Gurney claims NI Open

Gurney has been throwing ‘trophy darts’ all year, qualifying for the most prestigious tournament in the world in the process. He has claimed the Northern Ireland Open Championships just weeks after winning the Tom Kirby trophy to gain entry to the PDC World Championships in December. There, he will take on the very best in the sport live on Sky Sports, alongside global icons such as Phil Taylor.

The down to earth 26-year-old told the Sentinel how he managed to beat some of the sport’s heavyweights in the NI Open Championships, his latest success in what he describes as a year in which he has thrown his best darts.

Daryl Gurney said: “It was just really an open tournament and we had a lot of BDO players coming over because it is a BDO ranked tournament. You had boys like Robbie Green who is ranked five in the world by the BDO. I beat him 3-2 in the second round.

“I played Gary Stone who qualified for the world championships. The week before he beat the BDO World Champion. He won the European Championships in Turkey. I beat him 4-2 in the quarter finals.”

In the semi-finals the Waterside man faced off against local man Paul Brown, who hails from Limavady and once played football for Institute. Gurney won this clash of local friends and rivals, with Brown coming fresh off the back of a TV appearance on ESPN as he reached the semi-finals of the Winmau World Masters, beating the reigning champion in the process.

“I won the Tom Kirby, that’s a competition you have to win to qualify for the PDC. That was about a month ago. I was over with ‘Browner’ when he was playing in the Masters but I had to come back early to play in the Tom Kirby to qualify for the PDC. I know Paul Brown going back years,” he added.

In the final of the NI Open Championships, Daryl Gurney played one of the top Dutch players in Willie Van de Wiel, from a nation where darts is played from a young age in school PE classes. Waterside man Gurney said of his oppenent: “He would be one the best Dutch BDO players about.”

The local 26-year-old believes that for the past year he has been playing the best darts of his career, stretching back to age 13 when he first began playing professionally.

He said: “I’m 26 now so I’ve been at it for 13 years. I broke my hand a few years back and I’ve been playing well this past year at least anyway. I am throwing my best darts now. I do three hours of practice a day.”

Another title Gurney has picked up this year was the English Masters, which he played in back in July.

During that competition in July, the local man also defeated a host of big name players to claim yet another title in an already glittering career for such a young darts player.

He admits, however, that the financial strain of travelling hundreds of miles on a regular basis can sometimes take its toll.

He said: “There can be big money in the likes of the PDC but it takes a lot of money to do these things. I am travelling probably a couple of hundred miles every week. I would like to get some sponsorship to help me out with that.”