SHE'S won a lot in the game, but top ladies darts player Katie Sheldon says finally winning the INDO Inter Counties team title with Dublin is one of the highlights of her career.
The Dublin ladies team showed tremendous fight and spirit over two long days to finally lift the cup for the first time since 2011.
The big win came after Katie had also beaten her Dublin team-mate Robyn Byrne in the final of the Inter Counties singles.
Speaking to Darts In Ireland, Katie said winning with her fellow Dublin players, including Robyn, Ewa Janowicz, Dorothy Greene, Celine McDonald, Andrea Mooney, Anne Marie Flood and Regina Boyne was very special.
Katie said: "I've been playing with these Dublin ladies for so many years and to finally get this success is really great for all of us.
"I know Robyn has been playing 13 years with the Dublin team and this is even her first time to win the All Ireland, so it means a lot to us.
"I've no voice left from all the cheering, it was such a relief that we had finally done it."
And Katie said they had to do it the hard way, too, after coming through a very tough group containing Mayo, Cork, Wexford and Kerry.
Dublin edged their game over Mayo 4-3, before defeating Cork 5-2 and securing 6-1 wins over Wexford and Kerry.
However, Katie admitted that every game in the group stages had been a real battle for them.
"That was a really tough group we were in on Saturday and we had to play really well to win it.
"I think that stood to us in the knockout stages on Sunday as we were able to maintain that high standard then."
In the quarter finals, Dublin accounted for Kilkenny 4-1, before overcoming Laois 4-0 in the semi-finals.
That set up a titanic tussle with Donegal in the final, in which Robyn had to come from behind against her Ireland team-mate Denise Cassidy to give the Dublin ladies a crucial 3-1 lead as they went on to win it 4-1.
Katie said the victory was reward for all the hard work the team had put in.
She said: "All of the girls put in an extra bit of practice in the lead up to this competition and that really paid off."
Meanwhile, Katie also tasted success in the singles competition, where she saw off the challenge of her Dublin team-mates Celine in the quarter finals, Ewa in the semis, before beating Robyn 4-2 in the final.
She said: "It wasn't the best game that myself and Robyn have ever played against each other but it was still nice to win and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the weekend.
"We had five of the Dublin team make it into the last eight in the singles so that was great too as the women's game is getting so much stronger.
"There were 90 entrants overall in the singles and that is fantastic for the women's game and hopefully we can keep growing that."
Katie now has her eye on cementing her place on the Ireland team for this year's Six Nations tournament and the WDF World Cup in South Korea.
Katie added: "It was also good to win the singles given it was a ranked event so it helps with making it onto the Ireland team.
"The world cup in Korea is obviously a big goal this year but there's also the PDC Women's series and the INDO Development Tour back here.
"So it's a busy year ahead but it's only as busy as you make it yourself and I'm really looking forward to it all."
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