Round One of the 2026 World Darts Championship has provided excitement, darting brilliance and dramatic shocks. Limerick’s own William O’Connor produced a fantastic performance, resulting in a 3-0 win over Krzysztof Kciuk. The Cappamore man averaged 102.36, the highest average by any player in round one.
William O’Connor delivers the best average of the tournament so far to set up a clash with Michael van Gerwen 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/sxFC2yJA2z
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 19, 2025
Meath man, Keane Barry, also looked impressive, whitewashing Tim Pusey. Carlow native Steve Lennon fell by three sets to one against Australian Damon Heta. Other Irish interests saw Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney beat Beau Greaves by three sets to two in a thriller. Antrim’s Josh Rock got the better of Gemma Hayter 3-1.
Tyrone man Mickey Mansell lost to American Leonard Gates while Fermanagh’s Brendan Dolan defeated Tavis Dudeney.
Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael Van Gerwen all won while not finding their brilliant best. World number four Stephen Bunting had to produce some magic in the deciding set to beat Sebastian Bialecki. Potential dark horse Gian Van Veen got past Cristo Reyes.
The surprise results started on night one, when Arno Merk knocked out Kim Huybrechts. Andreas Harrysoson stunned Ross Smith to win 3-2. The iconic, 71-year-old Paul Lim defeated Jeffrey de Graaf, beating the record he already had set, being the oldest player to win a match at the World Darts Championship.
Darren Beveridge performed brilliantly, beating Dimitri Van den Bergh. Charlie Manby won 3-2 against Cameron Menzies, which led to the Scotsman punching his table in anger.
Cameron Menzies took his anger out on the drinks table after losing a tight game at the PDC World Championship.
After losing 3-2 to debutant Charlie Manby, he reacted by punching the table on stage three times. pic.twitter.com/604RGNDPNQ
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 15, 2025
The shocks continued with Niko Springer defeated by Joe Comito. Stefan Bellmont knocked out five-time World Champion, Dutch legend Raymond van Barnevald. Kenyan David Munyua produced possibly shock of the tournament, so far, on Thursday afternoon, when he beat Mike De Decker in a deciding set.
Unfortunately, round two will see Johnny Clayton receive a bye due to the Darts Regulation Authority suspending Dom Taylor after failing a drugs test. The English player had won his round one match and now has been disqualified from the tournament.
After a brilliant set of first round matches, the best performance was from a Limerick man. ‘The Magpie’ will face Michael Van Gerwen next and will need to produce a similar performance to see round three.
The schedule of play for Monday December 22 and Tuesday December 23 at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship has been confirmed! 👇
📝 https://t.co/0edmuykExJ pic.twitter.com/e3gkCzdlCN
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 20, 2025