Tyrone's Mickey Mansell won his first ever game at the World Darts Championship as he brushed aside the challenge of New Zealander Haupai Puha.
Beaten on five previous appearances at Alexandra Palace, Mansell won all nine legs to complete an impressive 3-0 win.
The Clonoe Cyclone averaged 93.94 and hit 56.25% of his shots at double.
World ranked 59, Mansell will play 'Rapid' Ricky Evan in the second round on Wednesday afternoon.
"It's unbelievable," Mansell said afterwards. "I'm disappointed the family's not here, lucky enough my wife is here. At the start of every year I make a promise to my wife and three children, that if I get to the World Championships, we're all going.
"They've come here the last four years or whatever, and [there's been] big, big disappointments. The biggest thing for me is... that Eimear is here, thankfully. My two boys and my daughter not being able to witness it , it's a brilliant feeling.
"They're gone through all the emotions. They get all the stick. I can suck a lot of things up, the kind of things that happen whenever you get beaten, but they're not prepared for all of them situations. I can get over it, dust myself down and play another game."
Meanwhile, Cork's Ciaran Teehan lost a first-round battle with former World Championship semi-finalist Wayne Jones 3-2.
The 21-year-old Irishman was making just his second appearance at the event and took the experienced Wolverhampton thrower all the way.
However it wasn't to be for Teehan, who averaged 86.31 and hit just eight of 26 doubles, and Jones progresses to a round-two clash with Joe Cullen.
Carlow's Steve Lennon starts his campaign on Saturday afternoon when he faces Daniel Larsson of Sweden.
Darius Labanauskas will meet Simon Whitlock in the second round after beating Chengan Liu this afternoon.
Elsewhere, James Wade eased into the second round of the on a day when 66-year-old Paul Lim took top honours.
Nine-time major winner Wade only hit 47% on the doubles but it was more than enough, with a 93.17 average in a 3-0 victory over Callan Rydz.
Wade also threw one 100 checkout and three 180s during the three-set match, dropping just three legs in the process.
Lim came from two sets down to knock Luke Humphries out of the tournament in the opening round.
Humphries hit seven 180s in the match compared to just one from Lim, and missed 12 darts at the double to allow his opponent back into the match.
Lim was able to hold his nerve at the end, with a 14-darter on tops to secure the match.
John Henderson was made to fight for his place in the tournament after he edged to a first-round victory over Marko Kantele.
The Scottish player had already missed a match dart in the previous set to force the fifth, before throwing a 16-dart hold to move to victory which he sealed with a double six.
Despite averaging 79.69 compared to Henderson's 91.09, Kantele took the game to a decider, throwing two 180s in the process.
Dirk Van Duijvenbode secured a place in the second round to face 2018 world champion Rob Cross following a 3-2 win over Bradley Brooks.
The 20-year-old threw well after winning the 2020 PDC World Youth Championship, averaging 92.7, more than his opponents 92.57 but he fell to a narrow defeat, with Van Duijvenbode recording five 180s.
In the afternoon session, Adam Hunt eased through to the second round with a 3-0 upset over 28th seed Jamie Hughes, throwing four 180s.
