“Since I met my girlfriend Emily things started changing” – Keane Barry explains personal turning point behind darts revival

For Keane Barry, it feels like he is starting again. The 23-year-old Irishman has been around at the top level of darts for years now, but openly admits the past two seasons brought him very little enjoyment. Now that he is feeling better in himself again, both on and off the stage, Barry is looking at the rest of the season with renewed energy.

At the recent UK Open in Minehead, Barry showed that his game is on the way back. Although his tournament ended in the last 16 after a painful defeat to Gerwyn Price, the Irishman is mostly taking positives from the week.

Barry is known as someone who does not give many interviews. Even so, after the UK Open, he took the time to reflect on his tournament and on the wider direction of his career in conversation with Tungsten Tales.

“Yeah, definitely. I’m happy with how my game is going. Obviously, it’s not the result I would have wanted, but at the same time, it was a good run. I think I defended what I had from two years ago. I wasn’t really thinking about that at the time, but afterwards I was told, so happy days," he said. “At the minute, my game is kind of getting back to where I want it to be and where it should be. So yeah, it’s all good at the minute.”

The UK Open has, for years, been a tournament where Barry feels comfortable. He has produced strong results in Minehead before, and this year felt familiar too.

“Yeah, I think the results there have been good for me, so I do quite enjoy the UK Open. It’s a bit of a different kind of tournament, and it’s unique. I don’t know what it is about the place, but I seem to play some of my best darts there. It’s a happy hunting ground.”

According to Barry, it is the unusual nature of the event that appeals to him. Unlike many other tournaments, the draw is open, and players can meet one another in any round. “Exactly. It’s not too bad once you’re there. It’s just getting there and getting back that’s the issue. But the place itself is alright.”

One of the most talked-about matches of the tournament was Barry’s clash with Gerwyn Price. The Irishman looked on course for a major win for long periods, only to see the Welshman come back late on and take victory. “Yeah, I was absolutely gutted on Saturday night and probably most of yesterday as well. It’s a tough one to take."

“But when you look back at it, there are a lot of positives. I didn’t do too many things wrong. I got one match dart. You can try to pick holes in things afterwards, but there are so many positives from the weekend itself. There’s no point in dwelling on the negatives," he assesses maturely. “Gerwyn played some amazing darts. I think I averaged around 101 in the last six legs myself, so it’s not like I dropped off. He just took his chances. His finishing was clinical. I wish I could have got over the line, but that’s darts at the end of the day.”

In other words, Barry did not fall away. His opponent simply found another level at the finish.

The match took place on Stage Two, where the crowd is close to the players. Against a popular opponent like Price, that can quickly become a major factor. Barry said there was good support for him in the room as well, with plenty of Irish fans behind him, but there were also many Welsh supporters and Price fans in attendance.

“I had a lot of support there as well,” Barry said. “There were plenty of Irish fans over, and I’ve been well supported over the last few years. But there were obviously a lot of Welsh fans there as well and plenty of Gerwyn Price supporters.”

When Price starts building momentum, the mood in the venue can shift quickly. Barry acknowledged that handling those moments is part of the learning process. “You just have to block it out,” he said. “When he starts building momentum and the crowd gets more behind him it can be difficult, but you have to learn to deal with it.”

Even so, Barry does not believe the atmosphere truly knocked him out of his game. “I didn’t really let it faze me,” he said. “He just went a bit mad in the last few legs. It was a good experience and definitely something to learn from.”

Although Barry is still only 23, he has already spent around six or seven years on the PDC circuit. That means he has built up a great deal of experience, but he feels his career is now entering a new phase. “For me, it’s about getting my game back to where it should be,” he said. “It’s getting there slowly.”

Barry did not hide how difficult the last period has been. “The last two years were a complete write off,” he admitted. “I wasn’t enjoying darts and didn’t really want to be there.”

They are striking words, but Barry chose them carefully. For a long time, the enjoyment was simply gone. “When you’re going to events, you should be looking forward to them and wanting to play well,” he said. “Obviously, you always try your best, but for the last couple of years I just haven’t really been at the races.”

