean McArdle from Dublin emerged victorious with a win over Michael Meaney (Kilkenny) in an exciting final.

The beaten semi-finalists were Ryan Courtney (Cork) and Patrick Meaney (Kilkenny) while Eugene McArdle (Dublin), David Coyne (Kilkenny), Michael Devereux (Clare) and Jamie Grant (Waterford) reached the quarter-finals].

The ‘Gunner’ Shoots Them Down

Mark Delaney and John McKenna

John ‘The Gunner’ McKenna won the Under-18 Open Singles Championship at the 2006 Tramore Spring Festival when he defeated his fellow Kildare team-mate, Mark Delaney, in the final at O’Shea’s Hotel.

The beaten semi-finalists were Gerry O’Neill (Tipperary) and Kevin Collins (Wicklow).

O’Neill also played in the Men’s Singles on the same day and showed great promise as he eliminated some experienced players to reach the last thirty two.

Great Weekend for Youths in Clare and Limerick

The 2006 Irish Inter-Counties Youths’ Championships were held at the West County Hotel in Ennis on Saturday, March 11th. with eleven counties participating (three counties had two teams each).

The twelve teams were divided into two groups which were played on a Round Robin basis with the top two teams in each group going through to the semi-finals.

The final Points Tables in the groups were as follows:

Group (1)		Group (2)
Team	Points	Team	Points
Mayo	19	Kilkenny (A)	20
Clare	18	Roscommon (A)	16
Donegal	15	Louth	12
Cork (A)	13	Kildare	10
Roscommon (B)	6	Longford	9
iKilkenny (B)	4	Cork (B)	8

Clare were crowned Champions for the first time when they defeated Roscommon (A) by three games to one in the final.

Results:

Semi-finals

Mayo 1 - 3 Roscommon (A)

Clare 3 - 1 Kilkenny (A)

Final

Roscommon (A) 1 - 3 Clare

Limerick Youths’ Open Singles

Last 8 players

On the day after the Inter-Counties the organisers of the Ireland Players’ Championship staged an Under-18 Youths’ Open Singles at the Two Mile Inn Hotel, Limerick, in conjunction with Round Three of the Championship and twenty eight youths competed on the day.

The winner of the event was Darren Daly (Clare) who defeated John McKenna Jn (Kildare)by three games to two in the final.

Results:

Quarter-finals

Darren Daly (Clare) defeated Michael Devereux (Clare)

Shane Nolan (Kerry) defeated Declan Harrington (Cork)

John McKenna (Kildare) defeated Philip Considine (Cork)

Damien O’Hea (Cork) defeated Sean McArdle (Dublin)

Semi-finals

Darren Daly defeated Shane Nolan

John McKenna Jn defeated Damien O’Hea

Final

Darren Daly defeated John McKenna Jn

Big Weekend for Youths

March 11/12th is a big weekend for the Under-18 darts players in the Republic of Ireland with two big events taking place in the Clare area.

On Saturday, March 11th the INDO will be staging the Irish Youths Inter-Counties Championships at the West County Hotel in Ennis while on the following day an Under-18 Open Singles competition will be held in the Two Mile Inn Hotel on the Ennis Road just north of Limerick City.

For the first time the Youths’ Inter-Counties are being staged on the separate weekend from the men’s and ladies’ championships and matches have been shortened to 5-a-side with counties having the option of entering two teams.

The competition on Sunday is being organised in conjunction with Round Three of the Ireland Players’ Championship which is being held at the Two Mile Inn Hotel at 12 noon.

Youth Darts Alive and Well - - - in Tramore !

The organisers of Tramore Festival Darts continued their policy of promoting youths’ darts with two great competitions at the 2006 Winter Darts Gala at O’Shea’s Hotel on January 14/15th.

Shane O’Connor

On the Saturday there was a prize fund of € 400 for the Under-21 Singles and Shane O’Connor took the first prize of € 200 when he defeated Jason Cullen (Wexford) for the second year in succession. The beaten semi-finalists were Mark Power (Waterford) and Andrew McCormack (Wexford).

Niall Donovan and Gerald Murphy.

