Ireland’s Jacko Barry booked his place in the second round of the Sky Poker World Grand Prix at Citywest on Tuesday evening after a hard fought 2-1 win over fellow Irish player Brendan Dolan.
Trailing from the very first leg, Jacko managed to get his head in front for the first time in the match in the final leg of the final set before keeping his nerve to seal his place in the second round, where he will meet current world champion John Part on Thursday.
After getting the better of his fellow countryman Brendan Dolan, a very relieved Barry said: ‘It wasn’t until the very last set that I finally began to find my rhythm because I just could not settle in the early stages of the match.
‘I then started to play the way that I can play but I nearly gave it away but I never gave up.
‘That’s one thing that I never do because anything can happen in darts. I got the break in the last set and I took it.
‘I knew coming here that I had a lot of support but I wasn’t expecting the amount of support that I got on the night. It’s great for them as much as it is for me and they’ll enjoy the night even more now because I’ve won.’
‘They’ll be back again on Thursday when I play John and even more may come now too. It’s my first win on television and while it’s up there with my best night yet, it’s not my best performance by any means as I pushed Raymond Barneveld to 9-7 in the UK Open.’
The 33-year-old, who has won three Tramore Opens in his career and is currently ranked 60th in the world, said: ‘It’s my best result yet but not my best performance so it has to get better from here on in.’
Also on the night, Balbriggan’s Mick McGowan was beaten in straight sets by Terry Jenkins while world number one Phil Taylor eased through to the second round with a straight sets 2-0 victory over Ronnie Baxter. There were also wins for Mark Walsh, Robert Thornton and Andy Hamilton along with current world champion John Part.
