Following the thrilling WDF Europe Youth Cup, the Irish National Darts Organisation staged its own events.
Keeping the University of Limerick as the venue made perfect sense. After all, it was far easier than dismantling everything and starting all over again. So, on a warm Munster Sunday morning, the Irish Youth tournament sprang into life.
In total, there was a trio of titles up for grabs, starting with the Boys’ Singles, which was won by the only triumphant non-home nation player, Kai Burger from the Netherlands. There are plenty of jokes available with that surname, so let’s see what we can do.
Relishing (there’s one) the chance to lift some silverware, the young Dutchman was in terrific form from the outset. In fact, Burger dropped just four legs throughout the entire event. It’s just a pity none of his matches were against someone called McDonald.
It was a pair of Latvians to kick things off before he saw off Eddie Sweeney on his home patch. Next came compatriot Quinn Sneeboer, who has a very Irish first name but an incredibly Dutch second one. In the semi-final, Kai brushed aside Mikey Conway before emphatically defeating another home favourite, Scott Doyle, 5-1 in the final.
When presented with the trophy, the INDO regrettably didn’t ask Burger if he’d like fries with that. A missed opportunity, in my humble opinion.
The Girls’ title went to a youngster who is no stranger to collecting youth trophies, Rebecca Allen. The Winmau Team 360-sponsored thrower was embroiled in a fantastic final tussle with recent WDF Europe Youth Cup champion Merve Hummel, with the German just being pipped at the post by Sparkles.
Both teenagers averaged in the mid-60s, which is an excellent standard and, in terms of both quality and drama, produced the match of the event.
Sadly, only seven players were in action for the Irish Matchplay Under-23 Youth Singles. I say sadly, but probably not for Sean McKeon, who won the title and was no doubt delighted that he only had to play a handful of matches to do so.
That said, he won it extremely convincingly and thoroughly deserved the trophy. Sean brushed aside Leo Downey in the quarter-finals, was pushed a little harder by Luke Ryan-Purcell in the semi-finals but still prevailed 5-3. He then saved his best until last, bagelling compatriot Nathan Ivors in the final with a very respectable 75.91 average.
Congratulations to Kai, Rebecca and Sean, as well as everyone who took part.
