Daryl Gurney 'never been so proud' after creating World Cup of Darts history alongside Josh Rock in Northern Ireland triumph

The team of Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney - who were playing at the event as a duo for the very first time - prevailed in a last-leg decider against their Welsh counterparts to take the honours at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt.

After beating South Africa, the Republic of Ireland and Germany - Rock and Gurney had already written themselves into the history books by guiding Northern Ireland into their first ever final.

Northern Ireland made a fast start by taking the first two legs as Gurney checked-out 130 in the opener, before taking out 9 soon after.

However, Wales broke back immediately through expert finishing by Jonny Clayton but Gurney finished off in the next leg for 3-1.

In the final leg before the break, Northern Ireland spurned a massive chance to extend their lead even further as missed doubles allowed Clayton to take out 100.

Clayton then had the stage to himself as he finished off a 142 to level the score at 3-3, with both countries then trading the next two legs.

In a blockbuster contest, Wales continued their impressive finishing to take the lead for the first time as Price hit double 20 to edge ahead.

But Northern Ireland broke back to level at 5-5 as Rock kept his cool to find double 20 as the players headed off for the second break.

In a race to ten legs, Wales broke the Northern Ireland throw yet again as Clayton saw off 71 to push 6-5 up, with the scoreline then going to 7-5 as Clayton was able to pin double 6.

The 13th leg was one Northern Ireland couldn’t afford to lose and after both countries missed doubles, Gurney finally made it 7-6 by hitting double 2.

Just when it looked like Wales had a grip on the game, Northern Ireland then broke the throw back to win two legs on the bounce for the first time since the opening two, as the scores were tied at 7-7.

Gurney was continuing to step up to the plate as he somehow found the double 8 bed to put Northern Ireland ahead at 8-7.

Remarkably, Gurney’s heroics continued as Northern Ireland were one leg away from victory when Gurney took out 86 to make the scoreline 9-7.

However, Wales ensured they would have to do it the hard way as they won the next two legs to set up a tense finale as Northern Ireland missed four match darts.

But they wouldn’t be denied in the decider as Gurney held his nerve to hit double 8 and make history for Northern Ireland.

Rock told Sky Sports: “Me and Daryl said we’ll win this World Cup; I wasn’t expecting it to be the first time. But we’ve done it.

“I have the privilege to have made history, we’ve won the World Cup for Northern Ireland and there is always going to be a star on the back of this shirt.

“As a team, we were fantastic. We fought hard all the way through.

“One of the two of us will win a major this year, I think, because when you win on the big stage in front of Sky Sports, it’s obviously a different story.”

Gurney added: “Josh was power scoring and all I had to do was clean up the finishing. I have never been so proud of this man and myself.”