Arthurs wins East of Ireland Championship

Forrest Little's Eoin Arthurs romped to a four-stroke win in the East of Ireland Championship at Co Louth today.

The 24-year-old Dubliner was three strokes behind leader Dara Lernihan entering today's final 36 holes.

He fired a three under par, third round 69 to take a one stroke lead over Lernihan after 54 holes and then closed with a superb 71 to finish on six-under par 282.

Lernihan, 21, shot a 74 and Westport's Cathal O'Malley a 73 to finish tied for second place on two-under par 286.

The Curragh's Paul O'Hanlon was third on one-under par after a 72.

"It feels unbelievable," Arthurs said. "I'm over the moon. After starting with a 66 I was really disappointed to shoot 76 in the second round.

"I was only three behind and one of my friends texted me and told me I wasn't out of it by a long chalk. Turned out he was right."

East of Ireland Amateur Open, Co Louth (Par 72)

282 E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 66 76 69 71

286 C O'Malley (Westport) 71 71 71 73, D Lernihan (Castle) 68 71 73 74 287 P O'Hanlon (Curragh) 70 75 70 72 288 S Lowry (Esker Hills) 72 77 67 72, P Cutler (Portstewart) 71 73 71 73, J Caldwell (Clandeboye) 69 72 74 73

291 P Murray (Limerick) 78 72 73 68, N Grant (Knock) 73 68 78 72 293 D Sutton (Lockerbie) 74 70 71 78, E Kennedy (Rosapenna) 73 75 75 70, C Doran (Banbridge) 71 79 71 72

294 A Hogan (Newlands) 76 73 72 73

295 D Morgan (Mullingar) 74 75 72 74

296 K Crowley (Lee Valley) 75 75 72 74, C Curley (Newlands) 74 77 70 75, S Ward (Co Louth) 73 77 76 70, R McCarthy (The Island) 71 73 79 73, H Diamond (Belvoir Park) 69 77 75 75

297 D Crowe (Dunmurry) 75 68 75 79

298 E O'Sullivan (The Island) 77 73 74 74, M Mullen (Wexford) 73 74 74 77

300 R Forsythe (Ballyclare) 71 79 77 73, G O'Flaherty (Cork) 71 76 72 81, N O'Connor (Elm Park) 70 78 75 77

301 R Weldon (Hermitage) 77 74 72 78, F Rafferty (Dungannon) 72 77 73 79, M Buggy (Castlecomer) 70 78 77 76

302 G Dunne (Seapoint) 75 72 78 77, K Bornemann (Douglas) 71 78 77 76, A O'Callaghan (Douglas) 71 74 81 76

303 P Buckley (Kanturk) 73 76 73 81, N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 71 73 77 82

304 E McCormack (Galway) 77 73 73 81

305 W Kelly (Killeen) 76 74 77 78, R Leonard (Banbridge) 76 72 79 78, M Shanahan (West Waterford) 75 74 75 81

306 D Carroll (Grange) 75 74 80 77, N Goulding (Portmarnock) 74 75 75 82, G Lawlor (Citywest) 73 76 76 81

307 C Cunningham (Carton House) 74 75 76 82, E Marsden (Tullamore/

NUIG) 73 76 76 82

308 D Ruddy (Thurles) 76 71 78 83, B Walton (Island/NUIM) 75 74 82

77, A Dowling (Hermitage) 72 74 80 82

309 B Fennelly (Royal Dublin) 77 73 76 83, J McGinn (L & B) 76 75 79 79, A McCormick (Scrabo) 75 76 78 80, J Waldron (Muskerry) 74 77 78 80 314 R Durnin (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 75 79 84.