By Gavin Mc Stay

Reporter Gavin Mc Stay chats to Robbie Curran about his young darting career and what he has achieved so far as well as his future aspirations.

Darts as a sport has seen a new lease of life in Ireland. Every weekend, there are countless darts events that take place across the country. The youth darts players have taken the darts scene by storm.

Robbie Curran is a 16-year-old who hails from Laois and has been playing darts for the last five years. He has recently come back from England where he competed in the Junior Darts Corporation Top 16. Curran had to go all the way up to Carrickfergus Darts Academy in County Antrim just to play the tournament. Curran went on to win the tournament and booked his ticket to Coventry.

“Going over to England to play darts was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. To be amongst the likes of Luke Littler and Leighton Bennett who are top quality players made me feel like I deserved to be there. I put in an awful lot of work to get there by travelling to Carrickfergus youth darts academy and won the tournament in order to go to England.”, Curran said.

Like most sports, there is always a story behind how people get involved in a sport. For Curran, it was “when I was small around 5 or 6, I used to put a dartboard on a chair in the kitchen and just used to throw at it until I eventually progressed, and I was the right height to throw at a dartboard on the wall. My mam, dad and uncle played darts for their county, so I was around darts all the time from such a young age,” Curran said.

Curran has himself set up for a career in the sport considering his vast experience and achievements at such already. There was a certain moment in his young career where Curran realised that he could make a name for himself in darts. “The moment I realised is when I won the Youth Darts School Grand Finals in 2020 where I topped both the youth and senior Order of Merits so was seeded first for both tournaments. I managed to win both tournaments on the day and thus became the first person in the darts club to have ever done so,” Curran said.

At the age of 16, it still gives Curran plenty of time to show the darting people of Ireland and beyond what he can achieve. “My greatest achievement to date would be reaching the JDC Super 16 in Coventry, where I reached the quarter finals.”

Curran has his eyes set on one day being a professional in the sport and taking his career to new heights. He will take part in the upcoming JDC Q-School in January, where he will be vying to potentially win a coveted tour card. A tour card allows dart players to take on the world’s best players in various tournaments across Europe. “My aspiration in darts is to become a professional in the sport of darts and to be one of the top players in the world of darts in the coming years.”

In terms of darts as a whole, Curran envisages that the opportunities that young people get nowadays is the main reason for the sport coming on so much in the last few years. “There are more opportunities for youths to play darts in the UK and Ireland, whereas in the past there weren’t as many opportunities for youths,” he said.