Steve Lennon pulled off a remarkable comeback at the World Darts Championship on Wednesday, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Owen Bates and qualify for the second round.
"That win meant a lot to me," the Carlow man said in his post-match press conference.
"I haven't been in a good place mentally coming into this so I didn't know what to expect form-wise.
"The stage is a hard place to be when you're not in the right headspace but I think, when I was 2-0 down, I relaxed a bit.
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"That's the beauty of set play. I just didn't look at the overall score, just treated it as if it was nil-nil and forgot about the last two sets. Experience paid off in the end I think.
"I was even thinking about pulling out of [the World Darts Championship] a while ago. I watched the first night and it gave me that buzz so I'm glad I played."
LENNON COMPLETES THE COMEBACK!
What a comeback that is from Steve Lennon as he wins nine out of 11 legs to recover from 2-0 down to beat Owen Bates!
What a fightback, a win that probably keeps his Tourcard!
📺 https://t.co/f3RU9WTIoD#WCDarts | R1 pic.twitter.com/wzvlPBah47
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 20, 2023
Lennon came into the tournament knowing that he needed to perform as he is at risk of losing his tour card.
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"I haven't been looking at it but I knew I needed a good run in this so I this is massive for me," he said.
"I was only really thinking about it in the few days leading up to [the World Darts Championship]. On the day, I didn't really think about it. Obviously you still want to do well at this tournament regardless of the tour card situation.
"Sometimes I feel luck as gone against me. I think I had a decent enough year this year. I qualified for the Grand Slam, the Players and the Worlds.
"There was times I thought I played better last year and I qualified for nothing. Sometimes things don't go your way and you just have to stay positive."
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Wednesday was a good day for Irish players at Alexandra Palace. Limerick man Willie O'Connor defeated Bhav Patel 3-0 while Radek Szaganski, originally from Poland but now working for Bus Eireann in Cork, beat Marko Kantele 3-2.
Lennon will face Welshman Jonny Clayton in the second round on Saturday afternoon.
"At least I have two or three days off now so I'm just going to relax, get a bit of practice in the hotel and just treat it the same as I did with this one," he said.
"I don't expect him to play badly. I expect him to be on top form. If he isn't then that's good for me, but if I can just play my own game then you never know what happens."
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