JORDAN BOYCE from Newtowncunningam has been drawn against three-time finalist Tony O’Shea in the qualifiers for the 39th BDO World Championships.
Boyce faces O’Shea, the beaten finalist at the BBC-televised championships in 2009, 2012 and 2013, in the first round of the qualifiers tomorrow in Hull.
Boyce will also compete at the BDO Lakeside World Youth Championship and on Wednesday he faces Brandon Nicholl of Scotland in the last 128.
His match tomorrow with O’Shea is in the last 256, which will be whittled down over the coming days with four qualifiers advancing to the 2016 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships in January.
Boyce has been tossing tungsten competitively since he was nine and he created a slice of history in 2010.
He became the youngest player to win an INDO ranking competition when he took victory at a tournament in Strokestown at the age of nine.
Boyce has been representing Donegal since those early days at the oche.
He has played in the West Coast Challenge and in the Inter-County Tournament.
He only celebrated his 16th birthday in August and is the fifth-ranked youth thrower in Ireland, needing to rise just one place to make the Irish youth team.
The Deele College student is a son of Paddy and Caroline Boyce.
His father is also in action in Hull. Paddy Boyce has been given a bye through the opening qualifying round and will meet Welshman Kieron Carter in the last 128.
In all, there are five Donegal players aiming for advancement in Hull.
In the World Championship qualifiers, John Murray from Ramelton will meet Stuart Rattray from Scotland, another Ramelton man Clive Aiken faces Andy Wheeler from England and Buncrana man Sean Wilson takes on Scotland’s Mark Sutton.
Murray and Wilson are also in action in the Winmau World Masters with Murray up against Danny Blom and Wilson facing opposition in the form Peter Marissen, both from Holland.
But it is the meeting of Jordan Boyce and ‘Silverback’ O’Shea that has the pulses racing.
O’Shea has been in seven major BDO finals, including the World Championship finals of 2009, ’12 and ’13. He lost all three to Ted Hankey, Christian Kist and Scott Waites.
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