The Republic of Ireland are into the 2026 World Cup of Darts quarter-finals after William O'Connor and Mickey Mansell survived a Poland fightback to win 8-5 in Frankfurt. Ireland averaged 92.21 in a high-quality last-16 tie, with Poland close behind on 91.71, and looked in control at 5-2 before Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki dragged themselves level. Ratajski’s 112 checkout made it 5-5, but O'Connor stopped the Polish run on double five, Mansell followed with a 52 checkout to break, then finished 87 on double nine to close out the win.
Speaking to Dartsnews.com among others in their post-match press conference, O'Connor and Mansell were all smiles. “We are into the next round, boys,” said O'Connor. “And I will tell you one thing, you never know how far we can go.” The Irish pair have now beaten Singapore, Gibraltar and Poland across three days, with Mansell’s first World Cup campaign for the Republic of Ireland moving into Sunday’s quarter-finals. Asked whether this could be Ireland’s best chance yet of winning the event, O'Connor pointed to the edge that has carried them through the draw. “Of course we have a chance,” he said. “If the two of us click on the same day, unless the next team clicks as well, anything is possible. We can go on and we can do anything.”
Ireland’s finishing had driven the early part of the match. O'Connor pinned 86 to make it 2-1, Ireland then broke with another 86 checkout, and Mansell took out 96 to push them 4-1 ahead. O'Connor’s 62 kept the gap at three legs going into the interval. Poland came back sharply after the break. Bialecki took out 52, Poland then broke with a 30 checkout, and Ratajski’s 112 completed a run of three straight legs. O'Connor later joked that Mansell had called the comeback during the break. “Mickey said to me, when we went backstage, we were 5-2 up and we went into the break, ‘There are a lot of people out there who paid a lot of money to watch this. We have to let these boys back in a small bit.’” “I said, ‘Mickey, I do not want that.’ He said, ‘Willie, come on.’ I said, ‘Right, fair enough.’ He said, ‘We will let them back in a small bit, but we have to win handy enough.’”
Mansell said Sunday had been the target once Ireland escaped Group D. “The whole thing is you want to get out of the group, and then when you get out of the group, the first thing is that Sunday is the big day,” he said. “Thankfully we are in that situation. That is where we definitely wanted to be.” He felt Ireland had earned that position the hard way. “I feel we have come through the ringer in our three games,” Mansell said. “That was probably the toughest draw that you could have got on a seeding situation. We have come through that, so happy days.”
Ireland’s quarter-final opponent would come from Scotland v Norway later in the afternoon, but O'Connor had no interest in building a revenge storyline around Scotland after the 2019 final. “No. I definitely do not want to be playing those boys anyway,” he said. “I do not think Mickey does either.” Mansell was quick to point out that he had not been part of that final defeat. O'Connor then added: “I hear all these boys talking about, ‘No Scotland, no party.’ But we are not looking for a party. We are happy enough that there is no Scotland.” His preferred route was simple. “Go back on the stats, tell me the easiest route, and that is what we want,” O'Connor said. “We are not looking for glory. We are just looking for the win.”
O'Connor also returned to his criticism of the World Cup format after Ireland had come through three matches before the top seeds had completed one. “They are coming in fresh,” he said of the seeded nations. “We have had three hard days now. People can say, ‘You have only played a couple of legs,’ but the hard work we have done beforehand to get to that stage takes a toll on your body.” He accepted the principle of seeding, but not the physical advantage created by entering later. “The longer this goes on, the more your body feels it,” O'Connor said. “It is harder for the boys who have been here a few days longer and gone through it. There are no two ways about it.”
