Ireland doubly in the medals at the World Cup Darts 2025

The Irish team is now assured of securing two silver medals at the WDF Darts World Cup 2025 in Seoul, reports Derek Courtney from South Korea. This comes after youth team member Aidan O'Hara progressed on day three to the final in the singles competition, which will be played on Saturday night. 

Earlier this week, Aidan and his teammate Jack Courtney qualified for the final of the youth pairs, scheduled for 9:30am Irish time tomorrow, Friday. In his singles matches today, Jack won two of his three games in the round robin, reaching the last 16. Unfortunately, he was defeated in the knockout stage by one of the Turkish boys, against whom he and Aidan will be playing tomorrow morning. Both boys played tremendous stuff today. 

Meanwhile, the girls' pairs competition today, featuring Zoe Burke and Rachel Ivers, ended sadly as they were knocked out in the round robin stage and did not progress to the knockouts. That marks the end of their participation in the tournament, but I must say how impressive they have been representing the team here. They were absolutely fantastic, and I wish them all the best for the future. 

The ladies' singles tournament was an unbelievably high-quality event. Aoife McCormick had a great run, beating a Croatian girl 4-2 in her fourth round. She then narrowly won a really tight last-leg decider against the American girl before her Taipei opponent defeated her in the third round. Denise Cassidy, who has been outstanding all weekend, struggled to find her rhythm this morning. Facing a highly skilled Dutch girl, she was knocked out with a score of 4-1. Robyn Byrne played very well against a powerful Canadian, who was lethal on finishing, and knocked Robyn out with a score of 4-1. Katie Sheldon won her first game 4-3 against the New Zealand girl, then advanced to a tense last-leg decider, which she won. She then went on to beat the Dutch girl 4-1 with a brilliant 87 finish on the bull when the match was very close. Unfortunately, she never got going in her next game against the girl from the Philippines, ending her run in the third round. The girls will now go forward into the knockouts for the team event later in the week, full of confidence. 

In the men's pairs, Gerard McGlynn and Paddy Quinn started strongly, beating Latvia 4-2 in the first round, and then South Africa in the second round, where Ger took a great 138 checkout. Unfortunately, in the third round, they faced an inspired Italian team, who triumphed with a 4-0 victory over the Irish. They were a bit disappointed but played really well. The other pair, Dean Finn and Stephen Rosney, faced a Japanese team that played unbelievably all day, narrowly losing in a last-leg tiebreaker. 

In Aidan O'Hara's singles matches, he defeated a Korean in what was an exhibition darts match, 3-0. He then won against a very good Dutch player, 3-2, before coming back from 2-0 down to beat a Mongolian opponent by three legs to two. In the last 16, he beat the Swede 4-2; in the quarter-finals, he defeated the Finnish young lad 4-1. In the semi-final, he faced the Turk who had knocked Jack out, and both played outstanding darts. Aidan's experience saw him emerge as a 5-3 winner. He will face a player from Canada in Saturday night's final, and that should be a cracking game. 

Lastly, a quick note about the managers: Paddy Cullen has been with the girls all week, just as he has with the lads. Kevin Denavey has been by the ladies' side for every minute of sometimes nine-hour days. The same dedication was shown by Chris Curran with the men's team; their support has been truly tremendous.

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