Kilcummin darts team bids for All-Ireland glory
THIS weekend sees a Kerry darts team bid for an All-Ireland title as The Village Inn, Kilcummin take part in the All-Ireland Pubs & Clubs tournament in the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny.
Though based around the county the team contains some big names in the local Darts scene as team member Dale McCarthy explains.
“We’re probably unique in that we’re one of the few teams in this that’s made up solely of inter-county players. Usually you find two or three on most teams but all seven of us have played for Kerry,” he said.
The team includes former Irish No 1 Sean Marshall from Tralee, Tom Biggane who was one match away from qualifying for last year’s PDC World Championships, James Broderick, John Cronin, Richard O’Connor and Dave Stack along with McCarthy.
They have had a good year so far in winning Division One of the Killarney Town Darts League and winning the Knockout Cup in the town as well, while the team has also tasted provincial success with the county being involved with two Munster Inter-County wins for Kerry in recent years.
The team has managed to gain the support of a number of sponsors namely Marion Collins of the Village Inn itself, K&M Ventilation and Heat Recovery, The Paps Bar Knocknagree, Island Flowers Castleisland and John J Galvin & Sons.
McCarthy says that the team have some knowledge of the players that they could be coming up against.
“We would have seen some of them at this year’s All-Ireland Inter-County and while it’s a hard time of year to stay focussed on Darts with the evenings getting longer, the standard is so competitive now that you nearly are playing the game all year round now,” he said. Play will take place over two days this weekend, the Group Stages on Saturday followed by the Knockout Stages on Sunday.