Sport

Kehoe survives on the last

South of Ireland Championship: One of the most hazardous tasks for any amateur is to defend a title, and this is especially …

Mon Jul 29 2002 - 01:00

South of Ireland Championship: One of the most hazardous tasks for any amateur is to defend a title, and this is especially true of the South of Ireland. Philip Reid reports

In this purely matchplay championship, where there is no luxury of strokeplay qualifying and where the player is denied the chance to ease his way into the event, the exercise is akin to stepping into a minefield where one wrong move can be terminal to a player's ambitions.

Yesterday, on the Old Course at Lahinch, where slate-grey skies initially gave way to blue hues, only to return to darker shades by late evening, Justin Kehoe - as emphatic a winner of this title a year ago as there has been since GS Browning first won in 1895 - began his defence of the Irish Shell-sponsored championship with a win over former international Michael McGinley that was in no way clear-cut.

In fact, in the best traditions of matchplay, Kehoe was never ahead in their second round encounter until when it really mattered. He sank an eight-footer on the last for a one hole victory, but at least he had the good grace to have the look of a man who had avoided a death sentence in salvaging the win in such a hard-earned manner.

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"I'm going to have to improve, otherwise I'll be on my way home early," remarked Kehoe, one of the leading home hopes seeking to overcome a threatened French invasion and who, at least, evaded the fate that befell Noel Fox, the East of Ireland champion, and another current international, Tim Rice.

On a day when Irish hospitality ran to overflowing, with one of the eight French players - of whom six won - winning as early as the 11th hole, Kehoe's foe came from much closer to home. McGinley, a past winner of the North of Ireland championship, is a fierce matchplay competitor and, given that he twice had two hole leads, it is to Kehoe's credit that he kept to his task to eventually eke out a result.

Kehoe's plight became evident early on. McGinley was two-up after four, only for Kehoe to win the fifth with a birdie and the sixth to go all-square.

However, McGinley's seven-iron approach to the eighth finished tap-in distance from the hole, and he also won the 10th to go two up again.

On the 11th, though, he missed an eight-footer for birdie which would have increased the advantage to three. Instead of the door slamming shut, it was now half-open, and Kehoe won the 12th and 15th to go level again. His hard work, however, was only starting.

Refusing to capitulate, not just yet at any rate, McGinley won the 16th to go ahead again - but Kehoe levelled matters on the 17th, where his opponent drove into the rough on the right of the fairway. Then he holed his eight-footer for a winning birdie on the final green.

Others were also required to show some fortitude. Gavin McNeill, last year's Irish Close champion, was four down with six holes to play against Ger Hall but fought back to win by one hole.

But the shocks, that traditional element of Sunday play at the South, were on show as well. Fox was the victim of Gareth Bohill, a 22-year-old accountancy student who holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a one hole win, while Rice was beaten 3 and 1 by Kilkenny's Graham Nugent.

SECOND ROUND - First Quarter: E Chaudouey (Le Gouveneur) bt M Rowe (Athlone) 2 holes, A Dowling (Hermitage) bt R Coleman (Tullamore) 7/5, S Bell (Denver) bt E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 3/1, P Dooley (Cork) bt R Hennessy (Ennis) 4/3, C Conaty (Royal Dublin) bt P Murray (Kinsale) 3/1, M Murphy (Waterville) bt T O'Mahony (Mallow) 6/5, E Power (Kilkenny) bt G McGranaghan (Galway) 6/5, A McCormick (Scrabo) bt G O'Sullivan (Chicago GA) 5/4, S McTiernan (Co Sligo) bt C McCarthy (Charleville) 5/3, G Vaughan (Limerick) bt L Hynes (Blainroe) 4/3, G Bowden (Hermitage) bt M Feane (Lahinch) 21st, P Lima (St Nom La Breteche) bt G McAuley (Dunmurry) 2/1, M O'Kelly (Limerick) bt M Staunton (Ballinasloe) 4/3, M Collins (Sutton) bt B Hickey (Charleville) 7/6, D Ryan (Grange) bt J Mitchell (Tramore) 5/4, J Kehoe (Birr) bt M McGinley (Grange) 1 hole.

