Winning start for Keane Barry in Budapest as Brendan Dolan makes early exit

Keane Barry made a winning start on the opening day of the Hungarian Darts Trophy in Budapest.

The Cork native reeled off four consecutive legs in dispatching Darren Beveridge 6-2 in the tournament's curtain-raiser and will face Gian van Veen of the Netherlands in Saturday's second round tie.

Brendan Dolan exited the competition, a late fightback not enough as Martin Lukeman secured his first European Tour victory of 2024 6-4.

Daryl Gurney gets his tournament underway in the second round against Germany's Florian Hempel.

World number two Michael Smith was the big casualty on the opening night after he was knocked out by Jonny Clayton.

Smith, who lost to Luke Littler in the World Series of Darts Finals on Sunday in Amsterdam, went down 6-3 to his Welsh opponent.

Clayton raced into a three-leg lead in Budapest and sent down four 180s alongside a 94.17 average as Smith suffered a first-round exit despite a brief rally.

Top seed and defending champion Dave Chisnall is next up for Clayton.

Peter Wright was able to edge out Joe Cullen in a decider and is joined in round two by Raymond van Barneveld after his 6-3 victory over Ritchie Edhouse. The Dutchman will face Ross Smith on Saturday.

Nathan Aspinall, James Wade and Andrew Gilding were other notable first-round winners, while Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price begin their campaigns on Saturday.