Inspired Ireland send England crashing out of World Cup of Darts
Written by News on 08/06/2019
England’s bid for a fifth World Cup of Darts title is over after a sensational display from the Republic of Ireland saw them record a second round victory in Hamburg.
England entered as top seeds, chasing a first title since 2016 when Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor teamed up to lift the trophy – but there will be no trophy this year for Rob Cross and Michael Smith.
William O’Connor and Steve Lennon teamed up for a pair of brilliant victories in the singles matches to set up a quarter-final with Austria and reach the last eight for the first time in their long history in the event.
While England’s bid for title number five is over, that is not the case for the Netherlands, who eased past Poland to remain on course to defend the title they have won in each of the last two years.
Next up are Canada as the unheralded pair of Dawson Murschell and Jim Long produced the biggest upset of the second round, dumping out 2012 runners-up and fifth seeds Australia with a 2-0 win courtesy of two last leg shoot-outs in the singles matches against Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson.
Ireland double up to stun top seeds England
A combination of mind-blowing darts from O’Connor and unfortunate luck for Smith meant the Irish didn’t even need the doubles match to secure a special victory.
O’Connor produced an average of 115 in five legs of brilliance that also included four 180s in a 4-1 win over 2018 world champion Cross, who himself had averaged 106.6.
O’Connor set the tone early with a 12-dart break of throw and when Cross missed two darts to break straight back, it allowed his opponent to take out 70 and consolidate his lead.
Voltage fired back in a high-quality affair, pinning bullseye to get on the board but that was as good as it got as O’Connor was unstoppable.
Even five missed darts for a 3-1 lead couldn’t stop O’Connor, who was a long way clear of Cross and took his sixth bite of the cherry to move within one of the match, which he wrapped up with a clinical 64 and a fitting 12-dart leg.
Lennon had got the ball rolling in a topsy-turvy contest with Smith, twice pinning the bullseye as the pair split the first six legs to force the decider.
Smith had shown his class, leaving 102 after nine darts before the darting gods conspired against him and two darts at bullseye dropped to the floor, allowing Lennon to take full advantage and set the scene for the upset that O’Connor completed.
Classy Dutch power past Poles
Michael van Gerwen got the defending champions off to the perfect start, but only after being pushed all the way by an impressive Krzysztof Ratajski.
Van Gerwen averaged 64 in the opening leg, allowing Ratajski to break in 17 darts and the pair then traded holds to find themselves locked at 2-2.
However, as is often the case, MVG picked his moment to pounce, pinning the bull to crown a brilliant 123 finish for the lead before he followed up with a 14-dart break to seal the victory.
Wattimena then completed the job, continuing to warm to the task of partnering the world no 1 on his debut. Having lost the first leg to an inspired Tytus Kanik, Wattimena began to find his range and punished the Pole for missing early opportunities.
The third leg proved crucial, Wattimena pinching the lead after Kanik had fired seven perfect darts but, trailing by almost 300, Wattimena took out 88 on the bullseye and then took out the next two legs for a classy victory.
Unfancied Canada stun Aussies to reach the last eight
The Canadians advanced to a last eight showdown with Netherlands by taking advantage of an out of sorts Australia, who had come close to a shock in the first round against Finland.
This time they were punished, with Murschell overcoming a gap of 89 places in the world rankings to stun Whitlock and Anderson falling short, having held a 3-2 lead against Long.
Murschell, the world no 100 ,had levelled his contest with a brilliant 109 checkout after staring down the barrel of a nine-darter from The Wizard.
A brilliant 126 checkout via the bullseye looked to have lit the Wizard’s fire, especially when he took out the very same finish, in the very same way, to retake the lead.
Murschell then forced the decider, which he took in style with a nerveless two-dart 97 kill to pile the pressure on Anderson.
Both men had chances and between them went on to miss 23 darts at a double before Long eventually prevailed, rallying from 3-2 down on his World Cup debut to help Canada match their best ever showing of a quarter-final spot in 2016.
Austria through to Netherlands showdown
An inspired Mensur Suljovic led Austria to a third quarter-final in the last four years as they made amends for last year’s first round defeat to Japan with a 2-0 win over the USA.
Suljovic, the world no 8, averaged 113.4, hitting four of his six darts at double and take out finishes of 126 and 100 in a 4-0 whitewash of Chuck Puleo.
That came after Zoran Lercbacher had condemned World Cup ever-present ‘Big Daddy’ Darin Young to a comprehensive defeat in the opening singles match.
There was little between the pair in terms of scoring but six missed darts at a double from Young in each of the final three legs were punished by world no 64 Lerchbacher on his way to a 4-1 victory.
The World Cup of Darts continues on Sky Sports Action on Sunday with a bumper double session, starting with all four quarter-finals from 12pm followed by the semi-finals and final from 6pm
(c) Sky News 2019: Inspired Ireland send England crashing out of World Cup of Darts
