TWO of Limerick’s top darts players will represent Ireland at the World Cup of Darts, which will be held in Hamburg, Germany this coming weekend.
Darts veteran Connie Finnan from Garryowen will be accompanied by Cappamore youngster William O’Connor as the Irish duo aim for world glory in a tournament that will also feature the likes of Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Michael van Gerwen.
Although Finnan is the older of the two, it is he who will play in his first PDC World Cup this weekend, but he has experience of taking on, and sometimes beating, some of the world’s best players.
In November he threw a nine-dart finish in a 6-3 victory over world number six Wes Newton at the PDC Players Championship and played against van Gerwen in the quarter-finals.
This will be O’Connor’s third time playing at the World Cup, having also represented Ireland in 2010 and 2012.
The 26-year-old has proven to be a very difficult competitor in recent years for several high profile players such as Simon Whitlock, James Wade, Kevin Painter and Vincent van der Voort.
O’Connor is looking forward to another World Cup experience but he admits that it can be a fiendishly tough competition.
“It’s an exciting, interesting tournament and a very difficult tournament. It can be very tough and it can be hard to get into a rhythm with the doubles format. You couldn’t call a winner beforehand; doubles are so unpredictable.”
Ireland are joined in their group by Denmark and South Africa, with the Limerick duo’s first match taking place on Friday February 1 night from 7pm before they take to the oche again on Saturday 2 from 1pm.
The World Cup will be screened live on Sky Sports throughout the weekend.
In last year’s tournament, Ireland defeated Malaysia in the first round before going down to the Australian pair of Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson in the second round.
England, with Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis as once more the favourites for this year’s event.
