Portarlington lad’s remarkable rise in the darts’ world

PORTARLINGTON darts prodigy Eoin Roche has never known life without a dartboard. Picking up his first set of darts at just five years old in his grandad’s shed, he has spent more than a decade honing a talent that continues to rise far beyond local competitions.

That journey reached a new milestone in recent weeks when the young sharpshooter proudly pulled on the Irish colours to compete in the World Youth Darts Championship, marking a major step in what many believe will be a long and successful career.

His story is one of early passion, relentless dedication, and a growing confidence on the international stag

e—qualities that are quickly making him one of Ireland’s most exciting emerging talents in the sport.

Roche spoke to the Laois Nationalist about his journey and his rapid rise in the sport, he reflected on where it all begun and his transition into the sport was seamless and never met any difficulties.

He also spoke how proud he was to represent Ireland at the recent World Youth Darts Championships in Gibraltar last month where he produced some fine displays and he made it into the last 16 of the competition before bowing out.

He said: “I started out playing darts at the age of seven as my grandad had a board in his shed and it all started from there really. I got addicted to it and I always played on that, and the rest is really history, it all started from there.

“When I was eight my mam contacted Steven Greene from darts school Ireland in Portlaoise and they sent me to Ballyroan and I play with them ever since, I definitely owe them a huge thank you from where I started to where I am now but there is definitely more to come.

“There were no real difficulties or barriers when starting darts. I know it is still starting to grow but you were always supported by my club, and they would always enter us into competitions whether it would be singles or team events. So surprisingly the transition into playing darts wasn’t hard at all.”

After years of practise and tournaments on the local scene the opportunity to represent Ireland came calling and Roche took it by two hands – but the process in doing so was incredibly tough, but Roche excelled in this and booked his place in Gibraltar where he made lifeline long memories reaching the last sixteen beating opponents from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Hungary only to lose out fellow country man in the last 16 “Qualifying to play with Ireland felt so good really amazing. Definitely one of the best feelings you can have is to represent your country. The process was every night in Ballyroan, we had to do a thing every night called JDC grading which was a really tough process which lasted three season which was eight weeks to each season.

“JDC grading is testing your accuracy, which you had to hit shanghai ten to 15 (which means you have to hit a single, treble and double of each number).

“And have that we had to hit every double on the board with one dart at each of the doubles and luckily enough I did well enough to qualify to represent Ireland it was tough.

“In the first round I beat Max Young from Scotland, in the second round I beat Lee Shields from Northern Ireland, I then beat Taylor McGughan from England. I also beat opposition from Hungary to qualify for the last sixteen which was another amazing feeling. And it the last sixteen I played my fellow country man Charlie O’Connor where I lost out 5-3”.

“Overall, the competition was just unreal. There was a special buzz around the tournament, and the Irish fans were just amazing as usual. Everything was just fantastic and it was great soaking it in.

“My first feeling was one of pride to represent Ireland, an experience I will never forget, it was truly amazing”.

Roche learned many lessons from the world championships but reflecting on his performance at the competition he couldn’t be prouder of how it went and is now setting his sights on the YDS finals in February.

He said: “The biggest lesson I learned from the tournament that will stick with is the standard you have to be at to have a chance at these tournaments is unreal. You have to be at your consistent best all the time or you will get punished”.

“I’m proud how I represented Ireland, I’m very happy with my performance throughout the competition, I was consistent, doubles were good, I felt really comfortable, I would rate it a good eight out of ten.”.

“My next milestone for me would be the YDS grand finals which is on in February, it’s one of the best competitions on the calendar and the process will start again in March to qualify to represent Ireland once more and they are my immediate targets for the future.”