Keith Falkiner, Live News Editor with the Irish Mirror, is a keen darts player and runs the Irish darts news website Darts In Ireland.
In a new weekly column, Keith gives a rundown on the darts scene in Ireland.
'Casual darts fans who have become hooked on the heroics of teenage superstar Luke Littler might be wondering just how strong the game is here in Ireland.
Well last week alone gives a perfect snapshot of just what rude health it is in.
At the Shearwater Hotel in Galway last weekend, hundreds of players - ranging from pre-teens right up to pensioners - gathered for the last Irish National Darts Organisation (INDO) ranking event of the season.
It was a chance for Ireland's top players to pick up the ranking points they needed to make it onto the Ireland teams for this year's WDF Six Nations and WDF World Cup competitions. Ireland's Ladies team are the current World Cup champions.
While all that was going on, Mayo man, Conor Heneghan, who was on the Ireland team last year, was competing at the Modus Super Series in Portsmouth in the UK, a weekly event streamed on YouTube that is giving Irish players exposure like they never had before.
Heneghan has taken to it like a duck to water and created his own bit of history at the Modus Live Lounge last week when he became the first player ever to hit not one, not two, but THREE nine darts finishes in the competition.
There was also the small matter of beating the likes of former World Champions, Steve Beaton and Richie Burnett, along the way as Heneghan eventually made it as far as the semi-finals stages.
READ MORE: https://www.dartsinireland.net/2437887_nine-dart-heneghan-creates-history-at-modus-super-series
Meanwhile, in Rosmalen in the Netherlands last Saturday, Ireland's leading Ladies player, Robyn Byrne, was busy beating another world champion, in Beau Greaves, at the PDC Women's Series.
Dubliner Byrne, the reigning WDF Europe Cup singles champion and Irish World Cup winner, played in four events on the PDC Women's Series last weekend, making it to the final in one, and the last four and last eight of another two.
She currently sits well inside the top five in the world, with the top eight claiming a coveted spot at the PDC World Matchplay in Blackpool in July, while her fellow Dubliner, Katie Sheldon, also sits in the top ten.
However both these ladies will be anxiously looking over their shoulders at an emerging teenage sensation making waves in the game.
While they were away in Rosmalen, Carlow star Rebecca Allen was taking Galway by storm, winning two of the three ranked Ladies INDO events. Not bad for a girl who only recently turned 16.
Rebecca is also Blackpool bound for the PDC World Matchplay in July, as she currently sits top of the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) Girls Series, with the top two places earning a spot in an Ultimate Challenge Match on stage in front of a packed out crowd.
Meanwhile, in the Men's section, Offaly's Stephen Rosney finished the year off as Ireland's number one ranked player, and will be joined in Ireland's WDF World team by Waterford duo Dean Finn and Paddy Quinn and Donegal's Gerard McGlynn.
Monaghan man Shane McGuirk - the reigning WDF World Champion - will join them for the WDF Six Nations in Wales in June after finishing fifth in the INDO rankings tables.
The fact that a reigning world champion is only fifth in the Irish rankings gives an indication of just how strong the game is here.
All those from the INDO committee who make all this happen through their selfless volunteer work, including the brilliant General Secretary Kevin Devaney, deserve great credit.
Irish darts is in safe hands.'
For more on Irish darts, check out the website www.dartsinireland.net.
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