Brendan Dolan

Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.

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 in the third round and then beat Adrian Lewis to reach the last 16 where he lost to Chris Thompson.

After two early exits in the 2003 and 2004 UK Open, 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.

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.

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, Roland Scholten, Wes Newton, Colin Lloyd and Colin Osborne before losing to Phil Taylor.

Dolan won the non-ranking 2008 Ulster Open, beating Ronnie Baxter 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 and was beaten in the first round by Jacko Barry.

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

He was beaten 3–0 by number three seed James Wade 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.

Dolan qualified for the World Championship via the Players Championship Order of Merit and won his first game at the event by defeating Tony Eccles 3–1 in the first round, but lost 4–0 in the second to Raymond van Barneveld, who hit a nine-dart finish in the match.

He qualified for the Players Championship Finals for the first time but lost 6–5 to Adrian Lewis in the first round.

At the World Championship, 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 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.

He was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (where a player must hit a double to begin play), which he achieved at the 2011 World Grand Prix, giving him the nickname The History Maker.

He also reached the final of this tournament, where he lost to Phil Taylor.

Dolan did not enjoy a good 2012 World Championship as he lost 0–3 in the first round to Kim Huybrechts, picking up just two legs during the match.

He then represented Northern Ireland with Michael Mansell in the World Cup 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 UK Open, where he lost 8–9 to Denis Ovens.

He also reached the World Matchplay for the first time and was defeated by Andy Hamilton 7–10 in the first round.

At the European Championship Dolan beat Justin Pipe and Andree Welge 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 Wes Newton 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, Vincent van der Voort and Justin Pipe 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, he finished second in Group F thanks to wins over Paul Nicholson and Barrie Bates to qualify for the last 16.

Dolan played John Part 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 Players Championship Finals.

He beat James Wade 6–4 in the first round, and again fell 0–6 down in the second round against Justin Pipe, and never quite recovered as he was defeated 8–10.

On the PDC Pro Tour, Dolan lost his first seven finals before winning his maiden ranking title in 2013.

He has since won seven other events on the PDC Pro Tour, most recently in 2022.

He is noted for his 180 celebration where he twirls his finger in a helicopter style motion.