Steve Lennon and William O'Connor book round two spots at Ally Pally

Ireland's Steve Lennon and William O'Connor are through to the second round at the PDC World Championships.

Lennon showed resolve in a pulsating contest at Alexandra Palace as he fought back to win 3-2 against Exeter debutant Owen Bates, who had held a two-set lead.

Carlow native Lennon won nine of the last 11 legs against the 21-year-old crowd favourite to claim the win needed to retain his PDC Tour card.

"I don't know how I won that," he said. "I was panicking deep down, it's a massive win."

Bates had qualified through the PDC Challenge Tour and hit five 180s and producing 101 and 108 second-set checkouts.

But Bates missed five doubles for a 2-1 lead in the fourth set as Lennon, who hit six maximums, grew stronger and booked a second-round meeting with Welshman Jonny Clayton.

Limerick's O'Connor, meanwhile, had a far more comfortable time with a 3-0 victory over Bhav Patel.

The Indian left-hander was close to a 157 finish but he failed to win a single leg and the impressive O'Connor - who hit 64% of his doubles and averaged 98.74 - will play Chris Dobey next.

Poland's Cork-based Radek Szaganski took to the stage on his Alexandra Palace debut wearing the colours of the Irish flag.

Szaganski overcame Finland's Marko Kantele 3-2 with a final set 142 checkout helping him through to a second-round clash with five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld.

Elsewhere, number 16 seed Ross Smith was stung by a wasp on stage at the World Championship after avoiding second-round pain to Niels Zonneveld.

Smith eased to a 3-1 victory over Zonneveld before running into problems.

"There's the wasp," Smith said in his post-match Sky Sports interview as he noticed the insect.

Did Ross Smith just get stung by a wasp live on-air?!