Conor's delight at opening Players Championship win

Published on 23 May 2025 at 16:40

MAYO'S Conor Heneghan says he will look to build on his opening weekend of success that saw him win the first night of Division A in the new INDO Players Championships.

Heneghan followed that win last Friday night by also claiming the first ranking event of the new INDO season on Saturday.

It wasn't until the last 16 of the INDO Gold Cup on Sunday that Heneghan eventually tasted defeat, having won 13 games on the spin over two-and-a-half days of action before that.

He told Darts In Ireland: "To go through so many games over a few days without losing at that level is a good sign for me and hopefully I can push on from it.

"It was great to win the first Players Championship on the Friday as with it being Division A it was going to have the top players in it and no easy draws.

"That's how it proved as I played number one, Stephen Rosney, in the first round and it didn't get much easier after that."

After defeating Ireland captain Rosney in that opening game, Heneghan went on to b eat Cork's JohnPaul Dowdall and then fellow Mayo man Ultan McDyer in his semi-final, to set up a final against Waterford's Eric Power.

After streaking into a 5-0 lead in that final, Heneghan was certainly made to sweat afterwards as Power pegged back four legs on the trot, before a 14-dart leg saw Heneghan claim a 6-4 victory.

He maintained his fine form up the following day as he went on to claim victory in the INDO Men's Ranking event.

Heneghan said he believes the high standard of play needed to win Division A of the Players Championship on Friday helped him the following night.

He added: "Yes I do think that playing against such high quality players on the Friday helped that way as I knew I had to be in good form to do well in the Players Championship.

"It's also helped that it was an evening start on the Saturday, so gave me a bit of time to get set again.

"I didn't play my best darts in some of the games on Saturday but I did what I had to when needed so it was nice to get the win."

Doing what was needed included Heneghan taking out a stunning 110 checkout to win a last leg decider in his semi-final with Cork's John O'Shea, with his opponent sitting on 38 after just 12 darts.

Heneghan now sits second in the new INDO ranking table behind O'Shea, after the Joker went on to win the Gold Cup the following day.

It means he's well placed to try and regain in his spot on the Republic of Ireland team over the course of this ranking season.

However, Heneghan is under no illusions as to just what a difficult task that could prove to be.

He said: "It's very difficult to get into the top four or five now given the quality of players we have here in Ireland.

"The Gold Cup final last weekend was between John O'Shea and Shane McGuirk and we all know just what quality those two have.

"Then you still have the likes of Stephen Rosney, Mike Flynn, Gerard McGlynn and Dean Finn and a load of other players who would all have the quality to compete on the international stage and at events like the Modus Super Series.

"That's the standard of players we are producing in Ireland so it would certainly be great for me to stay up there amongst all of them."

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