Steve Lennon hit four 180s as he beat Daniel Larsson 3-1 at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.
The Carlow native, ranked 37 in the world, also hit 17 140s and averaged 96.95.
Lennon, who was part of the Republic of Ireland side that made it all the way to the World Cup final in 2019, raced into a 2-0 lead before allowing Larsson to claw his way back into the game with a 3-0 win in the third set against the darts.
Two maximums in the fourth set helped Lennon, who will meet South Africa's Devon Petersen, world number 29, in the second round on Tuesday evening, to a 3-0 win to round off the victory.
"I was kind of stressed a bit today because I don't really like first rounds," Lennon told Sky Sports.
"After getting through that I can relax a bit now, I have a few days off.
"[Devon] is playing well this year. I wasn't really thinking of the next round, I just wanted to get through this. As long as I play my own game anything is possible."
Michael van Gerwen opened his campaign with a 3-1 win over Scotland's Ryan Murray, but Deta Hedman saw her hopes ended with defeat in the first round.
World number one Van Gerwen, runner-up to Peter Wright in last year’s event, was out to build momentum following a sixth Players Championship Finals title.
The Dutchman claimed the opening set with three 15-dart legs, but Murray, who beat Lourence Ilagan to reach the second round, responded in the second set with a brilliant 130 checkout on his way to levelling the match.
Van Gerwen stepped things up again in the third, which he took 3-1 with a 113.3 average.
Murray tried to stay with Van Gerwen, clinching a superb 124 checkout with a bullseye and then hit double top to pull it back to 2-2 and had the throw for the set.
It was, though, only delaying the inevitable as after Murray missed a double 10 finish, Van Gerwen cleaned up 76 to secure his place in round three.
Hedman was earlier been beaten 3-1 by Andy Boulton, who will go on to face Stephen Bunting for a place in the third round.
'The Heart of Darts’ was looking to follow in the footsteps of Fallon Sherrock, who made history by beating two men in the 2019 World Championship.
The 61-year-old hit a maximum in the opening leg, but then failed to land a double as Boulton went on to comfortably take the first two sets.
Hedman fought back to take the third set, but Boulton again broke her throw in the fourth before sealing victory with an 11-dart finish.
