A WEEKEND that promised so much ended in semi-final frustration for the Irish almost across the board.
Our men's and ladies darts teams travelled to Wales for the Six Nations with high hopes of success given the quality amongst their ranks.
It wasn't to be, however, as Ireland men's captain, Stephen Rosney, bowed out at the semi-finals stages of the Six Nations singles, while both the men's and ladies teams did likewise in the team events.
While they battled it out in Merthyr Tydfil, two other Irish players were gunning for glory in Portsmouth at the Modus Super Series.
Both Cork's Ciaran Teehan and Offaly's Ronan McDonagh had made it through to finals night on Saturday, with hopes that one of them could walk away with the weekly win.
Despite topping a tough Group C earlier in the week, Teehan was unable to advance past the group stage on finals night.
It was different story for McDonagh, though, as he topped his group on finals night and looked capable of at least emulating his Modus debut earlier this year when he made it to the weekly final.
He came up just short this time, however, as the eventual weekly winner Adam Gawlas, beat him in the semi-final.
There was similar frustration on Friday night for McDonagh's fellow Offaly player, Rosney, when he lost out in the semi-finals of the Six Nations singles to the eventual winner, Jimmy van Schie of the Netherlands.
Rosney put that disappointment behind him to help the Ireland men's team, that also included Dean Finn, Paddy Quinn, Shane McGuirk and Gerard McGlynn, top an incredibly tough group ahead of England and the Netherlands.
Ladies captain Robyn Byrne did likewise on Friday as her team, which also included Katie Sheldon and Denise Cassidy, finished top of their group ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland, to leave genuine expectations that one, or both, teams would go at least as far as the final.
It wasn't to be, however, as the Irish ladies were beaten by the eventual winners England in their semi-final on Sunday.
Not long after, the Irish men's team lost out in a nail-biting contest to Wales, with the home team coming from 108-8 down to win five of the last six legs to edge Ireland out 13-11.
It was a harsh blow for the Ireland teams, but given the quality they showed across the weekend, there's still a lot of good signs ahead of the WDF World Cup in September.
They certainly won't meet teams there that are any stronger than the teams they just competed against at the Six Nations this weekend.
With a little bit of Irish luck, they can certainly find success then.
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