Limerick's William O'Connor learns first round draw for Cazoo World Darts Championship

LIMERICK'S William O'Connor will face highly rated English teenager Beau Greaves in the opening round of the Cazoo PDC World Darts Championship next month.

Cappamore man O'Connor, a former UK Open semi-finalist, will face 18-year-old Greaves in an exciting first round match at London's Alexandra Palace.

The winner of the contest will take on Germany's number one Gabriel Clemens in round two of the event which runs from December 15 to January 3, live on Sky Sports.

The schedule for those opening round games will be confirmed in the coming days.

Darts' biggest tournament will see 96 players competing to win the Sid Waddell Trophy and £2.5 million in prize money at the Ally Pally.

Thirty six-year-old William O'Connor has a PDC world ranking of 37 at present. 

2019 World Cup finalist O'Connor reached the third round of the World Darts Championship last year before losing out 4-2 to Michael 'Bully Boy' Smith of England.

The Limerick man had scored a convincing 3-0 win over 24th seed Glen Durrant, of England, in the second round of the prestigious tournament.

O'Connor, nicknamed The Magpie, had reached the second round of the 2021/2022 World Championship when overcoming US talent Danny Lauby.

The draw for the 2022/2023 Cazoo World Darts Championship, which was made by Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster live on Sky Sports News on Monday, sees the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit seeded through to round two.

The first round action will see the ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers up against the Qualifiers & International Representatives, as they battle for the right to take on the seeded stars.