Daryl Gurney lavished praise on an ‘immense’ Josh Rock after the pair steered Northern Ireland to a historic BetVictor World Cup of Darts triumph in Frankfurt on Sunday.
Gurney and Rock defeated the formidable Welsh duo of Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price in a gripping last-leg decider at the Eissporthalle, producing an 11-dart leg to take the title.
Clayton and Price led 7-5 at one stage, but the Northern Irish duo came roaring back in a breathless finale to become the sixth nation to claim the coveted World Cup crown.
“It’s massive. Hopefully this is the first of many World Cups for Northern Ireland,” reflected a buoyant Gurney.
“We’re super proud. This partnership has been two to three years in the making, and Josh gave me the confidence that we could win it.
“We’re only a small country, but we’ve got so many great sporting personalities.
“You can go as far back as Alex Higgins, George Best, Dennis Taylor.
“They put Northern Ireland on the map, so me and Josh are so glad to get our names amongst the list of those legends.”
Having squandered four match darts in the penultimate leg, the Northern Irish trailblazers delivered the goods in an astonishing decider.
Rock followed up a maximum from Gurney with a spectacular 171 to leave 16 after just nine darts, before Gurney pinned double eight to seal the victory inside 11 darts.
“The atmosphere was electric. It was so loud,” admitted the Derry-born star, who broke down in tears after guiding his country to glory.
“If I had missed that double eight and we lost the World Cup, I would have never forgiven myself, but when it went in, it’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.
“Jonny and Gezzy were both so gracious in defeat, and that’s why they are major champions, because they know how to win and how to lose.”
Gurney provided the perfect foil for a relentless Rock, who crashed in nine 180s and registered an individual average of 107.88 in Sunday’s showpiece.
The former World Youth Champion averaged 102 across the entire event, which included earlier wins over South Africa, Republic of Ireland and host nation Germany.
“Josh was immense. For me he was the best player in the competition,” declared Gurney, who pinned eight of their ten winning doubles against Wales.
“His scoring was unreal. He’s a future major champion, and a future World Champion.
“The sky is the limit for him. He’s young, he’s feisty and it was a pleasure to play alongside him, because he brought that fire out of me.”
Gurney is no stranger to lifting major silverware, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017, followed by the Players Championship Finals title just over a year later.
This parachuted him up to third on the PDC Order of Merit, although prior to last night’s heroics, Gurney had remarkably gone six years without winning a PDC title of any description.
“Josh has been up there winning titles recently. So has Jonny and so has Gezzy,” conceded the 39-year-old.
“It’s been my longest period without a title, so it was an incredible feeling. I’m still buzzing now.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work recently. At the start of the year I was really struggling, changing darts, changing points, and nothing was really working.
“My confidence was low; I wasn’t winning many games and my averages reflected that.
“I thought I was finished, but Josh gave me the belief. We said we could do damage, and we did it.”