Preston business sponsors up-and-coming young darts star
Preston-based sheet piling specialist, Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd, has become the leading name on the shirt of up-and-coming, young Irish darts player, Keane Barry, who has just taken part in his very first PDC Pro Tour event, having been granted a tour card for 2021.
Keane Barry has recently been a contender for RTÉ Sport’s Young Sportsperson of the Year award in Ireland, took the opportunity, on February 25, to thank Sheet Piling UK on his Twitter account and state how happy he was to have their 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. Sheet Piling UK’s belief in him is unswerving, with the sheet pile installer and supplier convinced he has the makings of a future world champion.
Supporting him in his early career is in keeping with the company’s ongoing policy of supporting other grass-roots sporting and talent-based organisations. Whilst the construction-sector specialist knows more about steel than tungsten, it believes Keane has the winning mentality and the nerves of steel required for 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.
Keane is now one of just four players from Ireland on the PDC 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.
The 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, on day one!
He achieved a 91 average, despite losing out to William O’ Connor at the second PDC event and travels 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 events in 2020.
Speaking about the company’s corporate social responsibility programme, 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.
More information about his new sponsor can be found at www.sheetpilinguk.com
