GOLF/Irish women's close championship: Around her neck, Rebecca Coakley wears, not one, but two St Christopher medals attached to a silver chain. The medals once belonged to her grandmothers and were given to the 21-year-old "for luck", as she called it, in pursuing her golfing dream. But the player is also blessed with some remarkable natural talent, and she used much of it in ending two-time defending champion Alison Coffey's reign in the Lancome Irish women's close championship final at Cork Golf Club, Little Island, on Saturday.

Coakley possesses an Australian accent but her roots are firmly embedded in Carlow, and, in a final of outstanding quality, she fulfilled a dream by winning the Irish title by 4 and 3 over Coffey, who next month makes her belated Curtis Cup debut for Britain and Ireland in the match against the United States in Pittsburgh.

On Saturday, though, the Warrenpoint player, champion in 2000 and again last year, relinquished her grip on the title. In fact, Coakley was two-up after three holes, and featured three birdies in the first four holes.

"It's hard to play catch-up, especially on a course where most of the birdie holes come early on," remarked Coffey.

An indication of the quality of the golf from the pair, though, is that Coakley was five-under for the 15 holes that she required to win the final.

Coffey's problems were compounded early on by some problems on the green. She three-putted the second and missed another birdie chance on the third, and, so, she found herself fighting an uphill battle almost as soon as the match started.

It seems inevitable that Coakley will join the professional ranks.

"It's not the biggest thing for me at the moment. All I want to do is keep playing away and take it from there," said Coakley, who will attempt to add the Irish Open strokeplay championship to her successes when that event takes place in Dundalk later this month.

She intends to stay in Ireland until November, "if I can find some work to keep me going", she said.

However, it remains to be seen if Coakley can represent Ireland in the Home Internationals in September. The ILGU are checking out her eligibility with the LGU in St Andrews, because she played a senior international for Australia earlier this year.

"Growing up, I always aspired to play for Ireland. It was something I dreamed about. When I was young, we were always coming home, back and forth, to Carlow, and I lived there until I was five. If I am eligible, I would love to play for Ireland."

Coffey, meanwhile, has no rest. She heads over to the Belfry tomorrow for a three-day Curtis Cup team session in preparation for her debut against the Americans. It extends what has been an exhausting few weeks for Coffey, who was a semi-finalist in the recent British amateur championship.

"This week I found it harder to focus than I would normally," she said. "Most years you come here and it is the Irish championship and that is all you think about really. This time I still had the Curtis Cup on my mind. It is what I have been trying to achieve in my career and to finally get selected was tremendous for me. But that is not an excuse. Rebecca played really well. She played great golf to win."

Juli Inkster birdied the final four holes en route to a four-under-par 67 and one-shot lead over Kate Golden after the second round of the LPGA Classic in New Jersey on Saturday.

A two-time former champion, Inkster was able to take the lead when Golden double-bogeyed the 17th hole, settling for a 69.