A day at the darts in Balla

A day at the darts


The arrows were flying in Balla at their recent competitions

Feature
Daniel Carey

IT’S a Sunday afternoon in The Olde Woods pub in Balla, and there’s so much going on that it’s hard to know where to look. TV screens are screening FA Cup and Premier League matches, but the main focus is on action within the premises. No fewer than nine dartboards are in operation, and a TV feed allows people to follow the games taking place upstairs without ever leaving the main bar. It’s some operation.
Over the course of an afternoon and evening, close to 100 competitors will see action in three competitions popularly known, quite simply, as ‘the darts in Balla’. Like Ronseal Quick-Drying Wood Stain, it does exactly what is says on the tin.
Over the microphone, MC Joe King directs players and markers to their relevant board. Proprietor John Dempsey and his staff keep the pints coming from behind the bar, and event organiser Ollie Monaghan is on point duty to make sure things keep ticking along smoothly.
“Where’s board number three?” somebody asks. “Up there beside board number two!” comes a response that may not have proved helpful. For the record, boards one, two and three occupy a room adjoining the bar; board four has pride of place in a corner of the main bar-room; numbers five and six are in the dining room, located behind the bar; boards seven, eight and nine are in an upstairs room.
The mental arithmetic involved in keeping scores intrigues a young girl, whose father explains the scoring system. Corrections aren’t needed much, but the competitors are honest enough to point out errors even when it’s to their disadvantage.
Though there’s noise in the bar, games are played out in relative silence for the most part, save the occasional yelp or under-the-breath expletive.
Roundfort’s Martin Heneghan, easily identifiable by his personalised green t-shirt, lands a 180, but his reaction is that of a man taking care of business; no tumble-the-wildcats from a man who’s off to the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championships in Barnsley next weekend. Paul Barrett, a 13-year-old from Glenisland who was runner-up to Ballintubber’s John Heneghan in the earlier youths tournament, is also cutting a swathe through the senior competition.
THE EVENING RUSH
BY 6.15pm, it’s time to get some fresh air. Unaware that grub is about to be served in the pub, we take a quick run to Sorrento’s for chicken and chips. Half-expecting to see darts there too, we’re mildly surprised to find the world outside is carrying on regardless – the café’s TV is showing action from the Crufts dog show.
Returning to The Olde Woods, we hear a shout of ‘Darts, PJ!’, marking a 180 by Roundfort’s PJ Kavanagh. But he eventually loses out to Irish number one SeΡn McGowan (Sligo).
With Mother’s Day dinners over, the crowd grows for the closing stages of the men’s competition. Ollie Monaghan calls Mayo manager Martin Geraghty and captain Matt Murray to the stage, and requests that the crowd ‘clap for about five minutes’ to mark the county’s recent Irish National Darts Organisation inter-county success in Ennis. Murray hails the ‘great bunch of lads’ responsible, and there’s also a special presentation to Roundfort’s Conor Heneghan, the youngest of the All-Ireland winners at age 14.
A DJ moves into position, following AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ with Tom Petty’s ‘Freefallin’ , and the 17-strong ladies’ event gets under way in the dining room. A large crate in the corridor behind the bar is filling up with cans of Bulmers.
Upstairs, three boards are in operation while spectators sit or stand at the back. Given the close proximity to the players, there’s a reverential silence of the kind associated with funeral parlours. Occasionally, the only sound to be heard is that of darts landing on boards.
Then a roar erupts from downstairs and one spectator allows himself a smile. “Must be a nine-darter!” he says.
Darina Daly from Ballindine attended the event for the first time last year – as a spectator. This year, she’s taking part, having started playing in 2012. She’s now captain of a women’s team representing the Western Hotel, Claremorris, where her boyfriend John Duggan is the proprietor. “There was never a girls’ team in the Town League before,” she explains. “There was awful craic when we started if we took a leg off the lads.”
Caroline Breen from Galway is going for her third ladies’ title in a row.
“I don’t know how much hope there is the way I’m feeling today,” she jokes, but she delivers the goods, beating Cess Lally in the final. The men’s event comes down to a showdown between Martin Heneghan and Fermanagh’s Eamon McGovern. The local man goes 4-2 up, but his opponent sprints 5-4 ahead before finishing in style. Left requiring 114, McGovern has to settle for a four with his first dart, but follows that up with treble 20 and a bullseye to seal a 6-4 victory in spectacular fashion.
“See you next year,” says one man passing the Balla GAA 1969 team picture and the signed Manchester United t-shirt near the door. “You can bet on it,” comes the reply.