THE latest darts player from Ireland to qualify for the Modus Super Series said he has been inspired by the success of Irish players at the competition.
Louth's Damien Grimes secured his spot at the weekly UK-based tournament by winning through the ADC Ireland regional qualifiers last weekend.
He told Darts In Ireland he has been following the progress of Irish players on Series 11 of the Modus Super Series and has been impressed by their success.
Damien said: "John O'Shea went and won his week during this series and then a week later Shane McGuirk won his week so it has been great to watch how they are doing.
"Even a week after that, Conor Heneghan made it to finals night, while the following week both Ronan McDonagh and Ciaran Teehan did the same before Robyn Byrne made it to the final last week.
"It's inspiring to see so many Irish players doing so well at it and it gives me the belief that I can do well when I go there too."
Grimes secured his spot on Modus by beating Galway's Dylan Dowling in the final of the ADC Ireland regional qualifier in Clonmel last week, but had to survive some close contests along the way to even get that far.
He beat Republic of Ireland captain Stephen Rosney 6-5 in his quarter final and also needed to win a last leg decider over rising star Sean McKeon in his semi-final.
Damien added: "I don't particularly like putting myself through those really close games but with the quality of the players I'm coming up against at these competitions the games are always likely to be tight and tough.
"When a game goes to that final leg all I think about is making a strong start by scoring at least a ton, if not more, in the first couple of scores as that will at least give you a chance and luckily last week they went my way.
"I was happy overall with how I played, averaging over 90 in a couple of the games. I generally want to be averaging around that 85-92 point as that will keep you competitive at these competitions."
Success has come thick and fast for Damien over the past six months, with him winning or making the final of a number of INDO ranking events and being crowned the INDO Inter Counties champion back in February.
He said these feats are giving him the confidence to push on for more and he's aiming to try make a future Ireland team.
He said: "I said after I won the Inter Counties that I would like to give the full INDO ranking season a go as that's how you get onto the Ireland team.
"I've managed to pick up three sponsors since winning the Inter Counties, which is a big help as there is a lot of travelling involved to go to all these tournaments.
"I've also qualified for the World Masters in Hungary in November after winning the Irish Classic in Galway back in April, while the Modus Super Series will also now be another week away.
"It's great to be making these tournaments but there's a lot of commitment involved too."
Another commitment which Damien is now eyeing up is the PDC Q School next January.
That will give him the chance to pick up a professional PDC Tour Card or at the very least compete on the PDC Challenge Tour.
Up to a dozen Irish players are currently competing on the Challenge Tour and Grimes believes the PDC should consider bringing it to Ireland.
He said: "We have a lot of players here in Ireland travelling over to the UK and Germany for the Challenge Tour, which is great.
"I know John O'Shea recently called for the PDC to bring a World Series of Darts event to Ireland, and that is a good idea, but they could also bring one weekend of the Challenge Tour to Ireland.
"Given the amount of players we have travelling to compete in it, it would be a big help to the Irish players."
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