Shane McGuirk
Irish darts player (born 1995)
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Shane McGuirk (born 9 May 1995) is an Irish professional darts player who competes in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events and previously competed in World Darts Federation (WDF) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He won the WDF World Championship in 2024 to become the first darts world champion from the Republic of Ireland. He is also a former Irish Open and FCD Anniversary Open champion. McGuirk won a title on the PDC Development Tour in 2019.
Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland
| Shane McGuirk | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Nickname | "The Arrow" | ||||||||
| Born | 9 May 1995[1] Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland | ||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2018 | ||||||||
| Darts | 24g Target Signature[2] | ||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||
| Walk-on music | "We Will Rock You" by Queen | ||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||
| BDO | 2018–2020 | ||||||||
| PDC | 2020–present (Tour Card: 2026–present) | ||||||||
| WDF | 2018–2025 | ||||||||
| Current world ranking | (PDC) 99  3 (5 May 2026)[3] | ||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||
| World Championship | Winner (1): 2024 | ||||||||
| World Masters | Last 32: 2018 | ||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||
| UK Open | Last 160: 2020, 2021 | ||||||||
| Masters | Last 32: 2026 | ||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||
Youth events
| |||||||||
Career
2018–2021
McGuirk reached the Last 16 of the 2018 World Masters, losing to 2015 BDO World Champion Scott Mitchell 3–1 in sets.[4]
He had success on the PDC Development Tour in 2019, reaching two finals before winning his first Development Tour title in Event 13, defeating Keane Barry 5–4 in the final.[5][6]
McGuirk attended UK Qualifying School (Q-School) in 2021, where he achieved a nine-dart finish but missed out on a PDC Tour Card by one point.[7][8]
2022–2023
McGuirk won his first WDF title after beating Andy Baetens 5–4 in the final of the 2022 FCD Anniversary Open.[9] He followed this by winning the 2023 Irish Open which granted him a spot at the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship.[10]
2024
After finishing 35th on the UK Q-School Order of Merit, McGuirk competed in the 2024 PDC Challenge Tour series, averaging 100 in 5–2 victories over Max Hopp and Ryan O'Connor on his way to the quarter-finals at Challenge Tour 7 (CT7), where he lost to Dennie Olde Kalter 5–4 in a last-leg decider.[11] He reached the semi-finals at CT8, losing to Andy Boulton 5–2.[12] He reached another quarter-final at CT21, losing there to Dragutin Horvat 5–1.[13] In his first round match at CT21, he averaged 119.29 in a 5–0 whitewash victory against Stefaan Henderyck.[14]
McGuirk received call–ups for 2024 PDC Players Championship series events 9, 10, and 22 filling in as a reserve for an absent tour card holder virtue of his ranking on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. McGuirk lost to Mario Vandenbogaerde 6–5 in a deciding leg in the first round of Players Championship 9 (PC9). At PC10 McGuirk defeated Nick Kenny 6–1 before losing to Ryan Joyce 6–2 in the second round. At PC22, he whitewashed Owen Roelofs 6–0 and won 6–2 against Vincent van der Voort, but was defeated by Mike De Decker, who averaged 101.42, 6–3 in the last 32.
At the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship, McGuirk entered the competition in the first round, where he defeated Mark Barilli 2–0.[15] He then beat Edwin Torbjörnsson 3–0 without missing a dart at double.[16] With 3–0, 4–0 and 5–0 wins over Brandon Weening, Peter Machin and François Schweyen respectively, McGuirk reached the final without losing a set. In the final, where he faced Paul Lim, McGuirk raced into a 4–0 lead against the Singaporean veteran. Lim brought it back to 4–1, which was McGuirk's first set lost in the tournament. McGuirk went 5–1 up, one set away from the title, before Lim won the next two sets to close the gap to 5–3. In the end, McGuirk won the final 6–3, whitewashing Lim 3–0 in the final set. He became the first player from the Republic of Ireland to win a senior darts world championship.[17][18][19]
2026–
In January 2026, McGuirk won a first PDC Tour Card at Q-School.[20] Later that month, he qualified for the 2026 PDC World Masters.[21]
Personal life
Outside of darts, McGuirk was a former underage player with Aughnamullen GAA.[22]
World Championship results
WDF
- 2024: Winner (beat Paul Lim 6–3)
- 2025: Quarter-finals (lost to Jimmy van Schie 1–4)
Career finals
WDF major finals: (1 title)
| Legend |
|---|
| World Championship (1–0) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | World Darts Championship |  Paul Lim |
6–3 (s) |
- (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
Performance timeline
BDO
| Tournament | 2018 |
|---|---|
| BDO Ranked televised events | |
| Winmau World Masters | 6R |
PDC
WDF
| Tournament | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDF Ranked televised events | |||||||
| WDF World Championship | DNP | W | QF | ||||
| Irish Open | W | 6R | 5R | ||||
PDC Players Championships
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR L# |
Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
Notes
- Not a Tour card holder