ANDY ROCHE, riding with the Kerry team, resisted some strong challenges to register the closest victory in the FBD Milk Ras which ended in spectacular style in Swords yesterday.

At the end of 780 miles in 10 stages over nine days of fast and furious racing, at an average of 26 miles an hour, Roche (25), from the Isle of Man, had just five seconds to spare over Mark McKay (Stoke). Kevin Dawson of the Britain team was third at 29 seconds. The hopes of Gethin Butler (England North East) had been ended in yesterday morning's time trial at Carlow..

Andy Naylor of Stoke, who had been struggling with a cold, did not start the time trial because of a knee strain, and next in order overall were Ciaran Power (Ireland), Karl Donnelly (Dublin IRC), Tommy Evans and Peter Daly (Ireland). But Ireland lost the team title to Britain by 21 seconds.

Micheal Fitzgerald had his second stage win when he repeated last year's success in Swords to head the points classification with 70. McKay was on 56.

Brian Smith (Stoke) took the King of the Mountains award, and the strong riding by the Dublin-Hillebrand squad on Saturday clinched the county team prize.

Roche's grandparents came from Kerry, but, like his father and mother, he was born in Douglas on the Isle of Man. He took out Irish citizenship this year and was a member of the Ireland team in the Tour de l'Oir et Cher in France. It is his fourth time in the Ras - he was 29th in 1991, 11th the next year and 18th in 1993.

This season Roche has been racing in Belgium and he returns there next week. But he will be attending the celebrations in Kerry over the next few days.

The winning margin is the closest in the 45 years of the Ras.

Last year Evans won by 24 seconds from David McCann, and in 1992 Stephen Spratt turned a deficit of eight seconds on Italian Giuseppi Guerini to victory by 22 seconds in controversial circumstances on the final stage in Dun Laoghaire.

Roche took over the lead by 14 seconds from Butler after Friday's stage from Ban don to Tram ore, and although he seemed so vulnerable, he fought hack on Saturday's stage to Carlow to hold the yellow jersey for yesterday morning's crucial, 11-mile time trial from Carlow to the top of the first category climb at The Butts.

Contrary to expectations, Roche caught two minutes on Butler, who got a puncture and changed bikes, and beat him by two minutes and 39 seconds. But McKay emerged the new challenger as he was fastest with 26 minutes and 34 seconds to Roche's 27:01.

An unofficial time check had Roche going almost 30 seconds better than Butler before Butler's mishap. The British time trial expert was riding his low-profile bike with a rear disk wheel, and when the back tyre punctured just before the five-mile mark, he switched on to his normal road bike from the following team car.

While Roche said he was really motivated in the yellow jersey and produced a great performance Butler said: "I had nothing left after the puncture, my head was gone after that happened."

That left Roche going into the final stage criterium in Swords 11 seconds ahead of McKay, with Dawson at 27 seconds. Butler had slipped out of contention to ninth at 2:53.

With five bonus sprints included in the 25 laps at Swords and a maximum of 15 seconds available, an interesting finale was assured, and when McKay took the first bonus sprint to claim three seconds, and then another two seconds for second place behind Fitzgerald, Roche's position was precarious.

McKay punctured before the third bonus sprint and took a lap out to change a wheel, but although Roche went for it he had to settle for second place behind Anthony Doyle (Carlow).

The fourth sprint was a hectic, close tussle with Fitzgerald squeezing through inside McKay, tight against the barriers. McKay appealed, but officials allowed the result to stand. Then the Ireland team obviously aided Roche when Power and Evans finished ahead of McKay for the final bonuses, and it was then left to McKay to try to get away from Roche.

McKay, who lost more time than he was eventually beaten by when he overshot the final corner in Tramore on Friday, said he would have tried one last surge if he had opened a gap on Roche, but the yellow jersey stayed very close to his main rival over the final laps.

McKay was placed ninth on the stage with Roche safely there, 14th.