Once again, the action-packed and electrifying WDF Europe Cup Youth event did not disappoint where, despite many champions being crowned, the future of darts was the real winner.
It genuinely is frightening just how good these youngsters are becoming. They’re reaching averages that make seasoned county players suddenly remember there’s a shelf in the garage that urgently needs putting up instead of entering another tournament.
Kids from all over the continent saved their pocket money and knocked Haribo’s and chocolate on the head to fund their trip to host nation, Ireland. Of course, that was a joke. It’s ain’t the whipper snapper’s which fork-out.
The parents of youth darts players deserve medals themselves. Their weekends consist of airports, motorway services, hotel breakfasts at ridiculous o’clock, trying to locate venues hidden behind industrial estates and somehow still finding enough energy to clap every single 26 as though it was a televised nine-darter. The Bank of Mum and Dad may never recover, but seeing their youngsters living out their dreams tends to soften the financial blow.
When I was a teenager, you’d tend to find me showing that I can’t play football on the school field or sat in front of a computer with a joystick which would make youngsters would say something like, “really, that’s what kind of graphics on games you had back then?”. Yep, afraid so. It was that bad, when Tetris came along, we thought it was revolutionary. Different times. Very different indeed.
All in all, twenty-seven nations were in action. That screams “someone missed their flight”. Not knowing who, we shall crack on.
With all due respect to the rest of the field, Mitchell Lawrie was the biggest star on show. Not only has he won just about everything on the youth game, but he’s tormenting grown men too, grabbing major honours leaving blokes who have been playing for decades bewildered and starting to see how good they are at golf.
Anyway, Wee Sox was involved in all three finals. But he didn’t quite manage the clean sweep. Although he was mighty close.
Absolutely no problem in the Singles Boys event. Despite Dutch kid, Kai Burger pushing Lawrie all the way in the round robin group phase, he eventually bit off more than he could chew, edged in a last leg decider. Close, but no cigar or fries with that.
But once Mitchell got into the knockout phase, it looked a formality. Dropping just seven legs en route to the finale, he retained his title, emphatically defeating Belgium’s Jason Goossens for yet more silverware. Just a few ton plus averages in the mix, including a colossal 103.47 against Northern Ireland’s, Christian Ennis in the semi. Perhaps the only surprise was the Scot didn’t knock in a perfect leg.
Over in the Girls event, after some fantastic battles, it came down to a Germany versus Ireland final with Merve Hummels taking on Rebecca Allen. But what looked a close encounter on paper, finished in comprehensive style with Miss Hummels running away for the gold. Or silver. Or whatever she lifted in triumph.
Better was to come for the Deutschland hotshot as she teamed up with compatriot – obviously, otherwise the entire concept would be lost – Panagoita Kentzidou to defeat the Latvian twosome of Amanda Kirilova and her partner, Marta Roga in a well fought contest.
That Girls Pairs final was fairly dramatic but had nothing on the Boys one. A good old England versus Scotland clash. Mason Teese and Jack Nankervis in the red corner. Mitchell Lawrie and Owen Bryceland in the blue one.
England versus Scotland hardly ever disappoints regardless of the sport. Whether it’s football, rugby, cricket, darts or arguing over who invented absolutely everything, somebody is usually going home with bragging rights.
As perhaps many predicted, it went down to a last leg decider. And that’s where the real drama began. For those of who old enough to remember the England v Australia World Cup of Darts final many moons ago – well it reminded me of that.
If your fingernails survived intact, congratulations. Those final few minutes probably aged coaches, parents and supporters by about three years. Fortunately, hair grows back. Usually.
Each of the four lads had their chances to pin the winning double. Then after what felt like an age, Mason Teese of England finally stepped up and watched in delight as his dart landed in D5.
The celebrations that followed were exactly what youth sport should be about. Joy, relief, teammates piling in together and parents trying desperately not to embarrass everyone by celebrating just a little too enthusiastically. Some succeeded more than others.
All that left was the team events. Given the fact for the Girls, only two were in each squad, that tournament was EXACTLY the same as the pairs in terms of identical competitors. Anyway, I don’t make the rules, I just write the articles so once again, I will merely question it and crack on.
In their semi, the Irish nicked a last leg thriller against England girls, Paige Pauling & Ruby Grey whilst the Turks whitewashed Denmark in theirs.
There really is something about youth darts that refuses to do things the easy way. Comfortable victories are all well and good, but everybody secretly prefers a deciding leg where parents suddenly forget how breathing works for a couple of minutes.
