 in Ireland, Ulster University, delivering sustainable futures. Highland Sport is brought to you by Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure Letter Kenny. Find everything you need to kick off your fitness journey at MichaelMurphySports.ie. Welcome back as we turn our attention to darts and the Donegal darts team are preparing for the two biggest tournaments of the year. The West Coast Challenge is being hosted in Jackson's Hotel in Balboffay. That's coming up from the 20th to the 22nd of January. And then we have the All Ireland's next month. So to look forward to them and to have a chat about the Donegal darts scene in general, I'm delighted to say that in studios this evening we have the Donegal County Darts PRO, David Haran, and we also have James Weir, the manager and joint selector. Maybe we'll start with yourself, Darren, exciting times ahead. It's a start of a new year and we have the West Coast Challenge on in Jackson's in Balboffay. So tell us a little bit about the West Coast Challenge, how many teams are going to be involved, what sort of size of an event it is. Because for those taking part, this is really one of the most important events all year. Yeah Chris, this is the first time since 2014 that Donegal are hosting it. It goes around the country along the West Coast. Certain counties run it every year. And we have three senior teams in the men's event and we have two ladies teams and we have two youth teams as well in the West Coast this year. And where are we going to see the participants from? Obviously Donegal, the real out there, are they coming from all over the country? No, they're coming from mostly the West Coast as far as Limerick, Clair, Galway, Mayo, Slaggo will be there as well. I think Lithrum is with Elf in the Red Games. And we would know that the players involved and the teams involved, quite a few of them will know each other from previous years. Yes, oh yeah, they're usually tender players that will be there in around a long time. So what format, David, does the competition take? Usually it's group stages first. Then the top two teams in each group will go through then into the knockouts. And if it's four team groups at the bottom, teams then will go into a shield as well. So everyone has a chance to keep playing. It'll be a long weekend and a long day. And it'll be a lot of competitive dirt. Certainly, something to look forward to. Who's your manager and joint selector? Tell us a little bit about the selection process, because I take it there's quite a bit of competition to get into something as prestigious as this. Yes, there's a lot of competition, OK, but as you maybe know it, there will be no good dirt players going for a long time. So there won't be a lot of changes from year to year. So they don't. This year we have three players out of the county selection and one new player on. So we have a lot of players who've been there 10 years plus. And experience counts for a lot. Yes, even if you're not playing very well, the names does take a bit of pressure. So in terms of preparing for the event, do you bring the guys together? Are there sort of sessions beforehand and do you plan a lot? Yeah, we do with a B team over on and with a development team as well. So they get together and challenge each other throughout the year, so we do. Now, Dunygol, of course, have been pretty successful down through the years vis-a-vis a lot of the other counties. So where are we at in the scale of things at the moment? Sometimes it can be a bit cyclical. So are we on the way up or the way down? Are we in a transition? We had a very successful for a long time from 98 to 2014. And then with a bit of a blank to 2020. So we won 2020 and we're known on 21. We've done one last year, unfortunately, but we'll be there or there about again. And maybe just bringing David back in many of us in the last couple of weeks for watching the darts on TV at Allie Pally. And there's no doubt about it. That certainly lifts the interest in the sport. You can see it across the board. Like the county itself for darts is booming with them on it. There's leagues all over the place. There's from the Twin Towns leagues to Dunygol Town. There's Glencombe Kill. There's Mulval have leagues. It's all over the county now and it's actually booming now. And people are actually coming out to play darts again. And I apologize if I must on the other leagues as well. So what is the structure within the county? There's local leagues in individual towns. Yes, there's local leagues in certain areas. And every league has their own rules, their own set format. They have pub teams play each other. Every team or every pub can have maybe two or three teams maybe. And it's great getting people out as well. And it's the talents there. And then we have the Dunygol Open. And we have, there's tournaments every, like for the past month there, there's about three or four tournaments going past there. There's Women Glenties. There's one coming up now, the Con Sean and Calcare. And like so many other sports, COVID I'm sure took its toll and people couldn't get out to the local pub and do it. So we've got this interest again. And from what you're saying, things are going from strength to strength. Yes. The standard of darts now and Dunygol is getting better