A wonderfully competitive final more than compensated for all the wretched weather which had gone before, in the Golfsure-sponsored Irish Close Championship at Rosses Point yesterday. And victory went to Waterford's Gavin McNeill, who overcame the more fancied Stephen Browne of Hermitage at the second tie hole.

It was a memorable effort by the 23-year-old Craigavon-born player who never lost hope, despite some very dispiriting moments which saw him go two down with six to play. And he had to hole a 25-footer for a most improbable half on the 17th, to take the match the full distance.

"I thought it was gone from me on the 14th, so victory is now all the sweeter," he said afterwards. "I can hardly believe I've won my national title. With this boost, I will have to give serious thought to the idea of turning pro, later in the year."

For his part, Browne was understandably crushed. It seemed he would be going to the European Team Championship in Sweden next month as Irish champion, when he gained an expected victory over Dunmurry's Darren Crowe in the morning semi-finals.

In fact, Browne swept the Ulsterman aside by winning the first three holes before increasing his lead to four holes by the turn. Meanwhile, McNeill was securing an even more convincing win over Killarney's Danny Sugrue in the other semi-final in which he, too, was four up at the turn.

Looking towards the final, one wondered who would be enjoying a belated Father's Day celebration - Edmund Browne, the concert tenor who has hauled his son's clubs for seven rounds in generally hostile weather since Saturday, or Ronnie McNeill, who arrived yesterday in the hope of seeing his son gain an unexpected victory.

In the end, it was the senior McNeill who swept his son off his feet on the 20th green in the moment of victory. And the established courtesy of a handshake between golfers, revealed nothing of the profound emotion which must have passed between the Brownes, as they comforted each other in defeat.

After the hostile weather of Monday and Tuesday, the championship reached a climax in ideal golfing weather as a fresh north-westerly was accompanied by bright sunshine. At the start, there was the odd sight of Browne losing the first two holes to pars, but as things settled down, the Hermitage player won the third, fifth and sixth in par, birdie, par to be one up and apparently set for ultimate success.

During that spell, he had gained an absolutely delightful half in par at the short fourth where, after coming up 10 yards short of the green, his pitch from down in the dip ended no more than three feet from the hole. These were the sort of short-game skills which had been so much a part of his progress through the championship.

But McNeill displayed undoubted talent in his playing of the difficult, 411-yard eighth, into the teeth of the wind. From semi-rough on the left, he drilled a three-iron of 180 yards to 12 feet right of the pin and then holed the putt for a winning birdie.

Here was clear evidence of a solid putting touch which would prove to be crucial later in the match. In the meantime, Browne holed a 30-yard bunker shot for a winning birdie on the ninth and then won the 11th and 12th in par to be two up with six to play.

He should have gone three up on the 14th. That was where McNeill's three-wood tee-shot turned over in the wind and finished in what he believed was an unreachable hazard 305 yards away. "As I dropped my ball on the 14th fairway, I felt it was all slipping away," he said.

But Browne threw him a lifeline by three-putting from off the back of the 14th green, allowing McNeill to salvage an improbable half in bogey.

Stage two of McNeill's recovery was of his own making. Having opted for a four-iron, downwind at the 216-yard 16th, to be sure of being up, his calculation proved to be perfect. With a beautifully-flighted shot, the ball came to rest four feet past the pin from where he slotted the putt for a winning birdie.

Now only one down, he squared the match in dramatic fashion at the next. In a dreadful lie down in the dip off the tee, the best he could do was to get the ball 25 feet past the pin in three. Browne, meanwhile, was in a fluffy lie, two feet up a bank, off the green on the right.

The Hermitage man did well to chip the ball to four feet. But he was dealt a body-blow when McNeill chose the line of his putt perfectly - two balls outside the left - and eased it down the slope into the hole. Putting into his own shadow, Browne missed.

When the next two were halved in par, the end came on the 20th where Browne, in his anxiety not to overfly the green, came up short in the front bunker. It meant McNeill had two putts from 12 feet for the title - and he made no mistake.

Semi-finals: S Browne (Hermitage) bt D Crowe (Dunmurry) 3 and 2; G McNeill (Waterford) bt D Sugrue (Waterford) 4 and 3.

Final: McNeill bt Browne at 20th.