Ireland got off to a winning start in their opening contest of the World Cup of Darts on Thursday evening, defeating Lithuania in Frankfurt.
The Irish duo of Keane Barry and Willie O'Connor averaged 86.76 as they earned a 4-2 victory over the Lithuanians, giving them early control of their three-team group.
Victory over Chinese Taipei on Friday afternoon will assure Ireland - the ninth seed at this tournament - of progression to the knockout rounds.
IRELAND OFF AND RUNNING! 🇮🇪
2019 runners-up Republic of Ireland are off and running in Frankfurt, as Keane Barry and World Cup ever-present William O'Connor celebrate a 4-2 success against Lithuania!
📺 https://t.co/nh8y246ePn#WorldCupofDarts | Group E pic.twitter.com/8TlqodApKX— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) June 27, 2024
Irish fans will hope that the pair have recuperated overnight, with Willie O'Connor speaking after the match of the challenges posed by the immense heat in Frankfurt's Eissporthalle.
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Ireland off to winning start at World Cup of Darts in Germany
Willie O'Connor and Keane Barry spoke to the media after their victory against Lithuania in the opening round of the World Cup of Darts.
Though the win may have been relatively routine, O'Connor revealed that the "unbelievable" temperature in the Eissporthalle had made it a challenge for the Irish duo, and that they were in need of an ice bath to cool themselves off.
O'Connor said:
The heat was more the battle than anything, it was unbelievable! That's all I can say, like, the heat...just got to prepare for tomorrow.
Last year was as bad. The World Cup in general is just so hot. It's sick.
We mentioned having an ice bath up on stage tomorrow. Jump in the middle of it halfway through! We're not sharing...
For Keane Barry, the opening win was especially welcome after what he himself described as a tough start to the year.
The Meathman said that victory against the tough Lithuanian opposition of Mindaugas Barauskas and Darius Labanauskas was the perfect way for Ireland to get their World Cup underway, and that he hoped for even better things still to come.
It was a tough start to the year. I wasn't necessarily playing that bad but I wasn't winning. On pro tours, that can be a lonely place if you're out first round every week.
It's nice to get back winning and nice to get back playing well. We're here for the World Cup...we're hoping we can do damage this year.
The Irish duo will be hoping to repeat or even better the exploits of the 2019 World Cup, which saw O'Connor and Steve Lennon reach the final, where they were defeated by Gary Anderson and Peter Wright of Scotland.
O'Connor admitted post-match on Thursday that, bar that tournament, Ireland have somewhat underachieved in the World Cup, and that he hoped to see them return to the heights of 2019 this year.
I think we've underachieved almost every year we've played in it, bar the year we got to the final.
We've had some great players through the years and we've been a little bit unlucky.
Look, you take them on the chin and hopefully your time comes. You have to take it with open arms and we will. If it comes our way, we're going to take it.
Keane is an explosive player, he can get us out of any trouble. If I go in there and hit 26s and 41s, he'll hit a 180-180 and we'll whack it out, simple as that!
The Ireland duo have their second game of the World Cup on Friday afternoon against Chinese Taipei.
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