Daryl Gurney defeats Joe Cullen to advance to Cazoo Masters Quarter-final

Gurney’s participation at The Masters, which sees the world’s top 24 players face off against each other in a weekend long tournament, was only confirmed due to the late withdrawal of world No. 5 Gerwyn Price due to family related issues. With the Waterside man sitting 26th in the rankings, even after Price withdrawal, the spot was first offered to Spaniard Jose De Sousa, the 25th ranked player, in world darts but he too was unable to play due to short notice. De Sousa’s loss was Gurney’s gain and as he was replacing the fifth seed, Gurney began in the second round where he faced the world No. 12 Cullen in a best of 19 leg match.

With the slight disadvantage of throwing second Gurney was able to win the first leg of the match but going into the first break he found himself 3-2 down to a rejuvenated Cullen though it was still all to play for.

After the restart Gurney came out all guns blazing, taking the next three legs to lead 5-3 after nailing a difficult double 16 to check out and win his fifth leg.

The Waterside native maintained his consistency as it came down to the 18th leg. Needing just a double 18 to check out and put himself through to the next round, Gurney missed the board with his first two darts before hitting a single 18 to throw Cullen a lifeline and the chance to take it to a deciding leg.

Needing double 14 ,Cullen too missed with his first two darts and hit a single 14 with the third meaning Gurney was handed a second chance this time made no mistake, picking out double 9 to see himself through to the quarter final on Sunday against either Nathan Aspinall or Dirk van Duijvenbode.

In an interview with ITV after his victory, Gurney described the ending of the match as “squeaky bum time” and expressed his relief at making it through at the second time of asking.