“There wouldn’t be a competition in the county in the last 15 to 20 years that I didn’t win,” explains Donegal Darts player Charlie Grant.
There aren’t too many people that can boast about being a 14-time All-Ireland Champion in any sport, but then there’s Charlie Grant. The Donegal native has played Inter County darts for 27 years now, winning multiple singles and teams’ events along the way.
Grant was a late bloomer to darts, starting to play in 1995 when he was 30 years old, and becoming a starter on the Donegal Darts team only four years later. He missed out on the first All-Ireland Win in 1998, where Donegal beat Cork in the final, but it wasn’t long after this that Charlie had his hands on the silverware.
“It was only four years later when we beat Limerick in the final 7-1,” said Grant. “I’ll never forget my first one, but you never think you’ll get another one again.”
Little did Grant know back then, the same squad of players would go on and win six All-Ireland’s in a row. Grant didn’t expect to end up in the darting world, but some misfortune from his time playing football, and a spot opening up in his local pub team led him into the sport.
“I player Junior Football in the local leagues here (Donegal), but I wasn’t very good at that. I did my cruciate ligament in ’97, so I had to stop then. There was a darts team going in a local pub (Brass Rail, Buncrana) and they asked me to play, but I told them that I had never thrown darts before. Anyway, they were down players the next week too, so I kept going down and I took it from there. I was only throwing for a few years, and I was picked for the county team, so I was shocked.”
Darts has changed extraordinarily since his first All-Ireland Win in 2002. According to Grant, the 13 players barely changed during the six-in-a-row glory years, but nowadays there are two or three new players on the team each year.
“I’m surprised that I’m still on the team, because I know there’s twenty lads ready to take my spot!”
Although Grant has unbelievable memories of that win in 2002, it was the final in 2011 that spoke volumes of the team spirit in Donegal. In this dogged match, Wexford went 5-1 up in a best of 13 final, and not long after that they broke away to a 6-3 lead. With pure grit and determination, Donegal levelled the game at 6-6 before Noel O’Donnell completed the comeback for the Ulstermen.
Grant explained the rivalry that Donegal formed with Wexford during that time, as they got the better of the Yellow Bellies in the following year, once again beating them 7-6. The two sides battled it out again in 2020, with Donegal winning 7-2 and Grant winning the final game with a 132 and a 98 finish.
Grant’s singles career has been nothing short of exceptional, playing some of the best players in Ireland in the last 30 years.
“There wouldn’t be a competition in the county in the last 15 to 20 years that I didn’t win. My best year came in 2013, where I think I won 9 or 10 trophies. I won the Sligo Open and the Irish Grand Prix that year. My best competition win was the Irish Open in 2012, where even the likes of Daryl Gurney played in that. I was a nobody playing that tournament. I was the first player from the Republic of Ireland to win that, which I am very proud of. I won the Donegal Open too, and that was nice because it’s against all the top players here. There’s so many trophies won by younger players now, so at least my names on them once!”
Darts competitions in Donegal are fiercely competitive, and there is a fantastic roll of honour for each tournament. The Leo Molloy Memorial Tournament, which was won twice by Grant, was also won by Brendan Dolan four times, and Shane McGuirk once.
With Charlie Grant’s phenomenal career in Ireland, it would suggest that he could’ve been a PDC pro, but Grant didn’t have those opportunities when he was at his peak. He spoke highly of the standard of darts on his local team, saying that he’s struggling to keep up with the level of play now.
Grant has played at the top level for over 30 years in Donegal and Ireland, and he has noticed that serious change in the development of young players around Buncrana and Letterkenny. He explained that there are fourteen- and fifteen-year-old players that average between 75 and 80, competing with the county squad players on a weekly basis.
Even with all these young players using the ‘Luke Littler’ or ‘Josh Rock’ darts, Grant has held tight to his darts for 20 years!
“The lads on the team don’t even know what darts I have,” said Grant. “A man gave me a set of darts, because he couldn’t throw them. I haven’t even changed the points on them in 20 years, and there’s some lads that change there’s three times a year. I’m just the old style!”
With the success of Charlie Grant’s career, maybe there’s a lesson for all the young players across Ireland. Using one set of darts, Grant has won almost every Donegal competition possible, 14 All-Ireland Championships, and a plethora of National titles to go with them. Charlie is an inspirational character who has a never say die attitude even if he has his back against the wall in finals, and he doesn’t look like he’s slowing down any time soon!
