Ireland's darts teams take aim for Six Nations glory
As we know from others sports, Ireland's close ties and proximity to the UK can be a help as well as a hindrance.
It's certainly the case in darts, where our top players have easy access to the big tournaments in the UK, but are pretty much now swallowed up by that system.
It's why Irish players looking to gain a tour card on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC ) circuit - and a chance to rub shoulders with the big boys - must do so through the UK qualifiers.
Yet the rest of our EU counterparts get to play their own PDC Q School qualifiers in Germany.
As Cork's former World Masters champion John O'Shea recently pointed out, Ireland's darts players are much a part of the EU as those from Germany, Holland or Poland.
O'Shea also reckons this is why Ireland gets overlooked by the PDC when they put together their increasingly popular World Series of Darts fixtures each year.
The World Series sees the top eight players in the PDC, including the likes of Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen, take on the top eight players in Asia and Europe in front of huge crowds in places like Bahrain, Vegas and Copenhagen.
O'Shea believes there is no doubt it would be an automatic sell-out here if the PDC brought their best eight players to take on Ireland's best eight in front of an Irish crowd.
Five players who would certainly be in contention for that Irish eight would be WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk of Monaghan, Stephen Rosney of Offaly, Waterford's Dean Finn and Paddy Quinn and Donegal's Gerard McGlynn.
Add in the serial winners Robyn Byrne and Katie Sheldon of Dublin and Donegal's Denise Cassidy and you would have an eight there that would give the PDC boys a good run for their money!
All eight will get the chance to prove their worth this weekend when they compete for the Republic of Ireland men's and ladies teams at the Six Nations in Wales, against teams from the host country, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands.
Success is never far off for Irish players at these tournaments, with McGlynn the reigning Six Nations singles champion, while Robyn Byrne is the current Europe Cup singles champion.
It's been a great week for darts on this island as it is, with the Northern Ireland pair of Daryl Gurney and Josh Rock winning the PDC World Cup of Darts last Sunday night.
The outpouring of emotion from the two was a sight to behold and just shows how much it means to them.
Derry man Gurney is a class player and PDC major winner in his own right, but young Antrim man Rock really is something special.
It surely won't be long before we see him in the PDC Premier League.
And while PDC supremo, Barry Hearn, is at it, he really should think about Ireland for a future World Series of Darts event.
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