Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional

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

player from

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, who plays 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 World ...

(PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (Where a player must hit a double, with a maximum value of 40, to begin play, as opposed to the traditional free choice, 60 point maximum first dart), which he did at the 2011 World Grand Prix. He lost to Phil Taylor in the final of the tournament; to date, it was his only appearance in a major final. Away from the television cameras, in floor events on the

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

, Dolan lost his first seven finals before winning his maiden ranking title in 2013.

Darts career

Early career

After two early exits in the 2003 and 2004

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...

, Dolan's first major run came in the 2004 World Grand Prix where he earned his place through the All-Ireland qualifiers, winning one of four places. He defeated fellow qualifier Mark Wilton in the first round but lost 3–1 in the second to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

. However, he did not yet play in full complement of PDC events as he only took part in a total of four tournaments in 2005 and 2006. Dolan reached the last 32 of the 2007 UK Open, beating Bob Anderson and Darren Johnson before losing to

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

2008

In March 2008, Dolan reached his first PDC Pro Tour final, doing so in the UK Open Midlands Regional Final. He scored wins over

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

, Roland Scholten,

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 ...

, Colin Lloyd and

Colin Osborne Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won tw ...

before losing to Phil Taylor. The result though earned Dolan £3,000, which helped him finish 16th in the UK Open rankings and enter the tournament in the third round. He defeated fellow countryman

John MaGowan Johnny "John" Magowan (born 10 June 1941 in Newtownards, County Down) is a Northern Irish former professional darts player who competed in the Professional Darts Corporation and British Darts Organisation events. BDO career MaGowan reached th ...

in the third round and then beat

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

to reach the last 16 where he lost to Chris Thompson. Dolan won the non-ranking 2008 Ulster Open, beating

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

in the final. He qualified for the 2008 World Grand Prix as the highest ranked player from Northern Ireland in the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

and was beaten in the first round by

Jacko Barry Jason "Jacko" Barry (born February 13, 1975 in Dublin) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish former professional darts player who competes in the Professional Darts Corporation tournaments. Career Barry won a place in the 2007 World Grand Prix Dart ...

2009

Dolan qualified for the 2009 World Championship by winning one of eight places at the qualifiers in

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

. He was beaten 3–0 by number three seed

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

in the first round. In October, he reached his second PDC Pro Tour final in Nuland, where Wade fought back from 2–0 down to defeat Dolan 6–2.

2010

Dolan qualified for the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

via the Players Championship Order of Merit and won his first game at the event by defeating

Tony Eccles Tony Eccles (born 8 January 1970) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Viper, he played in both the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He reached the quarter-finals of the BD ...

3–1 in the first round, but lost 4–0 in the second to

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

, who hit a nine-dart finish in the match. He qualified for the

Players Championship Finals The Players Championship Finals is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament originally featured the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit, a separate ranking system that only takes int ...

for the first time but lost 6–5 to

in the first round.

2011 – Dolan's Breakthrough

At the

, Dolan defeated Kevin Painter 3–0 in the first round before losing 0–4 to Wes Newton in the second round. At the World Grand Prix, Dolan defeated Wayne Jones,

John Part John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, a ...

and John Henderson to qualify for the semi-finals of the event. In his semi-final against James Wade, Dolan became the first darts player to hit a nine-dart finish with the double-start rule on television. He hit 160 to start, followed by a 180 then followed this up with treble 20, treble 17, and then the bullseye. Dolan eventually won the match 5–2 to reach the final, where his run ended with a 6–3 loss to Phil Taylor.

2012

Dolan did not enjoy a good 2012 World Championship as he lost 0–3 in the first round to

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13 ...

, picking up just two legs during the match. He then represented Northern Ireland with

Michael Mansell Michael Alexander Mansell (born 5 June 1951 in northern Tasmania) is a Tasmanian Aboriginal leader who, as an activist and lawyer, has worked for social, political and legal changes to improve the lives and social standing of Tasmanian Aborigi ...

in 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 concept i ...

and together they reached the quarter-finals, where they were whitewashed by the Netherlands 0–4, having beaten Denmark in the second round. Dolan reached the last 32 of the

, where he lost 8–9 to

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in Enfield) is an English retired professional darts player. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he h ...

