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 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 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 9–2.
He represented Northern Ireland alongside
Brendan Dolan 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 and
Dean Winstanley, before losing to
Wes Newton) and the
German Darts Masters (beat
Mervyn King and
Paul Nicholson, before losing to
Adrian Lewis). 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
Brendan Dolan 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 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, 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
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 ...
and
Gino Vos, before losing 6–4 to
Kim Huybrechts 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
James Wade 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
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 ...
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
Kim Huybrechts 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
Brendan Dolan. Three last 32 and three last 16 exits saw him qualify for the expanded
Players Championship Finals and he lost 6–3 to
Kim Huybrechts 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
Brendan Dolan. Dolan prevailed as the winner 3–2.
In the
opening Players Championship event of 2024, Mansell defeated
Josh Payne 6–2 in legs. In his second round match against
Krzysztof Ratajski, Mansell hit a
nine-dart finish, en route to another 6–2 victory. In the third round he defeated
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 ...
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 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
Kim Huybrechts 0–3)
* 2019: First round (lost to
Jim Long 1–3)
* 2020: First round (lost to
Seigo Asada 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
Brendan Dolan 2–3)
* 2025: Second round (lost to
Jonny Clayton 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