Who are Northern Ireland’s darts hopefuls?

Christmas is almost upon us and darts fever has really taken over.

The festive season and the World Cup at Alexandra Palace go hand in hand these days, especially with the Luke Littler effect putting dartboards at the top of many Santa lists.

Mickey Mansell and Brendan Dolan have already been in action in London, while Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney have yet to take up the fight.

Let’s take a look at the four hopefuls from Northern Ireland who will look to claim top honors in the new year.

Brendan Dolan

Brendan Dolan put together an excellent run at the 2024 World Darts Championship before his run was ended by Littler in the quarter-finals.

The Fermanagh player, who is seeded at number 30, also reached the quarter-finals in 2019 and has the ability to put together a strong run.

After a second-round win over Lok Yin Lee in straight sets, Dolan will be the underdog against three-time champion Michael van Gerwen in the third round after Christmas.

However, Dolan is capable of springing a surprise – he dumped out Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson last year in his run to the last eight.

The 51-year-old won his first ranking title in two years at the Players Championship 10 in May but has struggled for consistency since.

But darts is a funny old game and Dolan is sure to cause an upset.

Josh Rock

Big things were expected of Josh Rock when he burst onto the darts scene in 2022 by winning the World Youth Championship.

The 23-year-old made his World Championship debut the following year and reached the fourth round, but was shocked by qualifier Berry van Peer in his opening match last year.

Rock, the highest-ranked player from Northern Ireland, is seeded 18th for this year’s World Cup.

The Broughshane player has had his most successful year to date on the PDC Tour, winning his first European title at the Dutch Darts Championship in May, and he also collected two Players Championship Series titles, including the final event in October.

He starts his World Cup bid against Wales’ Rhys Griffin in Monday’s afternoon session.

Qualifier Griffin averaged 91.10 when he defeated Karel Sedlacek in straight sets in the first round, so that cannot be underestimated.

Daryl Gurney

Like Dolan, Daryl Gurney is a two-time World Cup quarter-finalist with his last appearance in the last eight coming in 2021.

Since then, however, the 38-year-old has not made it past the fourth round as he slipped down the rankings after being a consistent top-10 player in the years leading up to the Covid pandemic.

Gurney won the World Grand Prix in 2017 and the Players Championship final the following year, beating Van Gerwen. He will dream that he can regain that form during the festive period.

‘Superchin’, seeded 26th at this year’s championship, takes on Germany’s Florian Hempel in the evening session on Monday.

If he wins it, there could be a potential all-Northern Ireland showdown with Mansell in the third round.

Indeed, if the stars align, Gurney or Mansell could meet Rock in the quarter-finals, but there are many darts to be played before that becomes a possibility.

Mickey Mansell

This is Mickey Mansell’s ninth appearance at the World Darts Championship, but he is yet to progress past the second round at Alexandra Palace.

Last year, Mansell went in the second round to Dolan, who advanced to the quarter-finals.

In one of the surprise runs of 2024, Mansell reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts in November.

He will be hoping for another fairytale run like that at Ally Pally.

The 51-year-old defeated Japan’s Tomoya Goto in a low-scoring opening round and will face Wales’ Johnny Clayton in the second round on Monday afternoon.