. He also reached the World Matchplay for the first time and was defeated by

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

7–10 in the first round. At the European Championship he beat

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

and

Andree Welge Andree Welge (born 6 May 1972) is a German professional darts player who competed in events of the World Darts Federation (WDF). Career Welge made his World Championship debut in the 2002 BDO World Darts Championship where he lost in the first ...

to set up a quarter-final meeting with Phil Taylor, who had never lost a match in the event. Dolan became the first man in 23 attempts to defeat Taylor in the tournament with a 10–6 win, at the same time breaking his own duck against the fifteen-time world champion after 14 previous losses. Dolan played

in the semi-finals and from being 9–6 up he lost five consecutive legs to bow out 9–11. Dolan once again produced his best form at his home tournament, the World Grand Prix in October. He comfortably beat world number four Gary Anderson,

and

to reach the semi-finals for the second successive year and the second successive major event. Dolan took out a 170 finish to trail 1–2 in sets against Mervyn King, but was unable to stop King from going on to win 5–2. At the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

, he finished second in Group F thanks to wins over Paul Nicholson and

Barrie Bates Barrie Bates (born 17 October 1969) is a former Welsh darts player who played on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007, he was known as Champagne. Career Bates made his PDC televised ...

to qualify for the last 16. Dolan played

and made a disastrous start to the match as he trailed 0–6 and despite only trailing at one point 6–8, he lost 6–10. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Dolan was 21st on the Order of Merit, comfortably inside the top 32 who qualified for the

. He beat

6–4 in the first round, and again fell 0–6 down in the second round against

, and never quite recovered as he was defeated 8–10.

2013

Dolan lost in the second round of the 2013 World Championship 1–4 to

. In his third

and second with

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

Robert Marijanović Robert Marijanovic (born 6 May 1980) is a German darts player of Croatian heritage. Career Marijanović qualified for the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship after coming through the Eastern European qualifier. He was beaten 3–4 by Northern Ire ...

and Tonči Restović. Dolan reached the final of the second UK Open Qualifier following wins over the likes of

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

and van Barneveld. He faced

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

and was defeated 2–6. At the

itself he eliminated

Matt Padgett Matthew Padgett (born 27 March 1982) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Career A bowling alley technician by trade, Padgett joined the PDC in 2010. In June 2010, he qual ...

and Colin Lloyd to reach the last 16 for the first time since 2008. He faced Phil Taylor and missed three match darts when leading 8–7. He threw first in the deciding leg but Taylor only needed 11 darts to beat Dolan 9–8. In October, Dolan came extremely close to winning his first ranking tournament as he led

3–0 in the final of the ninth Players Championship, but went on to lose 6–4. He faced Lewis again a few days later in the first round of the World Grand Prix and lost in the deciding leg of the final set. Another defeat in a final followed at the Dutch Darts Masters as he was beaten 6–3 by

despite averaging 101.52. This meant he had appeared in eight ranking finals without landing a title. However, a week later at the 13th Players Championship Dolan finally won his first PDC ranking tournament. He took advantage of a depleted field due to the top 16 on the Order of Merit all participating in the Masters to defeat world number 110 Ricky Evans 6–3 in the final. His second tournament win came later in the month at the final Players Championship of 2013 where he beat Jamie Robinson 6–1 in the final.

2014

Dolan was outplayed by Gary Anderson in the

in a 4–1 defeat. He won the fourth UK Open Qualifier by beating

Jamie Lewis Jamie Lewis (born 8 November 1991) is a Welsh professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. His biggest achievement to date was reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 ...

6–1. A favourable draw saw Dolan beat

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

Nigel Heydon Nigel Heydon (born 22 July 1970) is an English professional darts player who plays in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Career Heydon qualified for the 2007 UK Open as an amateur qualifier, losing in the first round to John Burton. He ...

and

Aden Kirk Aden Kirk (born 3 March 1992) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In 2014, Kirk reached the last 64 in two of the six UK Open qualifiers to enter the event in the first rou ...

to reach the quarter-finals of the

for the first time, where he lost 10–4 to

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

. His second title of the season and fourth in sixth months came at the fifth Players Championship where he averaged 103.66 in whitewashing Michael Smith 6–0 in the final. In June, Dolan and Mansell beat Peter Wright and Robert Thornton from Scotland in the quarter-finals of the

. 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. Dolan won the 16th Players Championship with a 6–2 victory over Anderson at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, the same venue where he reached the final and threw a nine-dart finish in the 2011 World Grand Prix. A day later, Anderson exacted revenge by knocking Dolan out of the first round of the World Grand Prix 2–0 in sets. He missed doubles in successive legs at 8–7 up against Van Gerwen in the second round of the European Championship and was eliminated 10–8. Dolan earned a spot in the

through the qualifier, but lost each of his group games against Wright,

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname T ...

and Michael Smith to finish bottom of the table.

