Rutherford swings it for Ballyclare

Once you decide to answer the call, then there is no going back. The palpitations, deep breaths and the belief that all eyes are focused only on you are part of the baggage. And yesterday, as if to prove that heroes emerge from the most unlikely sources, Gary Rutherford - drafted into the team as a replacement - shouldered the responsibility in the decisive match that won the Irish Junior Cup for Ballyclare in the Bulmers All-Ireland Cups and Shields finals at Newlands.

In taking a first ever green pennant home, Ballyclare's 3-2 win over the Curragh straddled all emotions.

Having lost the top two matches, Ballyclare proceeded to win the next three points with Andrew Wilson recording a 9 and 7 win, the largest of anyone in the finals, and Darren Lyttle also winning before Rutherford, called into the side after the semi-final in place of Alan Mairs, played the key role in the final match.

"I've never felt anything like that, never," he remarked, "it was just a toe-to-toe battle." So it was, but one that he survived. Curragh's Patrick Jordan had actually established a two-hole lead after just three holes but Rutherford recovered from a somewhat shaky start to play his way back into the match and a six-iron tee-shot to six feet at the 157 yards 12th hole for a birdie brought him back to all square. And the six-handicapper then won the 13th and 14th to establish a two-hole lead.

Even though Jordan produced great two-putt pars at the 15th and 16th, on the second occasion to reduce the deficit to one, Rutherford held his nerve and closed out the match on the 17th where his opponent put his third shot into a greenside bunker and failed to make a sand save.

For Kanturk, their win in the Pierce Purcell Shield - where they beat Gort by a 4-1 margin - replicated their success back in 1986 and resulted in emotional scenes for the west Cork club who had expended some £10,000 on team preparations in their efforts to take another green pennant.

On this occasion, Gerard Hannon, whose father Donal was a member of that '86 team, maintained the family's winning connection when partnering Fergus Connolly to a 2 and 1 win. John Cronin and Neale Meade had won the top match while Jerry Kearney and PJ Moylan were also 3 and 2 winners, so the Hannon/Connolly success guaranteed victory. The players in the remaining two matches were on the 16th and 17th tee boxes, but once victory was assured, calm concentration was replaced by euphoria.

Meanwhile, Portmarnock, the aristocrats of the Irish Senior Cup, with 17 previous wins, claimed a semi-final win over Clandeboye. With the match on a knife edge, Adrian Morrow's two-holes win over Chris Moriarty proved crucial. Morrow won the 17th after his opponent three-putted from the edge of the green and then Moriarty's tee-shot hit a tree on the 18th and his second shot again struck timber before he put his third into a greenside bunker.

Noel Fox, who changed his mind about attending the European Tour qualifying this week, and David Kelleher were Portmarnock's other winners but their final opponents won't be decided until this morning. Galway's David Cunningham and Mallow's Michael Collins, who were level after 19 holes in the decisive fifth match, with the teams at 2-2, are due to recommence battle at 8.30am.

The pair were unable to finish their match last night due to darkness, with Collins holing a 15-footer for par at the first tie hole in the gathering gloom to ensure the match would continue, but not until the sun had risen again.

In the cut and thrust of these competitions, experience is a tremendous asset. And so it proved in the case of Thurles, who had three survivors of their 1996 winning Jimmy Bruen Shield team - Ray Shannon, Seamus Troy and Joe Irwin - in action in yesterday's semi-final encounter with Balbriggan.

At one stage of proceedings, Thurles were down in four matches and all square in the fifth - by the end, though, their recovery was such that they claimed a 31/2 to 11/2 win to set up a final showdown with Holywood, who emerged 3-2 winners over Roscommon.