Irish sporting history was made on Sunday evening at Lakeside as Shane McGuirk of Aughnamullen, Co. Monaghan won the WDF World Darts Championship. No Irishman had ever won the competition formerly known as the BDO.
McGuirk beat the great Paul Lim 6-3 after getting out to a brilliant start, and took a 4-0 lead. The 70-year-old Singaporean darts legend battled back and got the game to 5-3 but McGuirk dug deep to claim the title.
McGuirk, who works in a paint shop in Carrickmacross, claimed a £50,000 cheque for winning the competition.
He answered Ireland's call 🇮🇪
Shane McGuirk mastered the Paul Lim challenge at Lakeside, winning 6-3 to become Ireland's first senior darts world champion 🎯
🎥: @BLAZETVUK pic.twitter.com/UsmYk95oIg— WDF Darts (@DartsWDF) December 8, 2024
Speaking after the victory, McGuirk was understandably emotional.
This is something everyone dreams of. Everyone back home in Ireland, Monaghan. We all dream of this. To be champion of something. I'm absolutely speechless. I dug deep at the start and I think I got my lead that helped me go on and actually win this. Paul was incredible. He came back so well.
He said he hopes the win will have a huge impact on darts in Monaghan.
We're a small county. I'm hoping this drives everybody on. We have lads beating me in the leagues. They can be here, if they apply themselves. They can be here, and I fully support them to be here, especially our youths. We're hoping to get our youths going. I hope that this drives more youths into the system, because the youths are the future of Monaghan, like. We're running out of players, we're a small county.
The Arrow said he'd also been speaking regularly to darts great Brendan Dolan and credited the Co. Fermanagh man for some critical advice in the build-up to the final.
Brendan rang me this morning and he was telling me exactly what to do, especially for what the pace of the game might be. He told me how to settle myself, he told me how to everything else, so helped me that way. I can't give the man enough credit. He was helping me there. If he needs help for his own World Championship, I'm there for him.
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