Ireland's last hope in the British Boys' Amateur Open Championship at Royal St David's, Harlech, disappeared yesterday when Sean McTernan finally tasted defeat in the fifth round.

The 18-year-old junior international from Co Sligo had chalked up a fine 2 and 1 fourth round victory over England's Ben Welch to move into the last 16. But he then found Scotland's Barry Hume too tough a nut and crashed 5 and 3.

"For the most part, I played pretty well this week, but Barry is a class act," McTernan said. "I lost to him in the internationals, and again today he was just too strong."

Meanwhile, Ireland finished with the wooden spoon in the Girls' Home International Championship at High Post, Wiltshire, after being comprehensively beaten by new champions Wales by 5 1/2 - 3 1/2.

They are left to reflect on a disappointing week - in the three matches in the round robin series, they collected only eight points out of a possible 27.