Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney clinch historic World Cup of Darts title for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland secured an historic first World Cup of Darts title by denying Wales in an epic last-leg final in Frankfurt on Sunday.
Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney recovered from 7-5 down to edge out Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton in one of the greatest finals in PDC World Cup history.
The deciding leg saw Rock and Gurney land an 11-darter to fend off the challenge of two-time champions Wales and become the sixth nation to claim World Cup glory since the event began in 2010.
“We’ve made history for Northern Ireland and we’re so proud as a team,” said an emotional Rock.
“As a team we were fantastic and we fought hard all the way through.”
Gurney added: “I would like to congratulate Wales, it shows the class of the Welsh team to stay on stage and congratulate us.
“Jonny and Gezzy are legends of the game, I think they’ll go on and win big titles this year.
“Josh’s power scoring was amazing and I was there to clean up the finishing; I was never going to miss the double eight to win the title.
“I’m so proud of Josh and myself, I put higher regard on this title than any individual events I’ve won.”
Having previous lost in two semi-finals, Northern Ireland broke new ground by reaching their first PDC World Cup final thanks to a series of superb displays.
The decorated duo had thrashed South Africa 8-2 in their opener on Saturday and began the final day of action with an 8-5 victory over the Republic of Ireland’s William O’Connor and Keane Barry.
Rock and Gurney then completed an 8-1 demolition of hosts Germany to end the hopes of Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko – who had dumped out title favourites England in the Last 16.
The Northern Irish duo put down a marker immediately in the final as Rock opened up with a 180 before Gurney landed a 130 checkout to seal the first leg.
After falling 2-0 behind, Wales got off the mark in the third leg as Clayton took out 68 to kick-start a sequence of clutch finishes which included checkouts of 100, 142 and 88 as they drew level at four apiece.
The next two legs were shared before Clayton cleaned up 71 to make it six doubles from six attempts and hand Wales the lead at 6-5.
The two-time champions moved two legs clear, but three missed darts at doubles in the following leg proved pivotal as Northern Ireland pegged back to just 7-6 behind.
Gurney continued his efficient finishing for the Northern Irish pair as they raced to four consecutive legs to take command and move one away from glory at 9-7.
Price landed an 81 checkout for a 12-darter to stop the rot, and after Northern Ireland squandered four match darts, the Welsh duo punished to force a nail-biting decider.
A blistering climax to the contest saw both teams exchange maximums, before Northern Ireland added a 171 and double eight for an 11-darter to get over the line in superb style.
Wales fell agonisingly short in their bid for a hat-trick of World Cup titles, and Clayton admitted: “We gave it our all but congratulations to those two.
“To be fair to Josh and Daryl they flew out the blocks in the last leg.
“Gezzy is a class act, I’m a proud man to have a teammate like him.”
Price added: “We started off really slowly, trying to get in the game was really difficult.
“Testament to the Northern Irish team, Josh’s scoring was unbelievable and we couldn’t keep up with them.
“At 9-9 we gave ourselves a chance but they were a bit better than us and they deserve it.”
Wales had thrashed the Philippines 8-2 in Saturday’s opener before ending the run of Hong Kong with an 8-4 success in Sunday afternoon’s quarter-finals.
The multiple major winners then seized upon a late capitulation from Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert as they reeled off five consecutive legs to seal an 8-5 victory in the semi-finals.
The afternoon’s other quarter-finals saw Germany recover from 7-5 down to edge out 2022 champions Australia in a deciding leg, while Netherlands thrashed Czechia 8-2.
BetVictor World Cup of Darts 2025 Day Four Results
Sunday June 15
Afternoon Session
Quarter-Finals
Northern Ireland 8-5 Republic of Ireland
Germany 8-7 Australia
Wales 8-4 Hong Kong
Netherlands 8-2 Czechia
Evening Session
Semi-Finals
Germany 1-8 Northern Ireland
Wales 8-5 Netherlands
Final
Northern Ireland 10-9 Wales
