Mark King caused a minor upset by beating Dubliner Fergal O'Brien 10-8 last night in the first round of the world snooker championships at the Crucible.
King - who managed a break of 137 during the match - pulled away from eight frames each to take the final two frames. O'Brien's highest break was only 51.
Debutants Michael Judge, from Shankill, Co Dublin and Northerner Paddy Wallace caused the first major upsets yesterday when they sent John Parrott and Alan McManus crashing out.
Parrott, who had only failed to reach the last 16 once - in 1996 - since making his Sheffield debut 17 years ago, was beaten 10-6 by Michael Judge, who now faces Ken Doherty in an all-Irish second round.
While the Question of Sport team captain Parrott put up some sort of fight against Judge, world number eight McManus capitulated to a horrendous 102 reverse against Wallace, a qualified accountant.
Wallace, the world number 59, made a wonderful start to the match and led 8-1 after the first session, compiling the highest break of the event so far with a 135. He then went 9-1 up and although the Glaswegian pulled one back, it was merely delaying the inevitable as Wallace fluked the penultimate red in frame 12 and cleared up to secure a second-round meeting with Mark King.
"I found it difficult today because I never thought I'd be 8-1 up," said Wallace. "I was very uptight, especially with it being my first time here, and against someone of Alan's stature this is the best win of my career. I've never seen Alan miss so many pots and I think he was a bit shell-shocked. But he had a shocking run of the balls - a couple of terrible kicks - and the luck was totally in my favour."
Judge, who lost to Doherty last week in the Scottish Open, agreed his result also represented a big breakthrough for him. "It was a dream come true just to play John here and I'm delighted to have won. It's what I've practised for over the years," he said.
"I'm definitely in the best form of my career and I knew that if I could settle I had a good chance. Winning the first frame helped me do that and I knew I couldn't fall behind John today because then the pressure would really have been on me."
Parrott, who at 36 was the oldest player in the competition, said that although he was disappointed he would not be giving up. "I had loads of chances but didn't take them and that's been the story of my season. I'm just sorry I didn't do myself justice. I've not scored well all year or taken my practice form into matches. The way I've played I don't deserve to be in the top 16," he said.
"But I've no thoughts of calling it a day yet. I've been saying all along I'll give it another couple of years and then see my kids grow up."
