The lad from the club down the road has been adopted to some extent by the host club members, all of which has done Gary Cullen no harm at all on his Irish Close odyssey. But Cullen was forced to show considerable fortitude to reach the semi-finals of the Bank of Ireland-sponsored championship; and, if some of his new-found supporters admitted to feeling "knackered", having followed his fortunes for all of 41 holes at The Island Golf Club yesterday, the player himself sufficed with a simple "long old day", as if such heroics were all par for the course.
If the truth be known, Cullen was mighty happy to be among the survivors into the last four. He endured two marathon matches to ensure his progress and, today, the plus-one handicapper from Beaverstown will face two-time national champion Eddie Power in the first semi-final, while Michael Hoey, seeking to emulate the feat of Joe Carr over four decades ago of adding the Close to the strokeplay championship, comes up against Bryan Omelia in what promises to be an intriguing duel.
Indeed, there is a touch of quality about the four semi-finalists, all of whom have shown good form this season: Hoey won the Irish Amateur Open, where Cullen finished runner-up, while Omelia finished second in the Brabazon Trophy (English Open strokeplay), and Power was a semi-finalist in the West of Ireland. Nobody could complain with whoever manages to get their hands on the trophy this evening.
Cullen, a strapping 6 ft 4 in, who wouldn't be amiss in the back row of a rugby team, had to work extremely hard to stay in the championship. Firstly, he was brought to the 21st hole by Enda McMenamin in the third round, and, then, he virtually had to retrace his steps again before getting the better of Co Louth's Brian Ronan at the second tie hole in the quarter-final.
"It was tough mentally," admitted Cullen, a 23-year-old former Irish youths' international who has intentions of turning professional in September. He was helped somewhat by burgeoning support, not surprising given the proximity of his home course. "It's a bit like home here, I suppose because our courses are so close, like all of them in Donabate, and I also know the course quite well," he said.
The 23-year-old Baldoyle man won his third-round match on the third, the 445-yard Par 4 along the coastline, when McMenamin's approach found the greenside bunker and he failed to get up and down. But Cullen was forced to survive another close encounter in the quarter-final, which turned out to be a nip-'n-tuck affair, with putting eventually proving Ronan's downfall.
In fact, Ronan, competing at this stage for the first time, three-putted his final three holes to bow out of the event. It was an unfortunate end to a bold bid for glory.
Cullen was actually one up playing the 17th but three-putted to set an unwelcome trend - then, Ronan three-putted the 18th, where he had a four-footer to win the match, repeated the act at the first play-off hole and, agonisingly, incurred his third straight three-putt on the 20th where Cullen, in contrast, chipped up from behind the green and sank an 18-footer for par, enough to ensure his progress.
Power had a far more comfortable passage. While Cullen required 41 holes, Power needed just 29 holes to book his semi-final place. In the quarter-final, he had a 7 and 6 win over Michael McGinley during which the two-time champion - attempting to win on the course where his wife Eileen Rose won a national championship in 1990 - played the best golf of the day and was two under par in defeating the Grange player.
Meanwhile, Hoey, had to go to the wire in order to fend off the leading qualifier Robin Symes in an all-Shandon Park quarter-final joust. The two teenagers had just one birdie between them in a tense encounter, and Symes actually had the upper hand in the early exchanges.
Somewhat untypically, Hoey drove out-of-bounds at the 10th to go two down, but rallied on the homeward run. He won the 12th with par and was conceded the 14th after Hoey cut his drive into the hazard. However, he three-putted the 15th to go one down again, won the 16th after Symes missed the green to the right, and, then, expecting to traipse down the first fairway for a play-off after holing a four-footer for par on the 18th, watched as Symes missed a similar length putt which gave the strokeplay champion a place in the semi-finals.
In the only other match left on the course, Omelia was fending off Dundalk's Danny Coyle with "some steady golf". Omelia, a quarter-finalist last year, went on to win by a 2 and 1 margin. "It was tense all the way," said Omelia, who'd actually gone two up after two.
Third Round: E Power (Kilkenny) bt D Sugrue (Killarney) 2 holes; M McGinley (Grange) bt P Murray (Tipperary) 1 hole; G Cullen (Beaverstown) bt E McMenamin (Ballybofey) at 21st; B Ronan (Co Louth) bt M Horan (Birr) 5 and 4; M Hoey (Shandon Park) bt A Lynch (Univ of Stirling) 2 and 1; R Symes (Shandon Park) bt D Dudley (Douglas) 3 and 2; D Coyle (Dundalk) bt C McElderry (Royal Portrush) 2 and 1; B Omelia (Newlands) bt J Mulready (Castle) 4 and 2.
Quarter-finals: Power bt McGinley 7 and 6; Cullen bt Ronan at 20th; Hoey bt Symes 1 hole; Omelia bt Coyle 2 and 1.
Today's semi-finals: 8.30 - Power v Cullen. 8.45 - Hoey v Omelia. Final at 2.00 pm.
