It's time to dispel some myths, one of which is that a draw can never taste as sweet as a win.

Yesterday, on the old course that has witnessed some magical golfing feats in its time, Ireland drew with Scotland in the final series of matches in the men's amateur Home Internationals and that spirited result - which had seemed so unlikely at lunchtime - was sufficient to guarantee overall victory in the competition, for the first time since 1992.

In the end, and after a long day on the links, Ireland got their just rewards. For a long time, it had seemed as if the 18th hole, a moody beast which proffered favours the previous day, would exact revenge and torment Irish souls as a series of matches terminated there, with the Scots getting whatever rub of the green that was going. As points and half-points slipped away, some players must have wondered why such a fate was befalling them.

However, Ireland - who had trailed 1 ½-3 ½ after the morning foursomes - eked out enough points to claw their way back in the singles and, if the triple crown was to evade their grasp, at least the main target of winning the championship was achieved. "We showed terrific fighting spirit," insisted team captain Mark Gannon. "I'd have to give full marks to everyone."

Indeed, it was a team performance of considerable merit. The mood after the foursomes was pretty grim but anyone who cared to look out towards the grey clouds over the Atlantic would have seen a silver lining, and Gannon's "lunch-hour chat", as he put it, with his team contained some stern words.

"The mood was down," confirmed Gannon, "but I told them to go out and play good golf, that this was what they had been preparing for all year."

Going into the 10 singles, the task facing the Irish was stark: to win the championship, they would require six points. For the triple crown, they would need 6½. Whichever way you looked at it, it was a tall order against a Scottish team that had played some wonderful golf in the foursomes, where salt was really rubbed into Irish wounds when Walker Cup player Stuart Wilson rolled in a 35-footer for birdie on the last to give himself and Jonathan King a half in their match with Mark Campbell and Justin Kehoe.

If the Scots were upbeat heading into the singles, Ireland were determined to make a fight of it, and the sight of the Raymond Trophy by the first tee only reaffirmed what was at stake.

In the top match, Noel Fox was three-down at the turn to Andrew McArthur but showed his spirit by recovering to level the match on the 16th with a birdie. However, on the last, McArthur - who took 5½ points from a possible six in the campaign - rolled in a 12-footer for birdie, and Fox's 10-foot putt to halve the match slid by the left side.

Immediately behind him, though, things were better from an Irish perspective. Mark Campbell, the only unbeaten player in the Irish team, was in control against Eric Ramsay, a semi-finalist in the British Amateur championship earlier in the season, and the Stackstown player finished off his match by holing a 12-footer for birdie on the 16th for a 3 and 2 win.

One point down, five to go.

The 18th hole produced some heartache before it was all over for a number of Irish players, including Darren Crowe and Brian McElhinney in the following two matches. Scotland's Jamie McLeary managed to get up and down from the front greenside bunker, holing a 10-foot putt, for par on the last to halve his match with Crowe and, in the next match, McElhinney - who had birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to go one-up - pulled his tee-shot into rough on the last, could only play out sideways, and then watched as Martin Laird sank an 18-footer for birdie to take a half point.

Richard Kilpatrick, on his international debut, won by 3 and 2 over Bryan Innes and Michael McGeady grabbed his match by the scruff of the neck from an early stage and eventually cruised to a 7 and 5 win over Simon Mackenzie. All of which left Ireland requiring two points from the remaining four matches.

Mervyn Owens, though, was behind from early and eventually lost to Glen Campbell on the 15th, while Michael Sinclair was another to incur the wrath of the 18th as he lost on the final hole to a birdie from Neil McRae.

The bottom two matches, however, had always looked to be safely in Irish hands. Mark O'Sullivan, the Irish close champion, was four up after 12 holes on King but lost 13th, 15th and 16th to birdies - but King was in trouble off the tee on the 17th, and O'Sullivan's par four proved to be a winning one, giving him a 2 and 1 win.

All that remained was for Kehoe, in his final actions as an amateur, to secure the victory for Ireland; and he did so in some style. The 23-year-old from Birr - who goes to the first stage of the European Tour qualifying school next week - birdied the 16th to record a 3 and 2 win over Wilson.

The fightback was complete, and Ireland had regained the trophy for the first time since 1992 (when they shared it with England) and for the first time outright since 1991.