One of the great Irish sport stories of 2019 unfolded last night in London as Duleek teenager Keane Barry made his debut in the first round of the World Darts Championship. Barry took on the Dutch Destroyer Vincent Van der Voort. Barry would lose in straight sets but the match was very close and Barry will have learned so much from the experience.
You can watch the whole thing back here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zym7zPyE1Ws
17-year-old Keane Barry hits D10 to secure his first ever leg on the Ally Pally stage! pic.twitter.com/hSzZpvXwbl
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2019
At 17 years old, Barry became the third-youngest person to ever play in the PDC World Championships.
Vincent van der Voort made his World Championship debut five months before Keane Barry was even born 😲 #WHDarts pic.twitter.com/pytLCh89rf
— Live Darts (@livedarts) December 16, 2019
Amazing night at the PDC World Darts tonight! 4 Irishmen playing including 17 year old Keane Barry from Meath! If ya watch the darts tonight's a night to definitely tune in!! C'mon The Irish 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
— Stephen Jones (@SnowySteve5) December 16, 2019
VdV leaves the stage after a 3 - 0 defeat of Keane Barry. The Meath man can be proud of his performance taking 2 x sets to last legs deciders and we are sure we will see the young man from Duleek on the big stage again pic.twitter.com/A6AqZBJYEb
— Irishdarts.ie (@IrishdartsIE) December 16, 2019
Keane Barry is the next big thing, for the people who didn't know already.
— Jetze Jan Idsardi (@jetze_jan) December 16, 2019
Speaking to RTÉ after the experience, Barry sounded philosophical. "It was a brilliant atmosphere. It was a dream come true for me."
Meath's Keane Barry tells @MicilGlennon that he'll take the positives from his debut, despite defeat @OfficialPDC World Championship #rtesport #lovethedarts pic.twitter.com/nGwx323nM9
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 16, 2019
Barry will focus his attention on winning the world junior darts championship this weekend. Overall, it's a massively exciting time for Irish darts with four Irishmen involved in last night's matches. Limerick's Willie O'Connor won his first round match at the World Championships last night, while Brendan Dolan and Steve Lennon lost.