The turnaround began around six months ago. Barry started taking better care of himself and quickly noticed the difference in his performances. “The last six months of last year and the start of this year, I’ve been feeling really good,” he said. “I’m happy in my personal life, I’ve lost a bit of weight, and I’m eating right.”

For Barry, those changes have clearly carried over onto the board. “I think that’s all coming together and showing in my darts,” he said. “When you’re happy in yourself, it comes out on the board.”

That greater sense of calm has had a direct impact on how he feels at tournaments as well. Barry explained that it is sometimes only afterwards, once things improve, that you fully realise how much your mental state had been affecting you. “When you’re not that happy in yourself, it can affect you more than you realise,” he said. “It’s only afterwards, when you start feeling good again, that you look back and think you probably weren’t in the best headspace.”

A key role in that process has been played by his girlfriend Emily. Barry spoke warmly about the changes in his life since meeting her. “Over the last six months, I’ve been really happy,” he said. “Since I met my girlfriend Emily, things have started changing in the right direction. You start enjoying things again.”

The result is that Barry is once again looking forward to events instead of simply going through the motions. “I was looking forward to the UK Open,” he said, before adding that he was also hoping to get into a European Tour event as second reserve and “just have the buzz back for darts again”.

The PDC European Tour has become a crucial series on the calendar in recent years. With big prize money and valuable ranking points on offer, players can make major progress through it. Barry made clear just how important those events are. “They’re huge,” he said. “A couple of good runs can push you well up.”

At the same time, qualification has become more difficult. Barry acknowledged that the changes in criteria have been a talking point among players, even if he chose not to go deeply into that debate. “They’re tough to qualify for now as well since the criteria changed,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the politics of darts because everyone has their own views.”

His own focus remains simple. Barry wants to keep improving and put himself in a position to qualify for more events. “I’m definitely playing better, and I’ll try to put myself in a position to qualify for a good few of them,” he said.

Ultimately, he sees it as straightforward. “I don’t really look too much at Tour Card races or anything like that,” Barry said. “I just know I need to win as much as I can.”

Barry has also experimented with his setup in the past. At one stage, he was using darts that stood unusually upright in the board, something many fans were not used to seeing from him. Barry explained that the change was something he simply wanted to test after seeing encouraging signs in practice. “It was just something in my head that I wanted to try,” he said. “In practice, they were going really well, so I decided to give it a go after the World Championship.”

On stage, though, the results were far less reliable. Barry found that the setup could work well in one match and then completely desert him in the next. “I couldn’t get any consistency,” he said. “I’d have one game where I played well, and the next would be terrible.”

In the end, he decided to return to his original setup. Barry feels that sometimes a change is needed simply to make you realise what already worked best. “Sometimes you have to change things to realise your original setup actually feels better,” he said.

At the recent UK Open, the title went to Luke Littler, who once again made an impression at the highest level. The young Englishman has already built up a remarkable collection of titles, and Barry knows him from their time in youth darts through the JDC.

Barry recalled that he once faced Littler in the final of the Super 16. “Yeah, I think it was around 2020,” he said. “I played him in the Super 16 final. I think I won that 5-2 or 5-3.”

At that stage, Littler was not yet the global name he is now, but Barry said his talent was already obvious. “You could definitely tell he was a great player even at that age,” Barry said. “He pushed me in that final.”

Even so, Barry admits that what Littler has gone on to achieve has exceeded what anyone could reasonably have expected. “You could tell he was going to be exceptional,” he said, “but I don’t think anyone could have predicted what he’s achieved in the last few years.”

Barry is also clear that Littler’s rise has been a huge positive for the sport. “He’s doing brilliant,” he said. “It’s great for darts because it brings more people into the sport.”

For Barry, the mission this season is clear: keep moving forward step by step. He has set his goals, but above all, wants to enjoy the sport again, the same sport that brought him to the top level at a young age. “I have my little goals set for the year, and it’s just step by step,” Barry said. “I’m still only 23, so I have plenty of time.”

After two difficult years, Barry feels as though he is beginning a new chapter. “After the last two years, though, I’m happy to just have a fresh start and go again.”