Kildare Darts Trials underway in race for 2027 County team
Kildare County Darts are about to begin the process of deciding their squads for the 2027 season, with the weekly trials series due to commence this coming Friday, June 26th.
The trials will be held at The Townhouse in Nass and will run for 12 consecutive weeks, with a similar number of entrants to last year’s100-plus expected to throw their hat in the ring again this time around as they hope to emulate Kildare greats such as Anthony Donoghue, Mark Turner, and David Whelan.
At the conclusion of the series, the top 48 qualifiers will then be divided into three teams of 16 based on rankings throughout the trials. These three teams - Kildare ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ - will represent the county at the Leinster Championships in January 2027, followed by the Inter-Counties Championships between February and April.
The game of darts continues to experience significant growth in Kildare and across Ireland as a whole, with the Inter-Counties Championships representing the pinnacle of the sport in this country.
There are three of these annual tournaments, the ‘A’ Inter-Counties Championship, the ‘B’ Championship and the Youth Championship, all hosted by the Irish National Darts Organization (INDO), the governing body for darts in Ireland.
The INDO oversee all events – including the upcoming trials – as well as determining the Irish men’s and women's teams that compete in events such as the Six Nations, the European Cup, and the Europe Youth Cup, which is being hosted in Limerick this year.
They also select the teams for the Darts World Cup where the Irish women’s team are at forefront of the global game as the reigning and defending back-to-back World Champions.
As darts continues to prosper, the game is putting an ever-greater emphasis on nurturing the players of tomorrow, which will make the Irish-hosted Europe Youth Cup a very special experience for all involved.
In addition to their adult program, Kildare County Darts operates a thriving youth academy every Thursday evening at the Townhouse in Naas. The academy, which is affiliated with the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC), regularly attracts more than 75 young players aged between eight and 18 years old.
The academy provides a structured environment for the next generation of darts talent to develop their skills, with four youth-dedicated, accredited coaches currently at the club and another two set to join by the end of July.
Damian Gleeson, Secretary of Kildare County Darts and an INDO committee member, spoke to The Kildare Nationalist about the structure of the academy. “We play little mini games with them on two specialised dartboards that they use, the ‘Green Zone Board’ and the ‘Equaliser Board’,” he said.
The Green Zone Board, which is primarily for beginners, has a larger green area for the 25, with games designed to take the pressure off trying to finish on a double.
“It's basically just to get them competitive and winning games, that they're not getting hung up on missing doubles and that sort of stuff; just to get them to enjoy the game, get their counting right, you know, so you're getting them to know their way around the board, the numbers and stuff like that,” Mr Gleeson explained.
The Equaliser Board takes the Green Zone out of equation, but instead features larger trebles and larger doubles than a standard board.
“This is for the more advanced juniors, where now they're comfortable on the board, they're comfortable with their scoring. This is about focusing on their power scoring, finishing games quicker, not getting hung up on missing four, five, six darts at that double, it's just getting them into that confident, winning mentality,” Mr Gleeson noted.
Games such as Shanghai are used to grade the best players between 12 and 18 years old on the overall JDC ranking table for the JDC’s Youth World Championship Youth World Masters. Kildare already have players thriving at this level, including the likes of Oran Devine, Matthew Clifford, and Alex Boot.
