Billy Furlong R. I. P.
I knew Billy for a long time playing darts at various dart tournaments around the County singles and doubles playing with his long time "Buddy" Johnny Doyle before I got involved in County Darts he was as i would say my mentor on the County Dart scene. It was at an AGM of the old Co Board in The Skinners Inn in Enniscorthy 1984 and I had just travelled up to support a couple of dart players from The Top Ace in Wexford no intentions of going anywhere near a Co Committee but after spending some considerable time in Billys company I was as they say persuaded . So set the scene for a long and sometimes frustrating time spent trying to improve "Wexford Darts". During those times we spent many hours talking over many a pint or Powers whiskey of how we could change things around, coming up with with some radical ideas sometimes and me with some stupid ones at times, but he would never laugh or criticize but would order another Powers and talk some more about them. Eventually our time came at an AGM in The Old Dolphin Bar (Sailing Cot ) I was installed as the new "Treasurer" we had a foothold as Billy never stopped telling me . We saw out the following year "nearly" until at a Wexford Darts match in Killkenny the then Co Sec resigned thruogh pressure from various sources which to this day remains a mystery. The following week we called an EGM I was elected Co Sec Billy Co Teasurer a position which he held with distinction up until a short while before he sadly passed away. That day Co Wexford Darts Organisation lost a true friend as well as me. Probably our greatest moment came when Wexford won the Mens Inter Counties Dart Tournament in 1987 and Ladies Inter Counties in 1988 I can still hear him say after he finished all the money transactions at our Ranking Tournaments (Which they are still called) "Mines a Powers "
With Respect Tony
Tommy Bohamnna RIP
Got to know Tommy through Billy actually the first time we met was all those years ago up in the Skinners Inn the 1st day I was introduced to the county dart scene . Billy introduced Tommy to me as being the most “contrariest man in darts “ I would ever meet ,needless to say he was right . But he wasn’t really he just wanted everything right . The 1st time I had contact with him on the County Dart Team was in 1987 as team manager the year we won the All Ireland Final .We picked him for the 1st game againest the Dubs and it was one of the most exciting games I have ever been involved in we beat them 7-6 with it going down to the last game but he came up to me after the game was over and told me he would be too tired to take part in the whole day and that I should consider picking another player instead as this was in the early stages and it would give the player time to settle in and you know he was right ,and as they say the rest is history we went on to win the All Ireland that same day and there was no happier man Tommy Boh he continued on playing darts and regularly attending our ranking tournaments and giving me grief whenever the opportunity presented it self .Again County Darts lost a good friend when Tommy passed away
Peter" Scooper " Murphy RIP 9th June 1955 - 19th Sept 2009
Little did i realise that when i got these photos out for the Archives i would be using one of them for this page last Sat I lost a good friend and a gentle soul when Scooper died he wasnt like the rest of the dart players i have got to know through the County and Irish scene he was as he used to call himself an ordinary "Joe Soap " player who just loved to play darts. To get the team together every Jan from either the Westgate or Chas Bar it didnt matter to him whether they won or lost he just wanted to go out on a Tuesday night as he use to endlessly tell me for a few pints a game of darts bit of craic no postmortems and maybe if he was lucky enough a few " late ones " on the way home. There was no happier guy than in 2002 when the Westgate won the final of the Town Dart League in the old Sailing Cot we couldnt get the smile off his face for at least a couple of mths, "man as he would say we got some milage out of that " Somehow the League will not be the same without him playing, and giving me some sort of grief
It matters not how a man dies but how he lives
John Kelly RIP 1947 - 2002
John started playing as they say late in life but became very proficient at them in a very short period the 1st Final he was involved in was in the Country league out of “ The Pike” when Paddy Gore owned it. As far as information goes he played Ger Foxe in the first game winning the 1st game and finishing the 2nd game double 1 double 19 to win 2-0 . John after that got into a lot of finals both in Singles and Team events, reaching the All Ireland semi – final where the County team just missed out againest Wicklow 7-6 which was a big disappointment to him . Johns darts improved to the high standard we remember as he got older according to his brother Victor .He was also Chairman of the Wexford Town Dart League a position which he held for two years, during which he oversaw a lot of changes in the League some of which are still in place .Again when he died darts lost another” good one”
