By:
Paul Kelly
A total of five Irish darts players have been confirmed for the 2026 Winmau World Masters Preliminary Round.
All five players will hope to land one of the eight spots on offer to progress into the World Masters proper on Thursday, January 28 in Milton Keynes.
Five Irish Darts Players Make Winmau World Masters Preliminary Round Line-Up
Although the provisional 2026 Winmau World Masters Preliminary Round line-up included six Irish darts players, it has been confirmed that five will head to Milton Keynes for the prelims on Wednesday, January 28.
A total of 122 players will battle it out in the World Masters prelims, looking to take one of the eight spots up for grabs to make it into the Winmau World Masters proper, which begins on Thursday.
Of the 122 players in the prelims, five are Irish. This includes former World Cup of Darts finalist William O’Connor, Keane Barry and three of the new Irish PDC Tour Card holders in Shane McGuirk, Niall Culleton and Stephen Rosney.
https://twitter.com/updates_irish/status/2014805189086113966
The top 24 seeds from the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualified for the televised stage of the World Masters, with just eight remaining spots up for grabs. These eight spots will be decided come the end of play on Wednesday, with five Irish players firmly in contention.
All PDC Tour Card holders are eligible to compete in the Preliminary Rounds, with the highest-ranked 32 players (outside of the 24 players who have already qualified for the televised stage) seeded through to the Last 64 automatically.
The remaining 90 players in the prelims will compete in Group Stages, with the 32 group winners from the round-robin stage making up the full 64-player field in the Preliminary Round.
Then, it is a straight knockout with the final eight players standing making it through to the Winmau World Masters Round 1 where they will take on one of the 24 players who have already qualified.
This includes the likes of world number one and back-to-back world champion Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries to name but a few.
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/2015768097722904889
William O’Connor Heads Irish Contingent As World Masters Prelim Seed
Of the five Irish players in the Winmau World Masters Preliminary Round line-up, it’s William O’Connor who leads the way and qualifies as one of the top-32 seeded players in the prelims.
This means that ‘The Magpie’ is already through to the Last 64 stage of the prelims, meaning he will make it to the televised stage with just three wins in total.
The remaining four Irish players are all non-seeds in the Group Stage, meaning they will have to qualify from their respective groups before then making it into the final eight in the Preliminary Round too.
O’Connor was ranked 15th in the latest world darts power rankings according to the FDI stats, so will firmly fancy his chances of progressing into the televised Winmau World Masters 32-player line-up.
https://twitter.com/joshpearson180/status/2003586446238920876
Of the four other Irish darts stars in action, three will be making their debut on the PDC circuit after securing their Tour Card at UK Q-School earlier this month.
Shane McGuirk, Niall Culleton and Stephen Rosney all earned PDC Tour Cards at UK Q-School, and will make their first appearance as full Tour card holders in the World Masters Preliminary Rounds.
Keane Barry is the other Irish player in action, who will join Rosney, McGuirk and Culleton in the Group Stages. All four players will fancy their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the prelims, booking their place alongside O’Connor before progressing into the televised Winmau World Masters.
With five Irish players in action on Wednesday in Milton Keynes, the Emerald Isle certainly have a strong chance of having at least one player make it into the proper tournament alongside the likes of Littler, Humphries, van Gerwen and co.
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