New format, new team, Meath's Keane Barry can't wait to get going at the World Cup of Darts.
The former double world youth champion is set to make his Republic of Ireland debut in Frankfurt this evening alongside veteran Willie O'Connor, who partnered Steve Lennon all the way to the final in 2019.
Barry, ranked 41, overtook Lennon on the PDC's order of merit this season and says it's a "great honour" to represent his country.
The tournament itself carries a £400,000 prize pot and has undergone a radical change that incorporates a group stage and will consist solely of doubles games. In the past it was a mix of doubles and singles.
The four top-ranked nations, England, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland, based on the lowest cumulative order of merit ranking of the two competing players, are seeded and will enter at the second round.
The remaining 36 teams are split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round – including 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress.
Ireland, seeded ninth, begin their campaign on Thursday evening against Thailand's Attapol Eupakaree and Yong Gaweenuntavong and will meet Croatia pair Boris Krcmar and Romeo Grbavac on Friday in Group E.
"With it being doubles the whole way through, I think we've a good chance if we click," Barry told RTÉ Sport.
The new format means Barry, renowned for his fast pace, will have to adjust to waiting three turns between visits.
"If I knew I was playing a slow player I'd just try to find my own rhythm and not get caught up in their game," he said.
"It's kind of the same with doubles when you have to wait three turns to throw.
"I'd be used to playing doubles in the league and it's not that long ago that I was playing doubles regularly so it's fresh in the mind."
Barry comes into the tournament, which runs from Thursday until Sunday, off the back of five days of Development and Pro Tour events in Germany, where a run to the last 16 of the Development Tour Event 15 was his best return.
Known as 'Dynamite', the Duleek native's best PDC performance came when he reached the semi-finals of the UK Open in 2022. Incidentally, O'Connor also made the last four in that event.
Barry says he had slightly reduced his speed at the oche at the start of that season and it's helped him to get rid of some erratic arrows.
"I knew sometimes I was a bit too quick for myself," he said.
"It's more to do with composure, just being sure of what you are doing instead of rushing things.
"Especially taking that extra second on a double or a finish. I was doing it in practice and ever since the start of that season, even watching back at myself, I was a bit too fast.
"It was kind of trial and error and it seems to have worked.
"It's not a whole lot, very minor but you don't get too carried away on finishes.
"Sometimes you can get caught out in the pace of the game so I've really learned to play my own game and not get caught up with someone else and that's helped me in the last couple of years."
He also revealed that a skin condition was affecting his throw and how he has addressed the problem.
"I suffer really badly with eczema on my hands," he said. "Sometimes I wouldn't have enough grip on the darts and I might even use a new set every week.
"Having a lot of darts there and being able to use a new set every time is good. It cuts that out. I wasn't really changing that much but then when I put everything together I knew I had to use more new sets.
"I think in the World Championships I hit the surround going for one of the shots, it completely slipped out of my hand.
"Sometimes the eczema flares up and it's bad and other times it's fine. If the darts are older they can be slippy. So I'm changing a set within a game if I feel it's going that way."
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland are also in action on Thursday evening. Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan take on Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre from France.
2023 My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts
Thursday schedule (6pm Irish time)
Group Stage
Switzerland v Italy
Poland v Portugal
Czech Republic v Singapore
Spain v South Africa
Republic of Ireland v Thailand
Northern Ireland v France
Belgium v Finland
Canada v India
Austria v Denmark
Germany v Hong Kong
Australia v Guyana
Latvia v New Zealand