Then in the showdown, it was Turkey entering the winners’ circle with their duo of Zehra Gemi & Aysegul Karagoz really testing if my spellcheck was working claiming a 3-1 win over an Irish team which still contained Rebecca Allen & Ruby Grace. As was the same for all pairings.
Allen got Ireland off to the perfect start. But three legs on the bounce form the Turkish youngsters saw them home.
Eventually, the curtain had to come down on what had been an amazing weekend of kids who are just getting better and better at darts each year. Or each week it often feels. They’ve even banging in nine darters. At that age, I was just happy with my three darts sticking in the board. Meanwhile, I distinctly remember celebrating a score of 85 like I’d personally conquered Everest. Then two of the darts fell out. Crap player. Even crapper board.
Anyway, back to the action in Limerick. Once again, it was England versus Scotland facing off – this time, in a quartet contest.
If there was ever going to be a fixture guaranteed to produce drama, it was this one. These two nations could probably make a game of rock, paper, scissors feel like the closing stages of the World Championship.
The red corner got off to the perfect start with wins from Jack Nankervis and Kaya Baysal. Luke Rossi then pulled one back for the Scots but Teese Mason then restored that two-leg cushion to give England a 3-1 lead.
Exactly the sort of start captains dream about. The trouble is Scotland have developed something of a reputation for refusing to read anybody else’s script, making absolutely certain nobody could relax for even a second.
Given it was first to nine legs, when Mitchell Lawrie reduced the deficit to one, there was still quite a way to go. But hanging in the balance.
Ten minutes or so later, England were 6-3 up. I say ten mins, I didn’t time it. Purely based my logic upon exactly how long I set the Microwave timer for my dinner. Two thirds of the way to the line for the lads in the red corner – assuming you’re good with numbers. But Scotland’s foursome are dangerous – and their opponents were well aware of that. Absolutely no time for complacency which I think was furthest from their minds.
Crucially – thanks to Craig Devlin and the superstar named after some particularly tiny socks – Scotland picked up back to back legs to mean yet again, there was only a solitary leg in it. 6-5 England.
Momentum had completely changed. The English supporters suddenly became very interested in the ceiling, while the Scottish contingent rediscovered their voices with remarkable speed. Funny how that works in sport.
Now it was getting twitchy for both teams. Jack Nankervis needed a rot stopping leg against Luke Rossi – and that’s precisely what happened. 7-5 England. At this point, I really felt for the parents!
They’d probably aged about twelve years over the course of the match. Forget energy drinks; someone needed to hand them all a nice cup of tea and perhaps a lie down afterwards. Supporting your child in elite youth sport is not for the faint-hearted.
And more so for the one’s with lads in the England side as Devlin and Mitchell levelled it up. The scoreboard now read 7-7. Effectively a best of three leg match. In other words, toss a coin.
Then in the flash, thanks to Luke Rossi – who may or may not be related to Wet Wet Wet frontman, Francis Rossi – put Scotland in the lead for the first time.
Onto leg sixteen. With Jack Nankervis streets ahead of Owen Bryceland, it looks odds on that for the second time this week, the Calcutta nations went the full distance.
Most people watching were already mentally preparing themselves for another deciding leg. You could almost hear commentators dusting off every cliché in the book about bottle, bravery and nerves of steel.
But no. The Bandit kept chipping away whilst Jumping Jack struggled to finish the leg off. And against that young pup, you need to strike whilst the iron is hot.
One missed opportunity in youth darts nowadays is about as forgiving as leaving your front door open during a British wasp convention. These youngsters simply punish mistakes far more ruthlessly than players twice their age have any right to.
Bryceland pinned the winning double to hand the last piece of silverware to the Scots. A tremendous final befitting of a wonderfully exciting tournament. No, I wasn’t there, but YouTube did a good job of maintaining the drama.
Well done to everyone involved, including of course the hosts, the Irish National Darts Organisation whose chiefs can pat one another on the back, put their feet up and, with a cool pint of Guinness in hand, reflect on a job well done. Or is it Murphys in Munster?
Safe to say the future of our sport is in pretty decent hands. In fact, it’s so bright that even Ray-Ban would struggle to invent a pair of sunglasses capable of handling the glare.
RESULTS OF FINALS:
BOYS SINGLES: Lawrie Mitchell (SCO) 6-1 Jason Goossens (BEL)
BOYS PAIRS: England 5-4 Scotland
BOYS TEAM: Scotland 9-7 England
GIRLS SINGLES: Merve Hummel (GER) 5-1 Rebecca Allen (IRE)
GIRLS PAIRS: Germany 5-3 Latvia
GIRLS TEAM: Turkey 3-1 Ireland