Thirty players competed in the Tramore Cup (under-18) Singles on the Sunday and young Niall Donovan won the title with a 3-2 win against Gerald Murphy in an all-Cork final. The beaten semi-finalists were Sean Vernall (Kilkenny) and Paul Donovan (Cork)

The next competition in Tramore for the youngsters will be an Under-18 Singles on Sunday, April 2nd., at the Tramore Spring Festival

Youths’ Inter-Counties Championship

The INDO has announced that this year’s Youths’ Inter-Counties Championship will be staged on a different weekend than the Men’s and Ladies’ events.

The format is being changed to 5-a-side and counties may enter two teams in the event which will be held at the West County Hotel, Ennis, Co. Clare, on Saturday, March 11th.

Gary Coyne Hits 9-darter

Photo - Gary Coyne with Ronnie Baxter

:
17-year old Gary Coyne from Kilkenny hit a 9-dart 501 game while practising to take on Ronnie Baxter at an exhibition in Shirley’s Bar recently. He hit two consecutives 180’s before checking out on double twelve.

Noel Touhy - Best of the Irish at World Youths’ Masters

Noel Touhy from Roscommon reached the last sixteen of the Boys’ event at the 2005 World Masters Championship in Bridlington. He lost to Jeffrey Vanbergen from Belgium.

Wexford’s Jason Cullen was unlucky to draw the hot favourite, Jonny Nijs (Netherlands) in the first round. Jason put on a great show before losing 2-4 and Nijs went on to win the event.

World Cup in Australia:

Nine countries will be competing in the WDF Youth World Cup in Perth, Western Australia, from September 29th. to October 1st., and the Republic of Ireland will be represented by Jason Cullen (Wexford ) and Sharon O’Neill (Cavan ).

In the Youths’ Mixed Pairs the Irish team has been drawn in the same section as Australia, England, Germany and India and this will be played on a Round Robin basis with the top two pairings to qualify for the semi-finals.

The Singles’ competitions will also be played on the same basis and Jason has been drawn in a very tough group with Jonny Nijs (Netherlands ) and Jamie Lewis (Wales ). Hopefully, Jason’s great performances in the Europe Youth Cup will be repeated and that he will bring back at least a Silver Medal.

Sharon is also in a group with Dutch and Welsh opposition and hopefully her inexperience at this level will not hinder her quest for glory.

July 2005

Republic of Ireland to Compete in Europe Youth Cup

The INDO has decided to send a team for the first time to compete in the Europe Youth Cup which will be held in the Netherlands from July 6th. to 9th., 2005.

This decision is long overdue and is a great boost for under-age darts in the Republic of Ireland.

The team will consist of four boys and two girls and they will be competing against twelve other countries in Noordwijkerhout in the Netherlands.

The Republic of Ireland squad is as follows:

Boys: Jason Cullen (Wexford), Mick O’Boyle (Sligo), Noel Touhy and Sean Fleming (Roscommon)

Girls: Gemma and Shelley Keogh (Kilkenny)

The Boys Youth Cup will consist of a 4-a-side Team Event, Pairs and Singles while the Girls will consist of Pairs and Singles competitions.

The Boys have been drawn against Russia and the host nation in the Group stages of the Team Event while Jason Cullen teams up with Noel Touhy and Mick O’Boyle with Sean Fleming in the Pairs competition.

Germany are reigning champions in both codes having won both events on home soil in 2004 when the Europe Youth Cup was held in Bremen.

EUROPE CUP YOUTH 2005 - RESULTS

The Battle of Roscrea

Republic of Ireland - Youth

Northern Ireland - Youth

The stage was set and the battle lines were drawn as the Under-21 teams from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland stepped up to the oche in the final match of the Youth Friendship Trophy 2005 in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary.

Both sides had accepted that the Northern England team would complete a hat-trick of wins in this tournament as they had defeated both of the Irish teams comfortably on Day One of the competition and the prize at stake in this ‘Mother of all Battles’ was to take second place and the Silver Medal.

