Keane Barry has gotten the taste for it.
Now, the Meath youngster is hungrier than ever before.
His 17th year was a memorable one, winning the Tom Kirby Irish Matchplay championship, the Junior International Open, the BDO World Youth Masters and on Saturday afternoon, he rounded it all off with the big one.
The World Junior Championship is a hotly contested competition between the best young darts players there are between the ages of 10-18 and the Duleek teenager came out on top of the lot in the Alexandra Palace in his final year at the grade, when he defeated his Czech opponent Adam Gawlas 5-3 in the final.
Barry threw some impressive darts in the decider, notching a couple of ton-plus check-outs and scoring a 93 average for his round.
It’s a huge honour for Barry, and the icing on top of a breakthrough week, when he became the third youngest ever to play in the World Darts Championships – but he’s aiming for bigger and better in the year to come.
Barry was knocked out by experienced Dutch thrower Vincent Van der Voort midweek, but he didn’t go down without a fight and his fast, confident style had the darting world impressed.
Now he’s the king of all he surveys at the junior stage.
17-year-old Meath man Keane Barry has ended 2019 as the Tom Kirby Irish Matchplay champion, the Junior International Open champion, the BDO World Youth Masters Champion and now the World Junior Champion.
What a year, what a future 👊🎯pic.twitter.com/zgCgW3pCWZ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 21, 2019
Now, the big dance is awaiting and his maturity in his post-match interview shows the precarious potential is mixed with a level head. This lad has some future ahead of him.
“It’s everything you dream of to be a world champion,” said Barry.
“It’s been very busy but very enjoyable as well because everything is going right for me, and I’m playing really good darts. The hard work is starting to pay off…
“This has given me the hunger to get the head down, to get the practice in and to be here next year, and hopefully, to be here for the next few years. What a tournament to be at…”
“If I don’t get the tour card, it’s not the end of the world. There’s a challenge tour, a development tour. It’s an exciting year ahead, and I’m really looking forward to it…”
And so say all of us.
