Donegal County Youth Darts Team travelled to Ennis over the weekend to take part in the INDO All Ireland Inter-County Championships.
On Friday only, hours after arriving Aiden McGinley with James O’Connor from Offaly made it to the final of the blind pairs narrowly missing out on the title.
The main event on Saturday, Donegal were one of only four counties to field three teams in the competition the teams were captained by Ramelton’s Owen Murray.
Donegal 1 had Tipperary 1, Mayo 1, Westmeath, Cork 3 and Carlow 2.
Donegal 2 had Cork 1, Offaly 2, Waterford 2, Clare and Roscommon.
Donegal 3 had Carlow 1, Offaly 3, Laois, Tipperary 2 and Waterford 1.
Donegal 1 finished fourth in a tough group making it to the last sixteen of the Championship where they went on to play eventual finalists Dublin losing 3-0.
Donegal 2 finished second behind Cork in their group after wins over Clare, Waterford, Roscommon and narrowly losing out to Cork in the last group game 3-2. Donegal 2 went on to play Laois in the last sixteen running out 3-0 winners to progress into the Quarter Final.
Donegal 3 topped their group with an amazing run winning their first 3 games 5-0 followed by a 4-1 win over Laois and 3-2 win over Carlow 1. Donegal 3 met Roscommon in the last sixteen winning in a decider 3-2 to take them into the last 8.
Donegal 2 started strong against Dublin in the Quarter-Final going 1-0 up and missing darts for 2-0 before Dublin lifted their game fired off 3 straight wins to progress.
Donegal 3 met Meath in their Quarter-Final in a tense game came down to a decider again with Donegal narrowly missing out to the eventual winners Meath.
Donegal’s performance in the team event shows the high standard of darts throughout the county. Making them the only county that got all three teams into the Championship and the only county with two teams in the last 8.
Sunday brought the Donegal players back to the floor for the singles event with a field of 86 players. Donegal players Daniel Meehan, Alex Hughes, Aiden McGinley, Owen Carr, Martin O’Connor, Dylan Curran and Caption Owen Murray made it to the last 32 with Daniel, Alex and Owen Carr making it into the last 16.
Daniel beat Cork’s number 1 Lewis O’Regan in an impressive game to progressing into the Quarter-Final. Alex took on Dublin player Jamie Jordan Alex went 2-0 up before losing the next 3 and pulling it back again to go 3-3 and into a decider where Jamie closed out the win. Owen Carr took on Killian Heffernan 2018 Lakeside Youth World Champions runner up. In a hard-fought close game levels on 2 occasions before Killian went on to win.
Daniel went on to beat Jamie Jordan and play youth International Katie Sheldon in the Semi Final and going out in a close game.
