Three Connacht men in West semis as O’Keeffe bows out
Galway's Liam Nolan on the 4th during his tight match with Peter O'Keeffe at Rosses Point.
GALWAY'S Liam Nolan ended Peter O’Keeffe’s dream of winning four Irish championships in a row when he edged out the Douglas man on the 18th in the Connolly's Audi West of Ireland Championship at Co. Sligo.
The Irish internationals met in the first round — the last 16 under this year’s new format — and while O’Keeffe was never more than one-up, he never trailed until 22-year old Nolan rolled in a seven-footer for birdie on the 18th to win by one hole.
Nolan went on to edge another international team-mate in Malone’s Matthew McClean by one hole in the afternoon as three Connacht men made the semi-finals for the first time in the championship’s 99-year history.
“They were both very 50-50 games,” said Nolan, who faces Roscommon’s Allan Hill, who saw off two former champions in leading qualifier Caolan Rafferty (5&4) and titleholder Hugh Foley (4&2) as Roscommon’s Thomas Higgins and Bray’s Alan Fahy made the other semi-final.
"It would be incredible," Nolan said of what it would mean to win. "The West is the one, isn't it?”
O’Keeffe was bitterly disappointed to lose but after being pegged back to all square with a three-putt at the 15th, he made a great up and down par at the 16th to remain flat only to miss a six footer up the hill for a win in par at the 17th.
“That was tough,” O’Keeffe said after he missed a slick 25 footer for birdie at the 18th and watched Nolan roll in his birdie putt to go ahead in the match when it mattered most.
“It was a very good match. There was never more than one hole in it and I knew it would probably come down to something like that there.”
After winning the Close, the Munster Strokeplay and the Irish Amateur Open in his last three championship starts at home, he had high hopes after carding a super 70 in the third round of qualifying to make the last 16.
“I have no complaints,” he said. “I played nicely but Liam holed a good putt there on the last. I had a chance to win 17 and made a mess of it.” Nolan now faces Hill, who was three-under and bogey-free as he beat Dundalk's Walker Cup player Rafferty on the 14th, then proved to steady for an erratic Foley in the quarter-finals.
"It was nice to beat two Irish internationals," said Hill. "I've been coming to Co. Sligo since I was seven or eight. I remember watching Shane Lowry play here. It'd be lovely to win tomorrow, but it's one step at a time.”
It could be an all-Roscommon final, 30 years after Ken Kearney beat Adrian Morrow as 19-year-old Leaving Certificate student Higgins was a leading member of the Roscommon team that won the Fred Daly Trophy in 2019.
Ulster Boys champion in 2018, the tall teenager birdied the 19th after a massive downwind drive left him needing only a pitch and putt to defeat Scotland's Andrew Benson before he cruised to a 5&3 win over Ballybofey and Stranorlar's Ryan Griffin.
"The West is the first men's event I heard about as a young golf, so it would be great to win," Higgins said. "I was pretty steady in qualifying, but I was down for most of the morning against Andrew and then made a lot of good par putts to beat Ryan.” Higgins must get past 24-year-old Bray star Fahy, last year's South of Ireland runner-up, if he's to make it an all-Connacht final.
"I'll be wearing my Leinster gear here tomorrow anyway, so hopefully, I can take it home," joked Fahy, who is hoping to spoil the party after he beat Tandragee's James Hewitt 3&1 before edging out Carton House's Keith Egan by one hole in the afternoon where he went one up after hitting a stellar five iron to 12 feet at the 17th and watched his opponent three-putt.
"It would be unreal to win the West. I won the Munster Strokeplay a few years ago, and to win one of the big five championships would be a different category, but you can't think that far ahead.”
: Rd. 1: A Hill (Roscommon) bt C Rafferty (Dundalk) 5&4; H Foley (Royal Dublin) bt M Boucher (Carton House) 1 hole; L Nolan (Galway) bt P O'Keeffe (Douglas) 1 hole; M McClean (Malone) bt E Sullivan (Carton House) 1 hole; T Higgins (Roscommon) bt A Benson (West Lothian) 19th; R Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar) bt A Mulholland (Castlerock) 2&1; A Fahy (Bray) bt J Hewitt (Tandragee) 3&1; K Egan (Carton House) bt E McCormack (Galway Bay) 1 hole.
Hill bt Foley 4&2; Nolan bt McClean 1 hole; Higgins bt Griffin 5&3; Fahy bt Egan 1 hole.
(8am) Hill v Nolan; (8.15am) Higgins v Fahy; Final: 1.15 pm
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