THE Republic of Ireland's World Cup winning darts squad have returned home to a heroes welcome following their gold medal winning exploits in South Korea.
The Irish team finished top of the WDF World Cup medals chart after striking gold in both the Ladies team and Youth pairs events.
It's the second World Cup win in succession for the Ireland ladies team, with captain Robyn Byrne telling Darts In Ireland how special it was to retain their title.
Robyn said: "To go back and defend the title is very special. To win it the first time was hard and to be honest it didn't feel as difficult this time.
"We had a tough last 16 game against Wales that was so tight it went to the very last game, so that was difficult, but once we got over that we seemed to up our game and storm through the rest of them."
Byrne and her Ireland team-mates Katie Sheldon, Aoife McCormack and Denise Cassidy, also took the gold medals as the overall best team across the team, pairs and singles events.
However she said she felt they possibly even left some other medals behind them.
Robyn added: "To get the gold medal as the best overall team has made it that bit more special too. And we topped the medals chart, which is absolutely brilliant.
"But to be fair, we didn't even do that great in the singles and the doubles, so there could have been even more medals.
"We are proud of what we have done and are looking forward to the next big events. There is no reason why we can't continue to pick up gold medals at these big events."
The Irish Boys Youth pair of Jack Courtney and Aidan O'Hara also came home laden with medals after their heroics in Seoul.
Carlow teenager Jack (16) teamed up with Tipperary's Aidan (17) to win the WDF Youth Pairs Open, defeating a strong Turkey team 5-4 in a nail biting final.
Aidan also picked up a silver medal after making it to the final of the Youth Open singles event.
Their coach Paddy Cullen, who previously won the WDF Europe Cup with the Irish Boys team in 2024, said he was immensely proud of their achievements.
Paddy said: "What the boys have achieved at the World Cup is absolutely brilliant. They deserve great credit for how they handled themselves.
"It was an amazing week and it is right up there with winning the Europe Cup with the Irish Boys team for me."
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