"If you go looking for easy games at this level, the chances are that it will be you who will be somebody's else's easy game."
Those were the sage words of top Irish darts star Robyn Byrne as she gears up to take on the top eight ladies players in the world at the PDC World Matchplay in Blackpool in two weeks time.
Byrne has earned her spot in the Matchplay at Winter Gardens by finishing fifth in the PDC Women's Series rankings, and will kick off her campaign with a game against legendary four-time world champion Lisa Ashton.
It will be a cut-throat competition in which Byrne knows she will need to bring her A game to succeed.
She told Darts In Ireland: "Lisa will be a tough game but any game at the World Matchplay will be hard as it's the best eight players in the world.
"All of these players, including myself, are in that top eight as they have been playing great darts over a long period of time, so you don't expect to get anything easy.
"But I'm really looking forward to it. It's a top PDC competition in a legendary venue against the best players in the world. What's not to like about that?"
Byrne made it to the semi-finals of the PDC World Matchplay in 2023, losing out to eventual winner Beau Greaves, and is aiming to go two steps better this time.
She added: "I will be going into the Matchplay to win it as I go into every competition thinking I can win.
"The day I don't think I can win is the day I won't be playing darts anymore."
Byrne is back in confident form after a brilliant run to the final of the Modus Super Series last week.
She recovered from a slow start at that - winning just one game on her first day - to eventually top Group B by winning all four of her remaining games on the second day.
That was followed up by Byrne winning her group on finals night and then beating a previous Modus winner, Kirsi Viinikainen, in her semi-final.
That set up a final with England's Gemma Hayter that went all the way, with Byrne missing one dart at double 18 for glory before losing out 3-2.
She said: "I was really happy with how it went at Modus last week. I didn't think I played particularly great darts but I was consistent and took my chances when I needed to, which was important.
"I'm not sure people realise just how difficult the Modus Super Series is, especially if you lose a couple of games and are chasing a win, as every player there is at a top standard and will not just give you a win, you really have to earn it.
"I haven't dwelled too much afterwards on that missed double 18 as it was just one dart to win it.
"It might have been a different story if I'd missed six darts for the match, then you would really feel it, but I'm not too upset to have missed just one as I'm happy to have gotten that far. To go from the first day, only winning one game, to eventually missing a dart to win the whole week was good."
Byrne's week at Modus came just after she had captained the Ireland ladies team at the Six Nations in Wales.
The Ireland team topped their group with impressive wins over Northern Ireland and Scotland, but lost out in the semi-finals to a very impressive England, who went on to win the competition.
However Byrne reckons the Ireland team, which also includes Katie Sheldon and Denise Cassidy, and will welcome Aoife McCormack in for the WDF World Cup in South Korea in September, is in good shape.
She said: "The England girls played absolute fantastic in that semi-final against us, with Steph Clark and Deta Hedman averaging up around the 90s in that game. You'd wonder if they'll play that well again when it comes to the World Cup, but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and admit that they were too good for us in that game.
"I wasn't too happy with my own performances and I think I could have done better personally, but maybe I'm taking that on as the captain.
"Overall I think the team is in good shape, we have very good players and now we have Aoife to come back for the World Cup, which will make us even stronger."
The Irish Ladies are the reigning WDF World Cup champions having won it in 2023 and Byrne believes they have a very good chance of retaining it.
She added: "I honestly think we are as good as, if not better, than we were then.
"I'm really looking forward to playing at the World Cup again. I love everything about the competition and playing for my country, so it should be special."
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