A TYRONE man is aiming to bring through the next breed of young darting talent through his Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) accredited academy.
Darts enthusiast Matthew Gallagher says he is confident that his Darts District Youth Academy in Omagh will thrive as he looks to unearth the next Luke Littler.
Matthew already has up to 17 local youngsters playing regularly at the academy, including talented 15-year-old Christian Ennis, who has already been signed up by Winmau.
Speaking to Darts In Ireland, Matthew explained how he got the bug for darts himself about four years ago.
He said: "I started playing the game with other lads during our lunch breaks at the car wash business I have and have progressed from there to play on some local leagues now too.
"I was interested to set up a darts shop that would have the space to have an academy for youth players, too, and luckily I have found a premises to do that in Omagh.
"We now have 17 young players registered at the academy and we are one of only about seven or eight regional JDC academies in Northern Ireland.
"There was nobody previously doing this in the Tyrone and Fermanagh area so it has been great to get it up and running."
Having only opened his doors in recent weeks, Matthew suffered the misfortune of some flooding in his Dart District store from the recent storm, but is hopeful he has managed to avoid any major or costly damage.
He said: "We have had to replace some water damaged stock but thankfully most of what we had was up off the ground and didn't get damaged too badly.
"It was still a shock to see water coming in down through the lights and the walls, especially after only opening so recently."
Meanwhile, Matthew has been pleased to welcome reigning WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk, from the neighbouring county of Monaghan, to Dart District over recent weeks.
He said he has been pleased to see Shane doing so well on the international stage and is hopeful he can retain his WDF title at Lakeside in December.
Matthew added: "It's been great to have Shane up with us at Dart District as he is a local lad who has done so well in his career.
"It was a fantastic achievement for him to win the world championship and it would be great to see him see him do it again, but I'm sure his big goal now is to get that PDC Tour card.
"His range of darts equipment with Target is popular and goes quickly whenever we have it."
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