Belcoo darts thrower, Brendan Dolan, saw his 2024 PDC World Darts Championship journey come to an end on New Year’s Day as he fell to the 16-year-old, Luke Littler in the quarter-finals.

It was the second time Dolan, who was ranked 28, had reached that stage of the competition.

Littler took the competition by storm and Dolan, like Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding , Matt Campbell and Raymond van Barneveld before him, was unable to stop the youngster.

Littler was due to take on World Number One, Luke Humphries, in the final on Wednesday evening.

For Dolan, now back home in Ireland, he knows he did not reach the heights of previous rounds which saw him account for former world champions, Gerwyn Price and Garry Anderson, as well as his close friend, Mickey Mansell.

“I know I didn’t play well or score at all in the game but the young lad did very well,” Dolan reflected.

“He played to a very high standard and he continued that in the next round. It’s one of those things, it wasn’t meant to be.

“I knew how good he was going to be. I wasn’t naïve to that and I saw him against Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding and Barney before that and he was playing to a very high standard.

“I wasn’t caught off guard or anything like that but it was the first time to play him and I was very impressed by the way he held himself together.”

While Littler won out 5-1, Dolan started the match brightly, taking the first two legs. And he showed glimpses of previous form in the game, none more so than the set he took, checking out 118.

“I thought maybe he didn’t come out firing as much he normally would and I thought maybe I had more scoring to go. And then I just seemed to get worse.

“I felt I wasn’t scoring enough and it probably played on my mind.

“The first darts kept dropping low on the treble 20 and that makes it difficult to start scoring.

“It just didn’t happen for me and the more I tried the worse it got.”

But that was just one game, and Dolan looking back on the tournament as a whole was pleased with how he performed.

“I’d have to say the tournament overall it was very pleasing. I’m delighted with it - to get to the quarter-finals of the Worlds,” said Dolan as he looked back on the games he played: “To go to the last leg against Mickey Mansell was tough.

“Then to play the two best players on the floor this year in the PDC and beat the two of them.

“There’s a lot to take away from the tournament. My attitude and application and holding my composure and nerve at the right time. There are a lot of positives.”

Another pleasing aspect of his game was his finishing: “The finishing and doing it at the right time, it definitely hurt the players when I was doing it.

“My percentage finishing was probably in the high 40s for the tournament up until the last game, so that’s very good under that kind of pressure and that’s another pleasing point for my game,” Dolan said.

It is now time for some rest before he gets back into action in February for Dolan who will be hoping he can give those who supported him over the Worlds more to cheer about in 2024.

It is a support that the Belcoo man is hugely grateful for.

“I’d have to say especially on social media I saw videos put up. Loads of videos of places all over Ireland and everybody watching and videos of me hitting the last doubles in games, dart tournaments just stopping, and people at weddings watching on their phones.

“It’s absolutely crazy the support that I do have in Ireland and I do feel very humble about it.

“It’s so nice to know people are interested. It’s great people have come out and are there to support me.”