Irish Darts Player Secures Professional Tour Card
Kilkenny’s niall Culleton achieved a significant milestone in his darts career, earning his first Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tour card at the UK Qualifying School on Friday.The 38-year-old carpenter secured the second automatic tour card after a thrilling victory in his eighth attempt, navigating a competitive field of 128 players at the Final Stage in Milton Keynes.
Culleton’s path to success included a nail-biting 6-5 win over England’s Danny Goddard, where he demonstrated resilience by winning the final two legs despite Goddard having two match darts. Earlier in the tournament, he showcased remarkable comeback ability, defeating Sam Jackson 6-5 after trailing by five legs.
“It’s amazing,” Culleton stated to the PDC, expressing his excitement about the chance.”Winning the tour card is the start of it…it’s to build from here now and push on and see what I can push myself to do and see where it goes.”
While Carlow’s Steve Lennon narrowly missed an immediate return to the professional ranks, falling to England’s Carl Sneyd in his board final, he remains in a strong position to regain his card. Lennon currently leads the order of merit wiht two days of play remaining in the qualifying school. The Republic of Ireland was well-represented at the Final Stage, with fourteen players participating, and Tipperary’s Stephen Rosney also holding a promising position in the rankings.