Veteran Reddan impresses

BARRY REDDAN is set to become the oldest winner of the Shell-sponsored South of Ireland Championship.

After an ideal day of bright sunshine and a stiff northerly wind, the 56-year-old from Co Louth surged yesterday to the semi-finals.

Reddan now meets Sean McTernan, the talented 21-year-old from Co Sligo, in a match teeing off at 8.30am.

They will be followed by the meeting of Mark Ryan, a 22-year-old from Grange, and Colm Moriarty, 23, from Athlone.

Reddan’s achievement in reaching the semi-finals was the main talking point at Lahinch last night.

The oldest previous champion was Joe Brown from Waterford, who was 52 when he captured the title in 1958. Reddan will be the outsider in his meeting with McTernan, but he was impressive in disposing yesterday of David Mortimer, the Connemara giant, and 1999 champion Mark Campbell, of Stackstown.

“To be honest, I am astonished to have come this far,” Reddan admitted. “I shouldn’t be here really, should I, not with all these young lads around,” he said.

“Although this was my eighth competitive round of golf in a week, I don’t feel any way tired. I played decent, solid golf for the day that was in it.”

Having failed to make the cut at Royal Co Down, he made an overnight dash to Lahinch in time for his first-round match on Saturday, as “a qualifier”.

Reddan was involved in a tight fifth-round match with Mortimer, with an amazing end at the 19th.

Neither man played the hole well, and Reddan seemed on his way out when his third shot came to rest more than thirty feet from the hole. He putted the shot so immaculately that the ball was finding only one resting place from a long way out. Mortimer was then left with a six-footer to keep the match alive.

After lunch, the cool and collected Baltray veteran, apparently unfazed by the buzz created by his exploits, took command of his match against the much-fancied Campbell. He birdied the fourth to go in front and capitalised on poor play by his opponent, winning pars at the sixth, seventh and eighth.

He lost the 10th but regained his four-hole advantage by holing a twenty-footer for a birdie at the 13th before finishing it off at the 15th.

The manager of the First Active branch in Dundalk reached the semi-final of the championship in 1977 before beating neighbour and great friend Mark Gannon at the 20th in 1987. He also captured the West of Ireland in 1978 and was a member of the Irish team that won the Triple Crown in the Home Internationals for the first time at Lahinch later that year. His ambition now is to make the Irish side for the Seniors Internationals in Scotland in October.

McTernan showed his mettle in coming from two down after 13 against Eddie Power to win a tremendous battle at the 20th.

Earlier, Power had ended the French connection by beating national champion Eric Chaudouet on the final green.

Colm Moriarty, the form player of the season, is now a likely champion. He finished second in the English Stroke Play Championship for the Brabazon Trophy, missed the cut in the Murphys Irish Open by one shot and failed by two to qualify for the British Open.

He looked a class act yesterday in beating Darren Crowe and Johnny Foster with something to spare.

“I’m playing really well at the moment and it helps that I really like this course,” the Athlone player said.

Moriarty’s semi-final opponent, Mark Ryan, is something of a surprise packet, but he won the Irish Youths Championship last year.

Ryan, from the Grange club in Dublin, is a regular visitor to Lahinch, where he first played at age seven.