Amateur Golf/Irish cups and shields finals: As if the wind that came in off the north Atlantic and the fast, undulating greens on this magnificent links at Enniscrone weren't sufficiently tough examinations, those players seeking to progress further in yesterday's opening series of the Bulmers Irish Cups and Shields finals had to also contend with a pace of play that was so painfully slow the virtue of patience became more important than any club in the bag.

"A day for experience," agreed Co Sligo's Ken Kearney, who teamed-up with Keith O'Neill in what proved to be the decisive second match in his side's Barton Shield semi-final win over North West. The fact it took them five hours and 10 minutes to close out the match on the 17th green, by which stage they had moved three-up on Pauric Óg O'Flaherty and Cathal McElhinney, told its own story of a long day.

Although stopwatches were produced by referees as early as the second hole in a bid to encourage play to speed up, it was to no avail and the Co Sligo-North West match had lost some three holes by the time the first semi-final between Limerick and Mullingar was concluded.

In fact, Limerick, who drafted in Dermot Morris to replace the unavailable Cian McNamara, had accounted for Mullingar with the minimum of fuss in the first semi-final, winning by three holes and having packed away their clubs and tucked into dinner long before their opponents in today's final were decided.

Kearney, a former Irish close champion and a three-time winner of this competition with Co Sligo in their glory years of 1995 to 1997, and O'Neill stuck diligently to their task and finally got the job done to ensure advancement into the final after the top match between David Dunne and Serryth Heavey and North West's Garret Mallon and David McGeough had finished level in this unique foursomes format where the combined results of the two matches determine the winners.

With the stiff wind presenting problems in club selection and making conditions on the fast greens extremely tricky, it wasn't uncommon for par golf to win holes. Kearney and O'Neill in fact won back-to-back holes on the homeward run, on the 11th and 12th, in pars to go two-up, before losing the 15th to a par from O'Flaherty and McElhinney, a brother of last year's British amateur champion, Brian.

The decisive move, though, came on the 514 yards par five 16th where McElhinney blocked his tee shot and, in the end, the pair did well to salvage a par. However, with Kearney playing his approach to within 20 yards of the green, O'Neill played a beautiful chip to three feet which Kearney holed for a birdie to put them two-up and in the driving seat. When O'Flaherty missed the green on the par three 17th to the right, leaving McElhinney with a difficult recovery chip that only barely made the green, the Co Sligo pair's par was sufficient to seal the win and a place in the final with Limerick.

Dermot Morris, celebrating his 53rd birthday yesterday, was drafted into the Limerick team to replace McNamara who was unavailable after returning to college in the United States and he teamed-up with Michael O'Kelly for a high-quality five-holes win in the top match over Mullingar's Des Morgan and Patrick Higgins. Although Pat Murray and Michael Kemmy lost by two holes to John Morris and Colin Cunningham, Limerick claimed overall victory by three holes.

In an impressive run home, Morris and O'Kelly halved the 10th with a birdie but then produced winning birdies at the 11th and 14th and then won the 17th in par to ensure Limerick's advancement into the final of a competition they last claimed in 1976.

Banbridge had the assistance of a certain Mr T Woods in their Irish Junior Cup semi-final win over Tramore.

Trevor - Tiger to his friends - Woods was a 3 and 2 winner over Alan Browne, while Neil Clydesdale and Jonathan Burns also won in Banbridge's 3½-1½ victory, advancing to today's final where the Ulster champions meet Leinster champions Castle. The Dublin club were 4-1 winners over Westport.

BARTON SHIELD - SEMI-FINALS

Limerick beat Mullingar by three holes (Limerick names first) - M O'Kelly/D Morris bt D Morgan/P Higgins by 5 holes, P Murray/M Kemmy lost to J Morris/C Cunningham by 2 holes.

Co Sligo bt North West by three holes (Co Sligo names first) - D Dunne/S Heavey halved with G Mallon/D McGeough; K Kearney/K O'Neill bt P O'Flaherty/C McElhinney by 3 holes.

IRISH JUNIOR CUP - SEMI-FINALS

Banbridge 3½ Tramore 1½ (Banbridge names first) - N Clydesdale bt D Linehan 3 and 2; T Woods bt A Browne 3 and 2; J Burns bt B Rogers 2 and 1; G Gillespie lost to P O'Sullivan 8 and 6; R Madeley halved with J O'Brien.

Castle 4 Westport 1 (Castle names first) - S Lynch bt C Walsh 5 and 4; R Burke bt A Browne 2 and 1; O Bhamjee bt M McGreal 3 and 2; R Kinsella halved with R Mahon; M Dillon halved with T Bree.

TODAY'S DRAW: Pierce Purcell Shield semi-finals: Loughrea v Tandragee (Loughrea names first) - 8.0 (10 mins intervals): G Lynch/A Donohue v P Mehaffey/S McReynolds; R Killeen/D Keane v D Johnson/Terry Davies; J Greally/P Keane v H Hall/K Steenson; K Greally/J Flynn v J Hanna/B Steenson; M Kavanagh/J Dervan v B Wilson/J Pedlow.

Charleville v Woodlands (Charleville names first) - 8.50 (10 mins intervals): J Carroll/D Whelan v P Kenny/J Galloway; P O'Shaughnessy/J O'Keefe v P Dermody/L Darcy; P Kelly/F Finn v T Goulding/J McEvoy; S Lyons/P Nagle v J Sullivan/J Crampton; T Barrett/S Moloney v J Russell/T Butler.

Barton Shield final: Limerick v Co Sligo (Limerick names first) - 11.0: O'Kelly/Morris v Dunne/Heavey. 11.10: Murray/Kemmy v Kearney/O'Neill.

Junior Cup final: Banbridge v Castle (Banbridge names first) - 11.30: Clydesdale v Lynch. 11.40: Woods v Burke. 11.50: Burns v Bhamjee. 12.00: McCandless v Kinsella. 12.10: Madeley v Dillon.