South of Ireland Championship: With golf that went from the sublime to the ridiculous, there was something for everybody in yesterday's South of Ireland Amateur Championship over the Old Course here, writes Philip Reid at Lahinch

And while in-form Darren Crowe produced much of the sublime, contributing 13 birdies in his day's work that saw him advance to the semi-finals in his attempt to add a second successive "major" to the North title he won last month, the flip-side of the coin was experienced by the unfortunate Robert McCarthy.

The statistic will simply state that McCarthy, from The Island, lost his quarter-final to Limerick's Michael O'Kelly by a 5 and 3 margin. What that result doesn't tell is a series of bizarre happenings to the Dubliner: he incurred a one-stroke penalty on the second, when his ball moved on address; he innocently picked up on the third after O'Kelly chipped-in for par rather than the birdie McCarthy thought he had; he lost a ball on the eighth; and, then, when it seemed as if the golfing gods could inflict no further harm, he sank a 35-footer for birdie on the 14th - only for his caddie to fail to remove the flag from the hole.

Although O'Kelly had a 25-footer of his own for birdie on the 14th, he wasn't required to putt as the penalty for McCarthy, under Rule 17, was loss of the hole.

When McCarthy's drive on the 15th ploughed into thick rough and he failed to escape in two further shots, there was nothing left but to extend a hand to his conqueror.

In fairness to O'Kelly, a 33-year-old banker who is on a career break and is working on the course at Limerick Golf Club, he produced consistently solid golf while one misfortune after another befell his opponent.

A finalist in 1993, but whose family commitments have limited his competitive golf in recent years, O'Kelly remarked: "I never thought I'd see the Wednesday of the South again."

His reward for progressing to the last-four, though, is a tilt with Crowe, who once flirted with the idea of turning professional only to remain in the amateur ranks.

Crowe, who visited tour school last year only to have his eyes opened by the standard in the professional game, won the North of Ireland at Portrush last month.

In yesterday's fifth round, he had six birdies in beating Castletroy's Stephen Moloney on the 18th, and then produced a further seven in defeating former champion Mark Campbell, of Stackstown, 2 and 1 in a high-quality quarter-final.

The 25-year-old from Dunmurry edged ahead on the third, where he hit a superb three-iron approach to eight feet for birdie. But despite producing four birdies on the front nine, he was only one-up on Campbell at the turn.

When Campbell birdied the 10th, the match was all-square; but then Crowe put his foot on the accelerator, winning three of the next four holes in par-birdie-birdie-birdie to establish a lead Campbell couldn't peg back.

With the wind changing direction and dropping considerably in force from previous days, Crowe, a finance graduate who works in the family construction business, observed that "the difference was night and day, instead of just hitting the ball, you were thinking about what you were doing."

Simon Ward, a 19-year-old member of Co Louth, but who hails from Carrickmacross, was an impressive 5 and 3 winner of his quarter-final over Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell, while Pat Murray, who covered the front nine in 30 strokes highlighted by six birdies, was a 5 and 4 winner over Gary O'Flaherty.

Ward got off to a fast start, with a hat-trick of birdies from the second, and chipped in for birdie from greenside rough on the seventh.

When he did get into trouble, finding bunkers on the sixth and eighth holes, the business student at University of Ulster Jordanstown showed a wonderful touch to save par on each occasion. Five-up at the turn, Ward, a beaten finalist to Rory McIlroy in the Irish Close, played solid, sensible golf thereafter to advance to the semi-final stage.

Murray, the 35-year-old secretary-manager at Limerick Golf Club, was in scintillating form that showed no mercy to his close friend O'Flaherty, who acted as best man as his wedding.

"It wasn't easy to play against such a close friend," said Murray, who nevertheless had four birdies in a row from the second (including hitting a three-iron to eight feet on the third and a five-iron approach to eight feet on the fifth) to establish a two-hole lead, and then added further birdies at the eighth and ninth to be four-up at the turn.

He closed out the match on the 14th, where he hit his approach to five-feet and O'Flaherty conceded the match.

FIFTH ROUND

M Campbell (Stackstown) bt N Gorey (Killeen) 1 hole; D Crowe (Dunmurry) bt S Moloney (Castletroy) 1 hole; R McCarthy (The Island) bt D McInerney (Lahinch) 4 and 3; M O'Kelly (Limerick) bt D Morgan (Mullingar) 3 and 2; J Caldwell (Clandeboye) bt N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 3 and 2; S Ward (Co Louth) bt A O'Callaghan (Douglas) 5 and 4; P Murray (Limerick) bt M Poucher (Castle) 2 and 1; G O'Flaherty (Cork) bt G Hall (Edenderry) 1 hole.

QUARTER-FINALS

Crowe bt Campbell 2 and 1; O'Kelly bt McCarthy 5 and 3; Ward bt Caldwell 5 and 3; Murray bt O'Flaherty 5 and 4.

Semi-finals: 8.30: Crowe v O'Kelly. 9.0: Ward v Murray. Final: 2.0.