AWAY from its spiritual home, the Ulster Bank-sponsored West of Ireland Championship delivered a worthy winner when Jody Fanagan captured the title at Enniscrone yesterday.

Indeed, the stamp of quality gleamed in delightful sunshine as the 31-year-old found splendid form to beat Bryan Omelia by 3 and 2 in the final.

Fanagan, a Walker Cup representative, won the South of Ireland title in 1995. However, he has also endured the disappointments of three defeats in provincial finals so there was no room for complacency as he contemplated the afternoon challenge.

"Quite frankly, I was apprehensive over lunch," he said afterwards. "I doubted if I was playing well enough to take the title. Indeed, it was only at the 11th that I felt I was ready to go all the way."

That was certainly a vital hole but I believe the previous two were equally important.

Fanagan took a difficult route to the final. In the morning, he was taken to the 18th for a fourth time in three rounds (including sudden-death) in a one-hole semifinal victory over youth international Andrew McCormick, of Scrabo.

McCormick was one up after 15 but made two critical blunders over the closing holes. The first of these came at the 16th where he missed a three-foot putt that would have given him a two-hole lead with two to play. The pain was accentuated by Fanagan's win in par at the short 17th to square the match.

Then came the crushing disappointment of a lost ball at the last; high into the dunes on the right. There can be no worse feeling ink golf than that experienced by McCormick when the cries from the crowd that the ball had been found came seconds after the stipulated five-minute searching time had elapsed.

Omelia, meanwhile, was ending the spirited challenge of reinstated amateur Paddy Gribben. After taking a one-hole lead at the short 13th, where Gribben lost a ball to the left, the Newlands man protected it by sinking an eight-foot putt to halve the next in birdie. And he went on to secure the match through another concession two holes later.

The sun had broken through and a north-west wind had abated when the final got under way. On the course, I met Francis Howley currently competing on the European Challenge Tour in the hope of finding more consistency.

It seemed a highly-appropriate objective as I watched the fluctuating form of Howley's former amateur colleagues over the outward Journey. As the match progressed, this became especially applicable to Omelia, winner of the Irish Youths' title three years ago.

Having squared the match with a birdie on the seventh, where he hit a glorious seven-iron approach to six feet, Omelia lost the next. This was the 170-yard eighth, where a powerfully-hit six-iron into a right-to-left wind was hooked into serious trouble left of the green.

Then came the three most crucial holes in the battle. The drama began when Fanagan looked set to squander his lead at the ninth. Making heavy contact with a nine-iron approach, the ball came up short of the green but with Omelia anticipating a win, the Milltown man pitched to 10 feet and sank the putt for a most improbable half.

At the next, Omelia was to suffer from the memory of morning exploits. He had driven the 10th green in his match against Gribben so why not do it again? On this occasion, however, his short-line attempt was over-ambitious; the ball came to rest in a horrid lie. Three hacks and it was still there. And after a concession he was two down.

If that represented a knife wound, the weapon was twisted by events at the 11th. Here, Omelia must have felt that salvation was at hand when Fanagan pushed his drive into the burn on the right. And after dropping out under penalty, he still had to negotiate 164 yards to the green into a cross-wind.

The shot and what was to follow bore the hallmarks of class. With a five-iron, Fanagan sent the ball arrow-straight towards the target, where it came to rest 10 feet away. Then the putt went down for a priceless half in par.

Such was the impact of this effort that it was no surprise when he increased his lead at the 14th, where Omelia went from bunker to bunker, left of the green. And when the end came at the 16th, the Newlands man looked despairingly as his 25-foot birdie putt took the left to right break perfectly, only to stop a few inches from the hole.

So Fanagan made history by becoming the first winner of the title at a venue other than Rosses Point in the championship's 75 years.

I hadn't played well for a year and a bit and I wondered if I would ever get my form back" he said. "By the back nine this afternoon, however, I felt I was close to my best."

He surely was. With a birdie at the sixth where he was six feet from the pin in two when Omelia conceded the hole, Fanagan was two-under-par for the 16 holes. And there were no ifs or buts about the presence of only one bogey, at the 395-yard third.

Before the final, brilliant course management had allowed him to extricate the maximum from an ailing game. And When his shots gradually regained their customary crispness, the addition of course-management proved to be an irresistible combination.

For their part, Enniscrone did themselves proud. Through considerable sacrifice on the part of the membership, the links was in outstanding condition, especially for this time of year. Indeed, the greens would have been very acceptable at more renowned venues in high season.

Yet for all that, the occasion still seemed slightly odd. And the feeling was captured beautifully by the action of Fanagan's mother-in-law who, anxious to find out how he had fared in the final, decided to make a phone call. Which she did to Rosses Point.

Semi-finals: B Omelia (Newlands) bt P Gribben (Warrenpoint) 3 and 2; J Fanagan (Milltown) bt A McCormick (Scrabo) 1 hole.

Final: Fanagan bt Omelia 3 and 2.