"They are coming in fresh, we have had three hard days now": William O'Connor doubles down on World Cup of Darts seed criticism as Republic of Ireland win through

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.’”

O'Connor stopped Poland’s run on double five, Mansell broke with a 52 checkout, then finished the match with an 87 checkout.

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.”

Mansell still expected a tough quarter-final regardless of the opponent. “Anybody who has got there is there on merit,” he said. “Whoever comes out of the Scotland game is obviously going to be full of confidence, and it is going to be a tough game.”

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.”

Asked what makes the Ireland pairing work, O'Connor answered with one word: “Friendship.”

Mansell expanded on a partnership that is new at the World Cup but built on years together around the PDC circuit. “We have been together for the last 15 years, sitting at the same table week in, week out on the ProTour,” he said. “I have seen the highs and lows of Willie, and he has seen the highs and lows of me.”

He said that familiarity was not manufactured for the tournament. “It is not a false sort of friendship or anything,” Mansell said. “It does not matter if I am playing, or if I was at home watching Willie, I would be wanting the best for him.”

O'Connor kept the summary shorter: “We stood the test of time.”

Mansell also enjoyed his first experience of walking on to Zombie alongside O'Connor. “I was sitting back in Dublin, in the 3Arena, when Willie played Michael van Gerwen, and it was an unbelievable experience just to be there,” Mansell said. “As players we take a lot of stuff for granted. You see a walk-on and the reception it got that night in Dublin was fantastic.”

O'Connor joked that the atmosphere had taken him time to handle that night. “I got beat 6-4,” he said. “It took me about four legs to settle after that walk-on.”

Mansell said the Irish support had followed them in Frankfurt too. “Friday was unreal with the amount of Irish supporters there,” he said. “There were a good few around the front today as well. His is a spectacular walk-on, a renowned walk-on. Whatever gets the crowd on your side, I am happy with it.”

Ireland had led Poland 5-2, been pulled back to 5-5, then won the next three legs. O'Connor and Mansell are now into Sunday’s quarter-finals with three wins from three and no interest in anything beyond the next route through.