Brendan Dolan made his exit from the Cazoo World Darts Championship, going down 4-1 to seventh seed Johnny Clayton at the Alexandra Palace on Tuesday afternoon.

Belcoo man Dolan – competing in his 15th World Championship – secured his passage through to the post-Christmas action with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Dutch debutant Jimmy Hendriks in Friday’s opener.

That win set up the meeting with Clayton, but it was the Welshman whose superiority in the crucial moments proved decisive.

This was a closer contest than the 4-1 scoreline suggests, with all five sets going to a deciding legs.

Clayton won the first set but Dolan had chances to win sets two and three, missing 157 and 85 combinations, as Clayton showed greater accuracy on the doubles to move into a 3-0 lead.

Former quarter-finalist, Dolan only managed to hit 11 of 29 darts at doubles, compared to Clayton’s 14 of 29 over the course of the contest, but the Fermanagh man did take set four, checking out on 70 in a 15-dart leg to make it 3-1.

Dolan did have a higher average of 94.07 with Clayton averaging 93.76, and the fifth set again went all the way to the deciding leg, but Clayton hit a superb 116 finish to secure his place in the last 16, where he will face another Northern Irishman, Josh Rock, for a spot in the quarter finals.