The World Snooker Championship witnessed the biggest shock in its history on Tuesday as Ronnie O’Sullivan was dumped out of the tournament by amateur James Cahill.

Cahill was a massive 22/1 outsider to beat five-time world champion and hit favourite O’Sullivan at the Crucible in Sheffield.

O’Sullivan had been an early favourite with most bookmakers to win another world title after clinching the Tour Championship in March.

But the most recognised man in snooker had no answer to Cahill, who stormed to a 10-8 victory in the first round after withstanding a frightening Ronnie comeback.

"I could barely stand up at the end," the 23-year-old said.

"I am not really sure what to say. I scored a good pressure 70 to go 6-5 up and after that I felt like he was the one under pressure. He didn't want to lose to me.

"I have always believed in myself and that I can beat anyone on my day. I want to show what I can do now."

O’Sullivan Was The Heavy Favourite

O’Sullivan had headed into the tournament in Sheffield as the favourite, with some bookmakers pricing him at 11/4 to win his sixth world title.

The five-time champion at the Crucible last won the title in 2013 and was the heavy favourite to beat Cahill when the first-round draw was made.

In fact, so confident were bookmakers that he would beat Cahill in this first-round match that some didn’t even offer a market.

But Cahill was having none of it, as he led 5-4 overnight and moved 8-5 ahead before O’Sullivan made it interesting by levelling the scores with breaks of 104 and 89.

Yet at 8-8 Cahill, 23, took advantage of a flurry of mistakes from O’Sullivan to get over the line and book a second-round match with 15th-seed Stephen Maguire.

Cahill Odds Tumble

And snooker betting fans are already seeing Cahill’s odds tumble after his historic win over The Rocket.

Cahill was priced as high as 250/1 with some bookmakers to win the World Championship before the start of his match with O’Sullivan.

But that price has already dropped, with BetVictor now pricing him at 50/1.