O’Connor “annoyed” over ‘watergate’ incident at the Grand Slam of Darts

William O’Connor admits he was “annoyed” after water was spilt over his equipment prior to his match against Darren Webster at the Grand Slam of Darts on Saturday.

The Republic of Ireland World Cup star was gearing up for his Group D opener against the world number 19 when water was allegedly spilt on his darts case by Webster at the drinks table.

An irrate O’Connor went on to win the match 5-3 and told Sky Sports: “He poured water all over my stuff and it annoyed me. 

“I looked back at my darts case and everything was covered in water. It really bugged me, it shouldn’t happen.”

The 33-year-old then told Live Darts: “I got a bit annoyed early on, I got water poured all over my equipment and everything.

“I felt like I gave him a leg early on, I’m not sure whether it turned out to be a key moment or not.

“My hands were covered in water and all my equipment was covered in water, it wasn’t exactly the best thing to happen.

“I’m not sure whether it was an accident or gamesmanship, the fact of the matter was that it happened and it was a bit of a problem for me to deal with.

“It happened and I got over it, so on to the next one.”

Webster took to Twitter shortly after the match to give his version of events, explaining: “I poured his glass of water out, started to pour mine and realised the glass was upside down and I said “be careful I’ve I spilt a bit.”

Can we please have VAR at the darts it would of shown the glass was clearly up side down and it was an accident not gamesmanship cheers

— Darren Webster (@DEMOLITION180) November 9, 2019

O’Connor, a winner of a Players Championship title in April, revealed he recently gave up his job as a furniture fitter in order to concentrate on darts full-time and says he is beginning to put in the hard hours required to reach the top.

He added: “I hadn’t put in a massive amount of effort since the World Cup until a few weeks ago, but I’ve put in a massive effort to put in a lot of practice.

“I’ve been a full-time professional now for the last two months and I have to start making it work.

“I’ll give everyone respect if they give me respect and I wish everyone the best of luck in this tournament.”