Golf/ Irish Open:Finally, belatedly, the demons of a quarter of a century of golfing frustration have been banished. But, in typical Padraig Harrington fashion, he did it the hard way.

There wasn't a still heart in the vast expanse of Adare Manor yesterday as the Dubliner eventually captured the Irish Open title in a play-off, outlasting a stubborn Bradley Dredge - cast in the role of spoilsport - at the first extra hole.

On a day that somehow managed to share heavy, wintry rain with glorious sunshine, Harrington fulfilled another part of his golfing destiny. It was, though, a roller-coaster ride of the white-knuckle variety, with the victory secured only in sudden-death when Dredge discovered that the river Maigue, which fronts the 18th green, is not as angelic as its picture postcard appearance. It was an expensive discovery for the Welshman.

So Harrington, the poster boy of Irish golf, delivered. And, in claiming the top prize of €416,660, he ended the 25-year drought since John O'Leary's win. But it was tough, and not always pretty. Still, it was one to savour, another to add to the list of achievements that include Ryder Cups, World Cups and the European Tour order of merit title.

Where does, or can, it rank?

"I'd put this as an equal to what I've achieved. The World Cup, unbelievable. The Ryder Cup, unbelievable. This is at the top of the pile, no question about it . . . but I wouldn't set it apart. It's there, or thereabouts," said Harrington.

Coming here as the highest-ranked player in the world in the field, and with the weight of a nation's expectations to contend with, Harrington shot a final round 71 to Dredge's 68, the pair finishing tied on 283, five-under, and he saw off his chief rival with a par five on the 18th, the first play-off hole. Dredge, who had played superbly, took a seven, and his battle was finally over.

All day, those spectators - the crowd was officially recorded at 23,150 - who had followed Harrington's fortunes barely had time to draw breath before one twist was followed by another in the unfolding drama.

At one stage, England's Simon Wakefield threatened to infringe on the duel between Harrington and Dredge, only to falter with three bogeys coming in to finish alone in third place, four strokes adrift.

Otherwise, it was one man against the other, just as it had been when the pair went head-to-head in last year's Dunhill Links when Harrington won.

After a nervy start from both players in the final grouping, when the crowd's enthusiasm and expectations couldn't but be felt by the pair, it seemed Harrington had struck the vital series of blows with some stellar, worldclass shots from the seventh to the ninth. In that run of holes, Harrington went birdie-birdie-eagle to Dredge's birdie-birdie-birdie.

Harrington's play over that stretch was sublime: on the seventh, he hit an approach with his hybrid club to 25 feet, and only barely missed the eagle putt; on the eighth, he hit a sandwedge approach - after Dredge had put his to four feet - to two feet; and, on the ninth, the Irishman, with 245 yards to the flag, hit a five-wood approach to 12 feet and sank the eagle putt.

It put him four shots clear, but instead of seeing off Dredge, it only signalled the start of the really hard work.

While Harrington failed to record another birdie and dropped a shot at the 11th and 17th, Dredge, with four birdies and two bogeys in that stretch, grabbed the momentum. Dredge chipped in for birdie on the 14th and sank a long putt on the 15th to go one behind.

But his charge, it seemed, had come to an end when he bogeyed the 16th.

Dredge's response, though, was to hit an approach from thick rough on the 17th to two feet. It forced Harrington, in the middle of the fairway and with a wedge in his hands from 129 yards, to be aggressive.

He overshot the green, finished in heavy rough and failed to get up and down. Dredge rolled in his birdie putt and, suddenly, the pair were level. And when the 18th was shared in par, there was nothing for it but to extend the fight.

Throughout the tournament, Harrington had used five-wood off the tee. But the gameplan hadn't yielded birdies and, so, in the play-off he switched to driver. The result was a pushed shot into rough, just a matter of yards from where Dredge had also put his tee-shot. It was what followed next that decided the outcome: Dredge's recovery ran over the hazard line and, although still dry, left him with an awkward stance and a tough shot over the river.

Harrington, meanwhile, saw his second shot come up short of the river in the rough. Dredge's third shot failed to clear the bank on the far side, but was visible - and just about playable - on the riverbed.

With Harrington on the fringe of the green in three, Dredge had no option other than to attempt a miracle recovery shot. It just about found the grassy slope above the bank. His fifth shot finished just off the green and, finally, the golfing gods were imparting their blessings on Harrington.

Dredge failed with his chip-in and eventually recorded a double-bogey seven to Harrington's five.

"It was just so frustrating to give it to him the way I did in the end," lamented Dredge, whose late birdies - three in the last five holes of regular play - had been met with polite applause from galleries very much in support of Harrington.

In the end, though, Harrington got what he wanted.

"This is the tournament I wanted to win more than any other, bar a major. So, it is majors next, no question about it . . . and hopefully my game is capable of going on to win not just one, but more."

More immediately, Harrington's win means he heads to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week with the tantalising prospect of chasing a €1 million bonus should he add that title to the Irish Open.

"I'm the only one with a chance of winning a million euro, but I wish it was being played somewhere else," quipped Harrington.

In truth, for Harrington, the money is secondary.

Really. It is winning titles that matter most. And, in that greater scheme of things, getting his hands on the Irish Open title and adding his name to those of Fred Daly, Harry Bradshaw, Christy O'Connor Snr and O'Leary, who preceded him, provides him with a place in history.