Clonoe’s Mickey Mansell continues to defy the odds at the Grand Slam of Darts after breezing past World No.12 Danny Noppert to reach the Quarter-Finals in Wolverhampton.
The 51-year-old, who has already defeated two former world champions in Gerwyn Price and Raymond van Barneveld qualifying and progressed from a group that saw defending world champion Luke Humphries exit, went 10-for-15 on his checkouts to claim a 10-7 win and book his place in the last-eight.
It is history for Mansell, who is the lowest ranked player still in the tournament and has now progressed the furthest in any major tournament in his career at the Grand Slam of Darts having reached his first ever televised Quarter-Final.
He did so with a classy performance against the slick Noppert, averaging 99.05 in the victory but, more importantly, was deadly on the doubles as he missed just five darts to clean up legs.
It was even more impressive that the Clonoe Cyclone had to come back from losing his throw in the opening leg, Dutchman Noppert racing into an early 2-0 lead by holding his throw in the second leg, only for Mansell to reel off the next six legs on the bounce.
Back came Noppert as he broke the next two Mansell throws to close within a leg and, had he held his throw in the 12th leg then he would have tied it 6-6, but the Northern Irishman roared back to break again and reclaim his advantage.
And that would prove to be enough, Mansell able to hold his throw for the remainder of the match to close out the win, finishing it off with an impressive 120 checkout in the final leg to set up a Quarter-Final on Friday with either James Wade, who he has already beaten in the group stages, or Cameron Menzies.