Michael Mansell (darts player)

Michael Mansell
Personal information
Nickname Clonoe Cyclone
Born (1973-08-31) 31 August 1973
Northern Ireland
Home town Clonoe
Northern Ireland
Darts information
Laterality Left-handed
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 2006–2010
PDC 2010–
Current world ranking 65
BDO majors - best performances
World Masters Last 128: 2006
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 64: 2013, 2015
World Grand Prix Last 16: 2014
UK Open Last 32: 2013
Players Ch'ship Finals Last 64: 2016
Other tournament wins
Tom Kirby Memorial Trophy 2010

Michael "Mickey" Mansell (born 31 August 1973) is an Irish darts player from County Tyrone who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.

Career

In October 2010, Mansell reached the semi-finals of a Players Championship in Dublin.[1] A week later, he qualified for the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship after defeating Stephen Byrne to win the Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay.[2] He was beaten 0–4 in the preliminary round by New Zealand's Preston Ridd.

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.[3]

On 2 May 2011, Mansell won his place in the UK Open in June. He finished inside the top 96 after the 8 UK Open qualifiers were held.[4] At the tournament he lost in the last 64 to James Wade 2–9.[5]

He represented Northern Ireland with Brendan Dolan in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they reached the quarter-finals, where they were defeated by the Netherlands 0–4, having beaten Denmark in the second round.[6] Mansell had a good season in the new European Tour events by qualifying for three of the five tournaments.[7] 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).[8][9] 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.[10]

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.[11] In his first 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.[12] Mansell was ranked world number 51 after the tournament.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] Mansell beat Co Stompé and Conan Whitehead to face Michael van Gerwen in the fourth round of the UK Open, which he lost 3–9.[16] 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 in the deciding leg of the final set but missed them all.[17] Mansell later revealed how this match impacted his darts for the subsequent year ahead as every time he played it was on his mind.[18] At the Dutch Darts Masters he beat Tonči Restović and Gino Vos, before losing 6–4 to Kim Huybrechts in the third round.[19]

Mansell beat Ben Burton and Dean Stewart to reach the third round of the 2014 UK Open but there lost 9–1 to James Wade.[20] 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 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.[21] He won his first match at the World Grand Prix in three attempts by eliminating Ian White 2–0 (sets).[18] 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.[22]

Mansell suffered a 3–0 loss to Kim Huybrechts in the first round of the 2015 World Championship.[23] Mansell and Dolan met the Netherlands' Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld for the second successive year at the World Cup, 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, just like last year, Northern Ireland were thrashed 4–0.[24] Mansell qualified for four European Tour events and was knocked out in the second round in all of them.[25]

Mansell's four World Cup appearances in a row ended in 2016 after Daryl Gurney overtook him as Northern Ireland's second highest player on the Order of Merit, behind Brendan Dolan.[26] Three last 32 and three last 16 exits have seen him qualify for the expanded Players Championship Finals and he will play Steve Beaton in the first round.[27]

World Championship results

PDC

References

  1. ↑ Caven's Dublin Delight PDC.tv
  2. ↑ Mansell Seals Irish Matchplay Win PDC.tv
  3. ↑ Qualifying School Day Three PDC.tv
  4. ↑ PDC.tv
  5. ↑ "2011 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Cash Converters World Cup Quarter-Finals Round-Up". PDC. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  7. ↑ "Michael Mansell 2012". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "2012 PDC German Darts Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "2012 PDC German Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "PartyPoker.com WGP – Tuesday". PDC. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "2013 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Order of Merit on 1 January 2013". PDC. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "Betfair World Cup of Darts – Last 16". PDC. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  15. ↑ "Brilliant Caven Triumphs in Wigan". PDC. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Speedy Services UK Open – Fourth Round". PDC. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "partypoker.com World Grand Prix Day One". PDC. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  18. 1 2 "partypoker.com WGP Day One". PDC. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  19. ↑ "2013 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  20. ↑ "2014 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  21. ↑ "bwin World Cup Glory For Dutch". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "partypoker.com WGP Day Three". PDC. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  24. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "Michael Mansell 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "2016 PDC World Cup of Darts Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  27. ↑ "Michael Mansell 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
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