Daryl Gurney revealed “I thought I was done as a PDC winner” prior to creating World Cup of Darts history alongside Josh Rock – and the pair both expressed their immense pride at representing Northern Ireland on the biggest stage.

The Northern Irish duo enjoyed a dream weekend in Germany as they progressed past South Africa, Republic of Ireland and the hosts before defeating two-time champions Wales 10-9 in an all-time classic final to seal their country’s maiden World Cup crown.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - JUNE 15: Josh Rock of Northern Ireland celebrates with Daryl Gurney of Northern Ireland with the Trophy after victory in their final match on day four of BetVictor World Cup of Darts 2025 at Eissporthalle Frankfurt on June 15, 2025 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Florian Wiegand/Getty Images)

Londonderry native Gurney and Rock, who is from Broughshane in County Antrim, were playing together for the first time and pocketed a team first prize purse of £80,000.

While 24-year-old Rock is at the start of a hugely exciting darting career, currently sitting 17th in the world rankings, Gurney has gained significant experience at the top level and collected two major titles at the World Grand Prix (2017) and Players Championship Finals (2018).

Gurney has been playing on the PDC circuit for the past 12 years, hitting a career-high ranking of number three, but thought his days at the top were over having not tasted success since 2019.

However, the 39-year-old says partner Rock has helped instil renewed belief and insists they’re determined to achieve even more.

"This is better (than personal success) – I knew if we could win this it would be better than any individual competition I've won,” said Gurney. “In all honesty, I thought I blew it when I missed three darts at double five - if you'd gave me six darts I wouldn't have hit that double five - but give me those three darts at double eight I wasn't going to miss it. When it left my hand I knew it was in.

"I'm a very proud Northern Irishman, I'm so pleased to play with Josh and we did say we could do damage.

"We did damage, we came, we won and we conquered.

"We could turn around and go 'that's us now' but there's so many stars on England, Wales, Holland shirts, we're not finished yet.

"I believed I was finished and that's why I'm so emotional because I thought I was done as a PDC winner.

"Josh gave me the belief and somewhere in my head before the competition I thought 'you've given me the belief and now we're here I'm going to give you the belief'."

Rock will be competing against the likes of Luke Littler for years to come and is enjoying the best period of his career having reached a first PDC major semi-final at the UK Open earlier this year.

‘Rocky’ won the PDC World Youth Championship in 2022 and has since collected five senior titles, winning his maiden European Tour crown at the Dutch Darts Championship last year alongside four Players Championships triumphs, including one in April.

He hopes World Cup glory alongside Gurney can now lay the platform for major success.

"I believe in myself that it will happen, but when the time is right, the time is right,” he said. “The levels in the PDC are going through the roof, but I do believe in myself.

"We've done our country proud. I'm so proud to be from Northern Ireland.

"All four of us on that stage showed how passionate we are for our country. I'm so proud we did the country proud."