The Racket Hall Country House Hotel on the Dublin Road out of Roscrea was the scene for this epic clash and while England were trouncing the ‘Auld Enemy’, Scotland, on Board (1) all eyes were on Board (2) in anticipation of a great match.

And the opposing sets of fans were not disappointed as the players gave their all in a classic encounter.

First blood went to the Republic as Gemma Keogh won the opener against Janice Wright but the North hit back with wins from Brian Nelson and Michael Rice to go 2-1 up.

The Republic won four of the next five games and were looking very comfortable with a 5-3 lead but then Ryan Balmer led a Northern charge and they won the next five games without reply to go 8-5 up.

Shane O’Connor and Shane Mullins won the last two games for the Republic to leave the score at 8-7 in favour of Northern Ireland.

However, though Northern Ireland won the match they could not overtake the Republic who had accumulated one point more over the course of the tournament and they slipped into second place and the Silver Medal.

Republic of Ireland		Score	Northern Ireland
1.	Gemma Keogh	2-1	Janice Wright
2.	Ger Doyle	1-2	Brian Nelson
3.	Ted Fox	0-2	Michael Rice
4.	Jason Cullen	2-0	Shane Pearson
5.	Nicky Delaney	2-0	Stephen McCusker
6.	Nicola McKenna	2-0	Mikaela Elder
7.	Noel Touhy	1-2	Ricky Dunlop
8.	Kieran Burke	2-0	Tony Murray
9.	Kenneth Donovan	0-2	Ryan Balmer
10.	Sean Fleming	0-2	Gary Dunlop
11.	Ciara O’Meara	0-2	Hanna Finlay
12.	Keith Geraghty	0-2	Sean McKinney
13.	Paul Dempsey	1-2	Ashley Rainey
14.	Shane O’Connor	2-0	Tom Gibson
15.	Shane Mullins	2-1	Sean Donnelly

Pre-July 2005 REPORTS

Great Support for Youths’ Darts in Cork

Ryan Courtney and Damian O’Hea.

The youths’ competitions at the Cork County Masters Championships were very well supported at Ardmanning House on Sunday, April 24th.

The under-17 competition was won by Damian O’Hea who defeated his brother Darren in the final while Ryan Courtney won the under-13 event with a win over Declan Harrington.

Emergence of Youth in the North

Ricky Dunlop and Daryl Gurney

Two of the top youth players in Northern Ireland over the past few years, Ricky Dunlop and Daryl Gurney, have now emerged from under-age darts to become two of the leading players in the senior ranks of the sport in the North.

Earlier in the year Ricky Dunlop won the Northern Ireland Individual Championship when he defeated Stephen Rennie in the final and recently the two youngsters contested the final of the Northern Ireland Masters Championship with Gurney defeating Dunlop.

Jason Cullen Wins Fourth Title in Tramore

Jason Cullen from Wexford won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Youths’ title at the 2005 Tramore Spring Festival in O’Shea’s Hotel.

Jason defeated Darren O’Hea from Cork in the final. The beaten semi-finalists were Michael O’Boyle (Sligo) and Eugene McArdle (Dublin)

Republic of Ireland captain, Sean McGowan, congratulating Jason Cullen (Wexford) after winning the Youths’ Under-18 competition in Tramore.

McCormack Wins Inaugural Under-21 Singles

Andrew McCormack from Wexford won the first INDO-Ranked Under-21 competition when he Defeated Sean Fleming (Roscommon) in the final at the Rackett Hall Country Club, Roscrea, on Saturday, March 27th., 2005. The beaten semi-finalists were Darren O’Hea (Cork) and Jason Cullen (Wexford)

Jason Cullen (Wexford) won the Youths Singles on the following day with a win over Darren O’Hea from Cork. The beaten semi-finalists were Paul Dempsey (Wexford) and Gary Coyne (Kilkenny).

Shane Floors the Tripod in West Tyrone Open

19 year old Shane Pearson from Pomeroy in County Tyrone provided the main talking point at the West Tyrone Open in Mahon`s Hotel, Irvinestown, Co. Fermanagh, when he defeated the World Number Three, Roland Scholten, in the last 32 of the Open Singles. And young Shane was unlucky in the next round as he missed his chance to level at 4-4 against Steve Maish and eventually lost 3-5.

