The 2023 World Cup of Darts gets underway this Thursday, with Team Ireland hoping to progress deep into the competition.
William O'Connor and Keane Barry will be flying the green flag in Frankfurt, in the hope that Ireland will lift the prestigious trophy for the first time.
O'Connor was alongside Steve Lennon when Ireland reached their one and only final in 2019, only for the pair to lose 3-1 to Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.
This time, the Limerick native is joined by 20-year-old Barry, one of the rising stars not just in Irish darts, but on the whole PDC circuit.
World Cup of Darts format
This year, the World Cup of Darts has reverted to a group format, with a record 40 nations taking part.
Due to the accumulative PDC ranking of their players, the quartet of England, Scotland, Netherlands and Wales have all received a bye into the knockout stage.
The remaining 36 nations have been split into 12 groups of three, with the winner of each group taking their place in the last 16 of the competition.
The groups will be played in a round-robin format, with the first nation to win four legs taking the win.
This will be increased to a best-of-15 format for the second round, quarter-final and semi-final, and a best-of-19 format for the final.
The Draw 🔢
Here's the confirmed draw for the 2023 My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts...
A reminder that the top four seeds enter the competition in the Second Round!
👉 https://t.co/aURdbEK4o4 pic.twitter.com/y5sPi5RFbO— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) June 9, 2023
Ireland's World Cup of Darts group
Ireland have been placed in a group alongside Thailand and Croatia, and will be fairly strong favourites to get past that duo.
O'Connor and Barry will kick off their weekend with a match against Thailand on Thursday night, with Sky Sports broadcasting all of the action from 6pm.
The next round of group matches will take place on Friday from noon, with the final group matches being held from 6pm that evening.
Willie O'Connor takes the clinical win, Beau Greaves can hold her head high, history has been made 📖 pic.twitter.com/1erz4yQEkU
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) December 16, 2022
Then, the weekend will be filled with knockout action, with the semi-finals and finals taking place from 6pm on Sunday.
With the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith all representing their nations in the field, it certainly looks like a tough task for Ireland to go all the way.
However, both O'Connor and Keane has shown enough in the past to make them strong outsiders for the £80,000 prize that will go to the winners.