2015

Dolan dropped just one leg as he won the first two sets of his second round match with Michael Smith at the

. However, he could only win two of the next fourteen legs to be defeated 4–2, which means he has now failed to advance beyond the second round in seven appearances at the event. His first final of the year was at the fifth Players Championship event where he lost 6–5 to

. Dolan and Mansell met the Netherlands' Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld for the second successive year at the

, 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 the previous year, Northern Ireland were thrashed 4–0. Dolan eliminated

10–6 at the World Matchplay, before losing 13–8 to

in the second round. He was knocked out in the first round of the World Grand Prix, European Championship and

2016

Dolan once again failed to produce his best form at the World Championship in the 2016 event as he was whitewashed 3–0 by Kyle Anderson in the first round. He lost 9–6 to amateur Barry Lynn in the third round of the

. Dolan partnered

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

at the

for the first time and they saw off Japan, Ireland and Canada to reach the semi-finals, where they lost both their singles matches against the English pairing of Phil Taylor and

. At the World Matchplay he beat

10–7, before losing 11–8 to Mervyn King. Before the World Grand Prix Dolan married his partner Teresa and then defeated Peter Wright 2–0 in the first round, but was then eliminated 3–1 by

. Dolan recorded victories over

Max Hopp Max Hopp (born 20 August 1996) is a German professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Hopp reached the final of the 2011 WDF World Cup boys' singles, and won the boys' singles event at the 2012 ...

and

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

to qualify from his group at the

behind

. He was 5–1 down to

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

but pulled back to 5–5 and in the latter half of the contest took out finishes of 160 and 157 and squeezed through to his only quarter-final of 2016 10–9. There, he was thrashed 16–3 by Van Gerwen. Two deciding leg successes saw Dolan get to the third round of the

and he lost 10–4 to

2017

Dolan's quest to get past the second round of the World Championship continued as he lost at that stage in the 2017 tournament 4–0 to

Jelle Klaasen Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the ...

. He has played in the event eight times without getting to the last 16.

2018

Due to poor form, Dolan failed to qualify for the 2018 World Championship outright through the Pro Tour Order of Merit, but did reach the final of the PDPA Qualifier, losing to

Ted Evetts Ted Evetts (born 3 August 1997) is an English darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the 2021 PDC World Youth Champion. Career Evetts plays for his local Super League team and also plays Men's County fo ...

, and therefore qualified for the preliminary round. There, he defeated Croatia's Alan Ljubić to set up a first round tie with Robert Thornton, which Thornton won 3–1. Dolan's best result of the season came at Players Championship 12, where he read the semi-finals, losing to Peter Wright. An uptick in Pro Tour form saw him qualify for the 2018 Players Championship Finals, where he caused an upset by beating #1 seed Ian White in the second round before going out to his World Cup partner

2019

Dolan got his spot at the

2019 PDC World Darts Championship The 2019 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 26th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 13 De ...

through the Pro Tour Order of Merit, and went on to have his best run at the event yet, winning in straight sets against

Yuanjun Liu Yuanjun Liu (born 21 April 1982) is a Chinese professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career In 2016, he and Wenge Xie represented China in the 2016 PDC World Cup of Darts, and reached the second round, whe ...

and Joe Cullen, then took out seeds Mervyn King and

Benito van de Pas Benito van de Pas (born 18 January 1993) is a Dutch professional darts player. Career BDO Van de Pas reached the semi-finals of the 2011 PDC Under-21 World Championship, losing 1-4 to Michael van Gerwen. Van de Pas won the 2011 German Open. ...

, before losing 1–5 to a rampant

Nathan Aspinall Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 UK Open with a 170 checkout in the final leg against former World Champion Rob Cross. ...

in the quarter-finals. In the UK Open, Dolan lost his fourth-round match to Richard North. Despite that, 2019 saw a great improvement in his form as he qualified for six European events. At Players Championship 22, Dolan won his first title in five years, beating

Jermaine Wattimena Jermaine Wattimena (born 9 March 1988) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Career Wattimena won the first event he entered as he claimed the 2008 Malta Open by beating Vincent Busuttil in th ...

in the final 8–5. He repeated the trick at PC 29, winning 8–6 against Ian White. He also won a wild card for the

Grand Slam of Darts The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dar ...

, where he lost 1–5 to

Gabriel Clemens Gabriel Clemens (born August 16, 1983) is a German professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In 2017, Clemens made the semi-finals of the 2017 World Masters (darts), World Masters, and missed matc ...