Pictured right is Shade with Roland Scholten

Ronnie Boyle (Organiser), Grant McFarland, Sean McLarnon and Joe Mahon

The Junior Singles at the same event was won by Grant McFarland (Tyrone) who defeated Sean McLarnon (Derry) in the final.

Poor Turnout for Youths Inter-Counties

Roscommon team with manager Tommy Beirne

Only seven counties entered teams for the 2005 Irish Inter-Counties Championships which were held at the South Court Hotel in Limerick on February 12th/13th. The teams were divided into two groups and the competition was organised on a round robin basis.

Mayo qualified from Group (1) with three wins and they were followed closely by Wexford who just pipped last year`s runners-up, Cork, by one point.

Clare won all of their matches in the other group and they went through to the semi-finals with two points to spare over the title-holders, Roscommon.

The semi-finals were very close with Roscommon defeating Mayo 4-3 and Clare getting the better of Wexford 4-2. Roscommon held on to their title with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Clare.

Full Results:

Group (1): Group (2):

Cork 3 Mayo 4 Clare 5 Kilkenny 2

Waterford 2 Wexford 5 Roscommon 3 Clare 4

Cork 4 Waterford 3 Kilkenny 3 Roscommon 4

Mayo 5 Wexford 2

Cork 3 Wexford 4

Mayo 4 Waterford 3

Semi-finals:

Mayo 3 Roscommon 4

Clare 4 Wexford 3

Final:

Clare 3 Roscommon 4

Photo: Last eight players in Tramore Youths` Cup 2005.

Shane O`Connor Wins Inaugural Under-21 Open Singles

Shane O`Connor from Kildare won the first Under-21 Open Singles at O`Shea`s Hotel, Tramore, Co. Waterford, at the 2005 Winter Darts Gala.

Shane was in superb form in the competition and he captured the title with a devastating 4-0 win over Jason Cullen (Wexford) in the final. The beaten semi-finalists were former Tramore Youths` Cup winner, John Wall (Cork), and Jason Bolger (Cork)

The total prize fund was €400 with €200 going to the winner.

Full results:

Last sixteen:

Ted Fox 1 - John Wall 3; Ian Power 2 - Niall Donovan 3;

Stephen Keating 3 - James Sweeney 0; Shane O`Connor 4 - Paul O`Shea 0;

John McKenna 0 - Jason Cullen 3; Shane Mullins 2 - Kenneth Donovan 3;

Jason Bolger 3 - Patrick McAuley 0; Andrew McCormack 3 - Raymond McAuley 1.

Quarter-finals:

John Wall 3 - Niall Donovan 0; Stephen Keating 0 - Shane O`Connor 3;

Jason Cullen 3 - Kenneth Donovan 0; Jason Bolger 3 - Andrew McCormack 2.

Semi-finals:

John Wall 0 - Shane O`Connor 3; Jason Cullen 3 - Jason Bolger 1.

Final:

Shane O`Connor 4 - Jason Cullen 0

Double for Jason in Tramore Youths` Cup

Jason Cullen from Waterford became the first player to win the Tramore Youths` Cup for the second time when he defeated Ian Power (Waterford) in the final at the 2005 Tramore Winter Gala at O`Shea`s Hotel.

Jason defeated John McKenna (Kildare) in the semi-finals while Ian defeated Niall Donovan (Cork)

The beaten quarter-finalists were Amy Connolly, Jamie Grant, Paul Depsey and Darren Quigley.

Overall it was a great weekend for Jason Cullen in Tramore as he also teamed up with his Wexford team-mate, Andrew McCormack, to win the Men`s Open Doubles.

Under-21 Double Header in Kilkenny

Photo: Jason Cullen

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 committee organised a double trials on December 12th.,2004, at the Springhill Court Hotel, Kilkenny, and once again it was a great success with thirty players competing on the day.

Two `Round Robin` competitions were organised with the players divided into different groups and the winners of these groups playing off in a knock-out competition. Jason Cullen from Wexford was the top player overall winning both competitions.