every year. You can see it even the youth now are standing up to the older generation players. And they've no fear fighter anymore. They're going on there and they're telling these boys, I'm going to bet you. So James, looking forward once again to the West Coast Challenge, we can see both individually and the teams, Dunygol should be right up there contesting for the honours. Oh, definitely. Well, we'll be, the West Coast is really a, test your players before the All-Irelands. So everybody get games, everybody get chances to prove themselves. Whereas you go to the All-Irelands, there's not as much chance of getting on the team if you're not performing. So the gap then between the West Coast and the All-Irelands, when are the All-Irelands on? They're just at the beginning of February again. Right. So it's only a couple of weeks to reorganise. And where are they being staged this year? They're in Tremont County, Meath, so they're this year. Right. For the first time. And again, how many people from Dunygol will be going down with different sections once more for the All-Irelands? Well, if the men, senior team and the ladies play at the All-Irelands and then the big team have their own separate one the end of March and the use of one at the beginning of March and separate the use from the men, obviously because alcohol, things like that. So ours will be the first one up, so it will. Yeah. Now, David, just bringing you back in again. Like all sports, sponsorship is important and getting people to take part in big volunteer effort. No doubt behind the scenes for the West Coast Challenge, a lot of effort has gone in. Things like this just don't happen overnight. Definitely. Sponsors are the grid. One of the grids helps towards the county and volunteers to turn up on the day for the help run competitions. Like Jackson's has been that's held the Dunygol Open for the past few years. They've sponsored the county, the senior team, the A-team for the past few years and without sponsors, it's a lot to get for players to come out. It helps them as well. You have these nice places now to go and have great competitions that Dunygol Open with 190 people entered totally for the full day. Right. Tell me about the youth scene and people getting involved if you're interested in darts. Maybe inspired by something you've seen recently. What's usually the first step for people to get on the ladder? If any parents out there that their child is under stress at Dunygol Open, please reach out and the Dunygol darts reach out to them and we'll get back to them and they usually run trials for youth players and they get together to see because without the youth when the older boys are finally retired you've nothing coming through so you need them coming through and getting them competitive darts. That's a steady stream coming through. And just back to you, James, just wrapping things up for the championships coming up the North West Coast Challenge in Jackson's in Balboffay from the 20th to the 22nd of January. What sort of start of the day? How early do proceedings get underway and what's the format? You mentioned there's a group stage and things like that. Yeah, there'll be group stages from the start. Probably three stages, groups of four and then the top two or three you go through. Format changes depending on how many teams it's under all the time. And then that's the way it'll progress all day. And finally, just back to you, Darren just rounding off good grounds for optimism for locally and the year ahead for everybody involved in Dany Gold Darts. The year ahead, darts are just getting better every year first, thank God. And the more the merrier, as I say and there'll be plenty of tournaments throughout the year for anyone that's interested to play competitive darts. There'll always be tournaments nearly every month. And if people want to, the Dany Gold Darts Facebook page is as good as anything for your first protocol. That's the best protocol then on it. Great. Gentlemen, many thanks for coming into studio. That's David Harron just before we wrap things up. We're just taking James again. You want to finish off, James? Yeah, I just want to wish Adrian Devine, one of our county players who are releasing a collective filing team all good luck in the future. I'd like to thank Heldredo for helping us on here. Great, James. Thank you very much. So, thanks for coming into studio. James, we're manager and joint selector. David Harron is the peer of Dany Gold County Darts just to recap again West Coast Challenge being hosted in Jackson's Hotel from the 20th to the 22nd of January. And then we have the All Irlands next month. So, plenty to look forward to there as well. So, that's the darts up to date. Still to come in the program between now and six o'clock, we have Adrian and James for the next weeks. Thanks, guys. This is from the Athletics rugby. Hi, landscape sport is brought to you by Michael Murphy sports and leather. Leather Kenny crossed the finish line in style with trainers from Michael Murphy sports dot ie, go full Excel top of 2% factory style yogurt, just 159. Shop without compromise, go full little today. There's no better time to switch to 48. Get all data, calls, and texts for $12.99 a month. 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