Keane’s Nerves of Steel Now On Show in PDC Tour
Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd’s new ‘sponsee’, young Irish darts player, Keane Barry, has just taken part in his very first PDC Pro Tour event, having earned a coveted tour card for 2021.
Keane has recently been a contender for RTÉ Sport’s Young Sportsperson of the Year award and the Irish Independent’s equivalent, but has still kept his feet on the ground. We were delighted when he took the opportunity, on February 25, to thank Sheet Piling UK on his Twitter account and state how happy he was to have our logo on his shirt for this season.
Keane is a rising star in the world of darts, having been a former BDO World Youth Masters and JDC World Youth Champion. Our Sheet Piling UK team’s belief in him is unswerving and we are convinced he has the makings of a future world champion – with true nerves of steel.
Supporting him in his early career is in keeping with our ongoing policy of supporting other grass-roots sporting and talent-based organisations. Whilst, as the UK’s leading specialist sheet pile installer and supplier, you could say we know far more about steel than tungsten, we believe Keane has the winning mentality to enjoy a first-class career.
The Irish darts player, known as ‘Dynamite’ was granted a PDC tour card – one of just 128 players from many different countries to have this honour – by being one of the two highest qualifiers from the 2020 Development Tour. He joins the PDC tour with his fellow Development Tour player, Berry van Peer, from the Netherlands also involved.
Keane is now one of just four players from Ireland on the PDC pro tour, the highest ranked of which is William O’Connor (36). There are also three players from Northern Ireland, with 11th-ranked Daryl Gurney being the best known.
Our Sheet Piling UK-sponsored youngster fought well in his first of four, 3-to-4-day events on the PDC Tour for 2021, losing 6-3 to the 29th-ranked player, Gabriel Clemens but getting into the remaining 16 players, from the 128 participating, on both day one and day three. A real feather in his cap was the defeat of current Premier League champion, Glen Durrant.
He will next travel to Milton Keynes for a mid-March event and then to Niedernhausen in Germany, for the April event. This year, due to Covid-19, tour events have again been grouped, the difference between this year and last being that there were five rather than four events in 2020.
Speaking about our corporate social responsibility programme, Sheet Piling UK’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says:
“Sheet Piling UK’s work is all about earthworks reinforcement and making sure foundations are solid and supportive. By investing in grass roots sport and youth-focused sponsorships, we convey our desire for young people to gain solid foundations in their sport or interest and provide them with the right level of support to help them flourish. There can be many barriers to a young person’s development. With our financial backing, we help them overcome some of these.”
Whilst the PDC tour events are not televised, a card also enables Keane to participate in the UK Open and the qualifiers for all European tour and selected other televised events. In December, he proudly sported the Sheet Piling UK logo on his shirt when taking part in the PDC World Darts Championships 2020/21. That logo is likely to be seen on TV much more, as Keane tackles his learning curve in big game-play.
- Ends -NOTES TO EDITORS
Sheet Piling (UK) Limited is one of the UK's leading piling contractors. Owning and operating a comprehensive range of specialist piling equipment Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd also carry extensive stocks of new and used piles enabling rapid reaction to any urgent requirements or emergency situations.