After the trials the following squad of players was selected to represent the Republic of Ireland in the Youth Friendship Trophy in Roscrea next May:-

1. Nicola McKenna (Dublin)

2. Gemma Keogh (Kilkenny)

3. Ciara O`Meara (Offaly)

4. Jason Cullen (Wexford)

5. Martin Fleming (Roscommon)

6. Shane O`Connor (Kildare)

7. Ted Fox (Wexford)

8. Sean Fleming (Roscommon)

9. Andrew McCormack (Wexford)

10. Ken O`Donovan (Cork)

11. Nicky Delaney (Sligo)

12. Noel Touhy (Roscommon)

13. Kieran Burke (Louth)

14. Ger Doyle (Tipperary)

15. Shane Mullins (Cork)

16. Keith Geraghty (Kilkenny)

The following players are on standby:-

Paul Dempsey (Wexford), Padraig Kearney (Roscommon), Michael Devereaux (Clare) and Eamonn Carey (Kerry).

Under-21 Open Singles in Tramore

An under-21 Open Singles competition has been added to the programme at the forthcoming Tramore Winter Gala which will be held on the weekend of January 15th/16th. in O`Shea`s Hotel.

The under-21 competition will take place on Saturday afternoon at 1.00pm with a prize fund of €400 at stake.

Later in the afternoon there will be Open Doubles competitions for men and ladies at 5.00pm while on Sunday there will be Open Singles events for men, ladies and youths (under-18).

Under-21 Trials at the South Court Hotel.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 committee held the first of three trials at the South Court Hotel in Limerick on Saturday, November 20th., with 34 players from around the country attending.

The players were divided into eight groups and they competed on a round robin basis with the group winners playing-off in a knock-out competition.

The overall winner was Jason Cullen (Wexford) who defeated Kieran Burke (Dublin) in the final.

The beaten semi-finalists were David Conroy and Sean Fleming, both from Roscommon.

Congratulations to the Under-21 committee who organised a great event on the day.

The second trial will take place at the Springhill Court Hotel, Kilkenny, on Sunday, December 12th., at 3.00pm.

The points table after the first trial is as follows:

1. Jason Cullen (Wexford) 14

2. Kieran Burke (Dublin) 11

2. Stephen Ormsby (Roscommon) 11

4. David Conroy (Roscommon) 10

4. Shane O`Connor (Kildare) 10

4. Ger Doyle (Tipperary) 10

4. Sean Fleming (Roscommon) 10

8. Martin Fleming (Roscommon) 9

8. Nicky Delaney (Sligo) 9

10. Shane Folan (Donegal) 8

10. Andrew McCormack (Wexford) 8

10. Jason Bolger (Cork) 8

13. Shane Mullins (Cork) 7

13, Jerry Coughlan (Cork) 7

13. John Sheehan (Limerick] 7

Irish Youths in World Masters

Grant McFarland and Gemma Keogh

Gemma Keogh (Republic of Ireland) and Grant McFarland (Northern Ireland) were the best of the Irish Youths in the 2004 World Masters Championships in Bridlington.

Gemma had two good wins against Lauren Norris (England) 4-1 and Linda Oden (Sweden) 4-2 before losing 1-4 to Chantal Snyders (Netherlands) in her Group final. Chantal went on to the final of the competition where she lost 2-4 to Irene Adrianova from Russia.

Gemma`s younger sister, Shelley, also represented her country in this event but she lost out in the first round to Kersten Lederbogen from Germany.

Jason Cullen from the Republic had a disappointing outing in the Boys` Masters. He scored well but was unable to hit the vital doubles and lost 1-4 to David Marsh (England) in the first round.

The other Irish players in the Boys` event, Noel Touhy and Tony Murray, also went out in the first round.

Northern Ireland`s Grant McFarland had three great wins before losing to Pieter Collyn from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. He had earlier defeated Ryan Maheffey (USA) 4-1, Leroy Nieuvenhuis (Netherlands) 4-2 and Kevin Muench (Germany) 4-2.

Pieter Collyn lost to the eventual winner, Oskar Lukasiak (Sweden) in the semi-finals.