Michael Mansell (born 31 August 1973) is a Northern Irish

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who competes in

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

(PDC) events. He reached his first major semi-final at the 2024 Grand Slam. Mansell won his maiden ranking title at 2018 PDC Players Championship 8.

Career

In October 2010, Mansell reached the semi-finals of a Players Championship in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. A week later, he qualified for the

2011 PDC World Darts Championship The 2011 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 18th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at the Alexandra Palace, London from 16 D ...

after defeating Stephen Byrne to win the Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay. He was beaten in the preliminary round by New Zealand's Preston Ridd 4–0. Mansell qualified for the

2011 PDC Pro Tour The 2011 PDC Pro Tour was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They were the Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and the UK Open Qualifiers. This year the ...

as one of four semi-finalists from the third day of the Pro Tour's Q-School. Mansell qualified for the 2011 UK Open, held in June, finishing inside the top 96 after the 8 UK Open qualifiers were held. At the tournament he lost in the last 64 to

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number nine; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. ...

9–2. He represented Northern Ireland alongside

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (where a pla ...

in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they reached the quarter-finals, where they were defeated by the Netherlands 4–0, having beaten Denmark in the second round. Mansell had a good season in the new European Tour events by qualifying for three of the five tournaments. He lost in the last 32 of the European Darts Open, and in the last 16 of both the German Darts Championship (beat

Jamie Caven Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He won seven PDC Pro Tour titles, including two in the same we ...

and

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

, before losing to

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

) and the German Darts Masters (beat Mervyn King and Paul Nicholson, before losing to

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

). Mansell played in his first World Grand Prix in October as he was one of the two Irish qualifiers. He was beaten by Paul Nicholson 0–2 in sets, averaging just 64.48 in the event where a double must be hit to start and end every leg. Mansell qualified for the 2013 World Championship by taking the 14th place of the 16 that were available through the ProTour Order of Merit for the highest non-qualified players. In his second World Championship he lost to 15-time winner Phil Taylor 0–3 in the first round, as Mansell won only one leg during the match and averaged 78.46. Mansell was ranked world number 51 after the tournament. In his second World Cup of Darts with

the pair were beaten 4–5 in the last 16 by the Croatian duo of Robert Marijanović and

Tonči Restović Tonči Restović (born 13 December 1976) is a Croatian lawyer, politician and former professional darts player. He is currently the president of Social Democratic Party's Šibenik branch since 2017. Career At a Players Championship event in Ha ...

. Mansell reached the quarter-finals of a PDC event for the first time since October 2010 in May at the third Players Championship, but lost 4–6 to Paul Nicholson. Mansell beat

Co Stompé Jacobus Wilhelmus "Co" Stompé (born 10 September 1962) is a Dutch former professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance. He was also one of very few darts professionals, who pl ...

and Conan Whitehead to face

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

in the fourth round of the

UK Open The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open dr ...

, which he lost 3–9. Mansell was again a qualifier for the World Grand Prix and had a superb opportunity to achieve the biggest win of his career to date as he had three match darts against world number four

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed "The Wizard", he won th ...

in the deciding leg of the final set but missed them all. Mansell later revealed how this match impacted his darts for the subsequent year ahead as every time he played it was on his mind. At the Dutch Darts Masters he beat

and Gino Vos, before losing 6–4 to

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player competing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was runner-up in the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13–6. He also made the fin ...

in the third round. Mansell beat Ben Burton and Dean Stewart to reach the third round of the 2014 UK Open but there lost to

9–1. In June, Mansell and Dolan beat Peter Wright and Robert Thornton from Scotland in the quarter-finals of the World Cup of Darts. In the semis, Dolan edged world number one

4–3, but Mansell lost 4–0 to Van Barneveld to send the match into a deciding doubles game in which the Dutch pair averaged an incredible 117.88 to progress with a 4–0 whitewash. He won his first match at the World Grand Prix in three attempts by eliminating Ian White 2–0 (sets). Mansell then met Gary Anderson in the second round and won the first set, but was ultimately beaten 3–1 after losing nine successive legs. Mansell suffered a 3–0 loss to

in the first round of the 2015 World Championship. Mansell and Dolan met the Netherlands' Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld for the second successive year at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, this time in the quarter-finals. Dolan lost 4–2 to Van Gerwen, but Mansell defeated Van Barneveld 4–3 meaning a doubles match was required and, for the second year in a row, Northern Ireland were whitewashed 4–0. Mansell qualified for four

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

events and was knocked out in the second round in all of them. Mansell's four World Cup appearances in a row ended in 2016 after

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-five; he reached a peak ranking of world number thre ...

overtook him as Northern Ireland's second highest player on the Order of Merit, behind

. Three last 32 and three last 16 exits saw him qualify for the expanded Players Championship Finals and he lost 6–3 to

in the first round. Mansell dropped out of the top 64 during 2016 and so played in 2017 Q School, where he finished sixth on the Order of Merit to reclaim his PDC place. Mansell lost his Tour card after season 2021, battling with injuries during that year. Immediately he regained his Tour card in PDC UK Q-School 2022 via UK Q-School Order of Merit, where he placed on 11th place with 6 points. On 15 December 2022, at the 2023 PDC World Championship, Mansell beat Ben Robb but was defeated in the second round by Peter Wright 3–0 in sets. At the 2024 PDC World Championship, Mansell faced

. Dolan prevailed as the winner 3–2. In the opening Players Championship event of 2024, Mansell defeated

Josh Payne Joshua James Payne (born 25 November 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Beaconsfield Town. He has previously played for West Ham United, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers, Doncaster Rovers, Oxford ...

6–2 in legs. In his second round match against

Krzysztof Ratajski Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He previously participated in British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments; his b ...

, Mansell hit a

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly a ...

, en route to another 6–2 victory. In the third round he defeated

6–5 but in the last 16, Nick Kenny beat Mansell 6–5. At the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts Mansell reached his first major semi final by defeating

Cameron Menzies Cameron Menzies (born 27 June 1989) is a Scottish darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. A PDC Tour Card holder since 2022, Menzies has won two PDC ranking titles in Players Championship events. He reached hi ...

16–15 in a deciding leg in the quarter-finals. He lost to Martin Lukeman 16–12 in the semi-finals.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2011: Preliminary round (lost to Preston Ridd 0–4) (legs) * 2013: First round (lost to Phil Taylor 0–3) * 2015: First round (lost to

0–3) * 2019: First round (lost to

Jim Long Jim Long (born Timothy John Moynihan; February 7, 1943 – May 30, 2022) was an American entrepreneur, who worked in the broadcast music industry. Experienced in the development of intellectual properties, his business holdings focused on music ...

1–3) * 2020: First round (lost to

Seigo Asada is a Japanese professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career BDO Asada won the Japan Open in 2012 by beating Osamu Niki in the final. He won the tournament for the second time in 2014, beating Katsu ...

0–3) * 2021: Second round (lost to Ricky Evans 1–3) * 2023: Second round (lost to Peter Wright 0–3) * 2024: Second round (lost to

2–3) * 2025: Second round (lost to

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number five. Nicknamed "the Ferret", he has won four PDC major televised s ...

2–3)

Performance timeline

PDC PDC European Tour PDC Players Championships

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mansell, Michael 1986 births Living people Darts players from Northern Ireland Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders PDC ranking title winners PDC World Cup of Darts Northern Irish team Sportspeople from Dungannon