Dylan Slevin salutes 'The Magpie' goodbye and comes through all-Irish clash with William O'Connor at the World Darts Championship

Dylan Slevin has upset his compatriot William O'Connor in all-Irish World Darts Championship clash at the Alexandra Palace, prevailing 3-1 after a real battle.

Just the second all-Irish tie in PDC World Darts Championship history, the experience of William O'Connor was pitted against the youth of Dylan Slevin. Practice partners usually heading into Ally Pally, this time they were rivals and in the opening set, things were very evenly matched as breaks of throw were exchanged in the first two legs before the set was sent to a decider by two holds in the subsequent legs. In that fifth leg, Slevin prevailed to take the set and a 1-0 lead.

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After O'Connor missed double 17 for a 154 checkout to take the opening leg of set 2, Slevin punished to break the 'Magpie' throw. Slevin then held move two up in the next leg before both had chances in leg 3. O'Connor took it eventually to keep the set alive, although the head shaking afterwards made it look as if the former Premier League Darts challenger remained far from enthused. The fact Slevin held through firmly in leg to move into a 2-0 lead then did nothing to help O'Connor's mood.

Despite some messy doubling, O’Connor eventually took the opening leg of set 3 in 18 darts. Sensing his back was against the wall, O’Connor was getting more and more pumped up. It seemed to be working too as the more experienced Irishman took set 3 by three legs to one, halving his deficit.

The momentum continued to be on O’Connor's side in set 4 as he punished Slevin misses to take the opening two legs. Slevin stopped the rot in the next leg and after firing in a pair of maximums, the left-hander levelled the set up at 2-2. In the very next leg, the contest was sealed as Slevin pinned the double to take a 3-1 win and book a tie with Dimitri van den Bergh.

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