'We'll see how egos go. They have the potential to fall apart' - William O'Connor casts doubt on super team status of Littler & Humphries

The Republic of Ireland made a strong start to their 2025 World Cup of Darts campaign on Thursday. The pairing of Keane Barry and William O'Connor averaged a solid 92.41 to take a 4-2 over Gibraltar in the their opening group stage match.

If it wasn't for some sloppy finishing from the Irish, the boys in green could - and perhaps should - have taken a whitewash win over their less heralded opponents. Nevertheless, when speaking to the media afterwards, Barry and especially O'Connor sounded confident.

In particular, O’Connor looked to tackle the narrative that England's pair of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are going to stream roll through the competition. "It's not singles like, we'll see how egos go," said O'Connor, himself a former World Cup finalist, in their post-match press conference. "If egos go against you then you never know how that doubles will go, don't know how those pairs will gel like, they might not gel together."

"Yes they have the potential to just whitewash everyone in their way, but also they have the potential to fall apart, so we'll see," O’Connor adds, clearly not afraid of a potential meeting with England's superstar duo. "You don't know until it happens."

Although he cut a slightly more reserved figure than his partner, Keane Barry too displayed the same lack of fear as O'Connor. "Obviously they're the team to beat yeah, but again everyone is beatable and you just have to go up there and be the best team on the day," Barry added. "They are the team to beat, but you just have to concentrate on what you're doing, it doesn't matter what form anyone is in, on the day anything can happen. We know we're playing well enough together and we'll just see what happens."

Because of their victory in the opening round of group games, Ireland will not be in action this afternoon, instead returning to the stage on Friday evening where they will take on China.