GOLF/Irish Close Championship:  Champions require many attributes and Greenore's John McGinn displayed many of them in claiming the Irish Amateur Close Championship, sponsored by Golfsure, at Carlow Golf Club yesterday. In the morning semi-final he was three down to Irish panellist Michael McGeady after 11 holes.

The seminal moment in the match arrived on the 12th green, as McGinn explained.

"He (McGeady) called a half and I wouldn't accept it. I holed from two and a half feet and he missed from just inside that. It backfired on him. I knew that if I hit good golf shots, I would still have a chance."

Two down with two to play, the Greenore man holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th. His opponent was still favourite to advance to the final.

Outside of his golfing ability McGinn had displayed great character and resolution in previous matches and it was these qualities that came to the fore on the home green.

McGeady was partially stymied by trees after his second shot and though he advanced the ball to the front edge, he took a further three to get down for a bogey. McGinn, who had slightly over hit a wedge from 65 yards to the back of the green, rolled the ball down to four feet and then holed the clutch putt for a par to take the match down the 19th.

A regulation four at the first extra hole sufficed to guarantee a passage to the final after McGeady missed from five feet.

There he faced former Irish international and Close winner (1997) Ken Kearney who had eased past the challenge of Niall Goulding. Four up after seven holes, the Roscommon golfer was never threatened thereafter.

Kearney may have started favourite, but McGinn quickly showed that he wasn't about to be cowed by reputation, winning the first with a par and the second with a birdie, holing superbly from 20 feet.

The fifth was halved in birdies before McGinn increased his advantage at the eighth when Kearney lipped out from five feet having put his second in a greenside bunker.

Two under the card and three up at the turn, the Greenore golfer's momentum was temporarily arrested when Kearney made an excellent birdie on the 10th, but McGinn responded in splendid fashion at the next, hitting a nine-iron to five feet and holing the birdie putt. Caddie and fiancee Olivia kept him focused with a few well-chosen words as the clubhouse beckoned.

By the time the match reached the 17th tee - Kearney had won the 13th with a par three - the Roscommon man was two down and in serious trouble when he pulled his bunker shot into a greenside bunker.

McGinn emphatically closed the door, rifling a magnificent five-iron to three feet. Kearney's sand shot nestled inches from the hole and he conceded his opponent his birdie putt and the match.

McGinn was understandably delighted: "It's fantastic. I wasn't really playing well in the qualifying (79, 73, one shot under the cut) but my game improved as the week went on. I felt really relaxed.

"In fact the only time that I realised where I was and what I was doing was when I stood over that putt on the 16th. I thought, 'this is to win the Close' and probably froze a wee bit.

"I have been in many tight matches before and my philosophy is simple. If you can see it, you can hit it. If you can hit it, you can hole it."

Weaned on the links of Laytown & Bettystown for 17 years he suffered a back injury in the 1996-97 season and on his return to golf joined Greenore.

"I packed in my job and spent last year playing golf full-time but it was only during the winter that my game finally came together," he said.

When he won the Dundalk Scratch Cup earlier this year he set a target of making the Leinster team; international honours now beckon. He hasn't been in the least discommoded by a return to work, enjoying his position as production manager with Boyne Valley Foods.

No matter what he goes on to achieve in golf, Carlow 2002 will hold special memories: from winning the Irish Close to the 195-yard three-wood he cut a full 65 yards in the air on the seventh hole yesterday morning, to that wonderful five-iron on the 17th in the afternoon. A triumph for hard work, ability and no little character.

Semi-finals: J McGinn (Greenore) bt M McGeady (City of Derry) 19th; K Kearney (Roscommon) bt N Goulding (Portmarnock) 4 and 3.

Final: McGinn bt Kearney 3 and 1.