OFFALY darts star Stephen Rosney said it will be a huge honour for him to lead the Republic of Ireland Men's team out as captain at the WDF World Cup in South Korea.
Rosney will jet out to Seoul tomorrow as part of a strong four-man Ireland team that has high hopes of glory.
This will be his second World Cup campaign in succession for Ireland, having played at the last one in Denmark two years ago.
However, this time he will represent the team as captain having finished as Ireland's number one player in the INDO rankings.
Rosney, who will be joined on the team by Waterford pair Dean Finn and Paddy Quinn and Donegal's Gerard McGlynn, told Darts In Ireland that all four players are "quietly confident" they can go all the way and win the World Cup.
He said: "It's a huge honour for me to be captain of this Ireland team heading into the World Cup.
"I played at the last one in Denmark and I remember thinking 'I want to be here again in two years time', and thankfully I have managed to do that.
"I hadn't initially thought about being captain as my main goal throughout the last ranking campaign was just to make the top four to make the Ireland team.
"Then as the year went on, it became possible to finish number one so I pushed for that then and I'm very proud to have made that happen."
And Stephen says he believes all four players on the Ireland Men's team, who will be under the watchful eye of manager Chris Curran, are hitting form just at the right time.
He said: "I'm happy with how I'm playing at the moment and you only have to look at how Dean Finn played recently in getting to the final of the Modus Super Series to see how well he can play.
"Paddy Quinn also played superbly well at the most recent PDC Players Championships, putting in big averages, while Gerard McGlynn was the winner of the last INDO ranking event in the Irish Masters, so that's great for him too.
"It shows that we are all in good form at the right time going into this tournment."
Rosney also reckons that Ireland's recent campaign at the Six Nations in Wales - when they made it to the last four having topped a group ahead of England and Netherlands - will stand to them.
He added: "Playing in the Six Nations is great preparation for us ahead of a World Cup as there aren't many better teams out there than the likes of Wales, England and the Netherlands.
"They are all top class opposition and we weren't far off making the final of that. Hopefully now we will click in South Korea and it will come good then."
However, Rosney also fired a warning about some of the more unknown quantities in this tournament.
He said: "I remember at the last World Cup we were in a group with Cyprus and Luxembourg and thought it was going to be be easy but their players were very good. The standard right across the world is getting better all the time.
"I think some of the Asian teams will be very strong at this tournament. You only have to look at the Philippines, with the likes of Lourence Ilagan, who is a regular at the Ally Pally and big PDC events, to see how good they are.
"We can't expect to take any team lightly over there as they will be all high quality."
Meanwhile, Stephen said he has been blown away by the support he is getting at home since making Ireland's World Cup team.
He added: "Darts is very popular where I am from and lots of people want to talk to me about playing for Ireland and being the captain.
"It's great to have that support and I even had a big crowd with me in Wales when we played at the Six Nations. It's very rewarding to get that level of support.
"Our manager Chris Curran is a big help too. I get on very well with Chris and he is great at making sure everything is set up for us so we can get on with playing.
"It is a great privilege to be playing for Ireland at such a big tournament and I'm really looking forward to it now."
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