Belcoo’s Brendan Dolan will compete in his 10th successive World Championships next Saturday when he takes the stage at the Alexandra Palace to face a preliminary Round meeting with Croatia’s Alan Ljubic.
Dolan put aside the disappointment of dropping out of the top 32 in the world this year, he’s currently ranked 36th in the PDC Order of Merit, to come through the recent Qualifier competition and grab one of the three remaining spots left in the championships.
And a delighted Dolan took to twitter following his qualification to say that he is looking forward to being back at the World Championships.
“To have beaten the players that I have today is a real confidence boost, can’t wait to be back at Ally Pally,” he said.
The Fermanagh man booked his place in the Qualifiers final by seeing off Barry Van Peer, Coni Singh Nagi, Martin Lukeman, Alan Tabern, Ricky Evan and Jamie Lewis. 
Although he lost to Ted Evetts in the final, Dolan had already done enough to secure his place at the William Hill World Championships and will now face Ljubic who will make his World Darts Championship debut after winning the Eastern Europe Qualifier.
The Croatian ace defeated Poland’s Krzysztof Kciuk 6-2 in the final of the knockout in Budapest to secure his first televised appearance at Alexandra Palace.
That match will take place in the afternoon session of Saturday, December 16 with the winner then to meet Robert Thornton, ranked 28th in the PDC Order of Merit in the first round proper.