, then beat

Richard Veenstra Richard Veenstra (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. He is a Dutch Open champion, BDO World Trophy and Finder Darts Masters finalist. Multiple medalist of WDF World ...

by the same scoreline to set up a Northern Ireland decider against

, which Dolan lost 2–5 to exit the tournament. His Pro Tour exploits saw him qualify for the

2019 Players Championship Finals The 2019 Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals was the twelfth edition of the PDC darts tournament, which sees the top 64 players from the 30 Players Championship events of 2019 taking part. The tournament took place from 22–24 November 2019 ...

as the #22 seed, and he beat Ross Smith in the first round before falling to Michael Smith.

2020

For the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship Dolan again qualified via the Pro Tour Order of Merit. In the first round, he won 3–0 against the Indian qualifier,

Nitin Kumar Nitin Kumar (born 14 November 1985) is an Indian professional darts player, who competed in Professional Darts Corporation events. Darts career In 2011, he represented Team India at the 2011 WDF World Cup along with Amit Gilitwala, Sarthak P ...

. In the second round, he met the fifth seed of the tournament, two times world champion Gary Anderson. Dolan was able to win only one leg throughout the match and lost 0–3. After that, he played very well in the first Players Championship. After defeating

Lisa Ashton Lisa Ashton (born 27 August 1970) is an English professional darts player who currently plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. She is a four-time BDO World Darts Women's Champion and has won over ...

, John Michael,

, Ross Smith and

Maik Kuivenhoven Maik Kuivenhoven (born 25 September 1988) is a Dutch professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In 2018, he qualified for his first PDC European Tour event, when he won one of the eight W ...

, Dolan made it to the semifinal. There he lost 2–7 to Jeff Smith, who had just recently got the Tour card. He did not manage to qualify for the first two European Tour events. In the

, he again lost his first match, in the fourth round against Jamie Hughes 9-10. In March he managed to qualify for the fourth event of the European Tour, which was later postponed until October due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The day after qualifying, he made it to the final of Players Championship 7 in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He managed to defeat

Adrian Gray Adrian Gray (born 28 February 1981) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Gray made his televised debut at the 2003 UK Open. He only began playing darts at the age of 18, and within thre ...

Niels Zonneveld Niels Zonneveld (born 22 July 1998) is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He attended European Q-School in 2019, where he won his Tour Card on Day 1, beating Christian Gödl 5–1 in the ...

, Ciaran Teehan,

Derk Telnekes Derk Telnekes (born April 28, 1995) is a Dutch darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In 2017, Telnekes won the Belgium Open. He qualified for the 2018 BDO World Darts Championship as one of the playoff qual ...

and

. In the final he faced

to whom he lost 4-8 and missed the chance to repeat the title from last year. For the first time since 2016 he qualified for the World Matchplay, which was played behind closed doors. In the first round he played the top seed, Michael van Gerwen. He played fairly evenly in the match, but ended up losing 7-10 eventually. Also for the first time since 2016, he managed to qualify for the World Grand Prix, which was being held in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

during October. In the tournament where he hit the first televised 9 darter ever, he played against

in the first round. In a very close match in which Dolan had a higher three dart average than his opponent, he lost in the deciding set 1–2. Thanks to these two majors that he missed in past years, he secured his spot in the top 32 after them.

Personal life

Since 2016, Dolan is married to Teresa Doherty who is from

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. He is a fan of

Fermanagh GAA The Fermanagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae Fear Manach) or Fermanagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for the administration of Gae ...

and football club

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Dolan has put on several fundraisers for Irish dancing in his local community to raise awareness for his chosen Charity: CWAS

World Championship performances

PDC

* 2009: First round (lost to

0–3) * 2010: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2011: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2012: First round (lost to

0–3) * 2013: Second round (lost to

1–4) * 2014: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 1–4) * 2015: Second round (lost to Michael Smith 2–4) * 2016: First round (lost to Kyle Anderson 0–3) * 2017: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2018: First round (lost to Robert Thornton 1–3) * 2019: Quarter-finals (lost to

1–5) * 2020: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 0–3) * 2021: Third round (lost to

3–4) * 2022: Second round (lost to

Callan Rydz Callan Rydz ( born 3 July 1998, from Newcastle upon Tyne) is a professional England, English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Darts career At 2018 PDC Q-School he tried to win a tour card, however he missed o ...

0–3) * 2023: Third round (lost to

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his ...

1–4)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Career statistics

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held

Performance timeline

''PDC European Tour''

Nine-dart finishes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolan, Brendan 1973 births Living people Darts players from Northern Ireland Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders Sportspeople from County Fermanagh PDC ranking title winners Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games PDC World Cup of Darts Northern Irish team