Second Quarter: G Nugent (Kilkenny) bt T Rice (Limerick)3/1, I Morrisson (Cahir Park) bt P Power (Tramore) 3/1, M Horan (Birr) bt R Gannon (Balbriggan) 4/2, J Lyons (Birr) bt M Owens (Mallow) 3/2, M Campbell (Stackstown) bt N Turner (Muskerry 1 hole, B Coathalen (Golf St Laurent) bt M King (Galway Bay) 4/3, P McGrath (Dromoland) bt P Burke (Nenagh) 3/2, S Madden (Dromoland) bt R McCarthy (The Island) 20th, M O'Sullivan (Galway) bt S McConnell (Ballyclare) 4/3, P McLaughlin (Ballyliffin) bt N Gorey (Killeen) 20th, D Carroll (Grange) bt D W Morris (Limerick) 1hole, D Mortimer (Connemara) bt J Mulready (Castle) 3/2, B Reddan (Co Louth) bt S D Moloney (Castletroy) 3/2, J Moore (Laytown & Bettystown) bt G Polumbus (Cherry Hills CC) 5/4; E McCormack (Slieve Russell) bt M Kemmy (Limerick) 4/3; J McGinn (Greenore) bt K McGarry (Bandon) 3/2.

Third Quarter: G Bohill (Co Louth) bt N Fox (Portmarnock) 1 hole; T Brannock (Newlands) bt A Meharg (Scrabo) 4/3; D Keating (Dun Laoghaire) bt C Menut (Montpellier Massane, Fr) 4and 2; M Ryan (Grange) bt N Lavin (Royal Dublin) 4/2; P McDonald (Woodbrook) w/o, K Canty (Douglas) scr; D McNamara (Connemara) bt E Haugh (Westmanstown) 5/4; M McGeady (City of Derry) bt K Fahey (Connemara) 2/1; M McDermott (Stackstown) bt D Heather (Sutton) 3/1; C Montgomery (Malone) bt N Goulding (Portmarnock) 2/1; A Snobeck (Dijon Bourgogne, Fr) bt D Gleeson (Old Conna) 6/5; A Morrow (Portmarnock) bt D Conway (Mallow) 3/1; R Leonard (Banbridge) bt M Collins (Fermoy) 4/3; R Pellicioli (Valescure, Fr) bt B McCarthy (RSHECC) 8/7; K Kennedy (Thurles) bt L Owens (Royal Dublin) 1 hole; G Maybin (Ballyclare) bt D Dunne (Elm Park) 5/4.

Fourth Quarter: G McNeill (Waterford) bt G Hall (Edenderry) 1 hole; P Sheehan (Castletroy) bt N Pyne (Ennis) 2/1; M Flanagan (Co Longford) bt C Brazillier (Chantaco, Fr) 6/5, D Finn (Mallow) bt L Halpin (Shannon) 19th, K Bornemann (Douglas) bt K O'Neill 2/1, R Maher w/o J Duclos Grenet (Deauville), L Ryan (Stackstown) bt P O'Keeffe (Douglas 3/1, J Foster (Ballyclare) bt P Collier (Lahinch) 3/1, D Crowe (Dunmurry) bt D Glynn (Roscommon) 8/6, D Sugrue (Killarney) bt H MacKeown (Portmarnock) 1 hole, P Lyons (Cork) bt K McCarthy (Kinsale) 3/1, G Bourdy (Golf Bordelais) bt S Horgan (Monkstown) 3/2, C Martin (Nenagh) F Flynn (Laytown/Bettystown) 2/1, A McKinley (Shandon Park) bt C Cunningham (Mullingar) 6/5, E O'Sullivan (The Island) bt H Hanley (Grange) 1 hole, C Moriarty (Athlone) bt S Heavey (Co Sligo) 6/5.