Carlow draughts players place second at international tournament

YOUNG draughts players from the Bennekerry/Tinryland club in Carlow have returned from their second trip to Friesland in the Netherlands, once again making their mark on the international stage by finishing second in the Fryslân Open juvenile tournament.

Sisters Sara and Darcy Donegan represented the club in the U12 category in Franeker, taking home the second-place trophy and continuing a remarkable run of form for the young Carlow outfit.

Their success came just ahead of the Frysk World qualifiers, which drew 40 top-ranked draughts players from across the globe, from Canada and Cameroon to Ukraine and Belgium, underlining the growing international appeal of the discipline.

It is a far cry from where the club stood only a year ago. The Carlow players first encountered the Frysk variant of draughts during a trip to Italy last summer — a journey that opened unexpected doors. Unlike the more familiar English style of the game, Frysk draughts is a more tactical and complex variant, in which captures can be made not only diagonally but also orthogonally — forwards, backwards and sideways.

The club wasted little time in mastering it. By November, a five-strong Bennekerry U12 team, Seoidín Breen, Darcy and Sara Donegan, and Cian and Kenny Bolger, had been invited to compete in an international four-nation tournament aboard the Magnifique cruiser. The team finished second overall, pipping the Dutch hosts by one place, a result that raised more than a few eyebrows in draughts circles.

The Fryslân Open podium finish builds on that performance and signals that the club's early promise is fast becoming a track record. With further invitations in the pipeline, the Bennekerry/Tinryland club appears to be only getting started on the international stage.