Tipperary's Dylan Slevin impresses in defeat at PDC World Darts Championship

Tipperary native Dylan Slevin bowed out of the PDC World Darts Championship at the first hurdle despite a respectable showing against German opponent Florian Hempel.

Slevin emerged to a rousing reception at Alexandra Palace, with his walk-on song choice of Crazy Crazy Nights by Kiss going down well with the crowd.

Although he was seen as the underdog, Slevin won the opening set before wowing the crowd with a sensational 167 finish in the second.

A costly miss at double allowed Hempel to draw level in sets, before the German saw out the match with a 3-1 victory.

Luke Humphries shrugged off a sluggish start to his own campaign despite a 3-0 win over Lee Evans.

Third seed Humphries is seen as one of the strongest contenders for the title after overall wins at the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals in recent months.

But he admitted he had been let off the hook by Evans, who hit a 170 check-out in the second set but hit only five of 24 checkouts.

Humphries told Sky Sports: "I was not at my best but the most important thing is it felt good, and the first game is always the toughest.

"I am through to the next round and I won't play the same in the next round. I am not disappointed because I won 3-0 which is what I wanted.

"I feel like that is the hardest game in the whole tournament to get through, so I’m happy and in the next game I will be so much better than that."

There was no repeat performance for Fallon Sherrock four years after she made history by beating Ted Evetts to become the first woman to win a match at the championship.

Sherrock took the first set against opponent Jermaine Wattimena, making his 10th appearance in the tournament, but fell away badly and lost the next three sets.

Sherrock