Keane dreaming of home glory as Rafferty eyes second South win
The Kilfenora man (25) gave up the accordion to focus on his golf, and while he faces a tough semi-final against Edmonstown's Liam Abom (22), he knows he has the local knowledge, the support and the game to make the final.
Dundalk's Caolan Rafferty, the 2018 champion, is the hot favourite as he faces Grange's Jake Whelan, a former semi-finalist, in the other big match of the morning.
But if former Walker Cup star Rafferty is the virtuoso performer, as he showed when reeling off a brace of 5&3 wins over Monkstown's Sean Desmond and Athenry's David Kitt, Keane showed he has the grit to go all the way.
He played excellent golf to beat Galway veteran Joe Lyons 5&4 in the third round before using his short game to see off the highly experienced Carton House man Paul O'Hanlon 2&1 in the afternoon.
Just one up with seven to play, he got up and down on the 12th for a birdie to double his lead, lost the 13th to a three, but got up and down again on the 14th for a half before repeating the trick to win the 15th and 16th with pars.
A two-putt par got him over the line on the 17th, and he admits winning a championship he first saw contested a decade ago would be like winning a major.
While overseas member Patrick Adler, now a pro, won last year, Keane would be the first local member to win since JD Smyth in 1968.
"It'd be great to win it after him," said Keane, who joined the club in 2011 and first saw the final in 2015 when Stuart Grehan beat Colin Fairweather in a downpour.
"He used to coach me when I was younger. I have to give credit to him now for the up and downs. He really was a short game wizard."
Abom had to dig deep to beat the talented Roganstown teenager, Mark Cadden, one up in the morning, and it was a dogfight in a quality afternoon quarter-final with Fota Island's David Howard.
He won by two holes, getting revenge for his younger brother Thomas' 20th-hole defeat to the Corkman in the morning.
Thomas won the Irish Close last year and Liam admits it would be nice to claim back some bragging rights by going all the way this week.
"I'd say that was my best performance," Abom said after making seven birdies against Howard with his birdie-birdie-par run from the 13th key to his win.
"I feel like I'm playing freely and I'm not worried about the consequences as much."
Fatherhood has made Rafferty a more mellow character, but he remains the man to beat, as Whelan explained after his 2&1 win over Donegal's Ryan Griffin.
"He's one of the best in Ireland, if not the best," said Whelan (30), a former Mullingar Scratch Cup winner who is looking for his first championship win.
"He does everything well, and he's been one of the top one or two players in the country now for five or six years."
Whelan feels he's a far better player now than he was in 2019, when he lost 5&3 to Keith Egan in the semi-finals.
"Everyone here can play, so I'm just going to have to shoot a good few under tomorrow and see where that leaves me," he said, believing that playing the course rather than the man is the best tactic.
Rafferty has won the South, East and West of Ireland titles, but he never tires of winning, "Every championship is the same, it's the best feeling ever," he said. "That's why we play golf. This will be a wee bit more special, be the first one that the child will be here, to have that as well. So that's an addition to it this time."
Having done it all in the amateur game, he's more relaxed than ever.
"No pressure, it's another day of golf and just see what happens," he said. "I'm definitely playing less golf (as a father).
"Probably a little bit uptight at times with golf like we all do. But no,nice and relaxed. Just let the clubs hit the ball and find it and hit it again.'
Pierse Motor Group South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, Lahinch Third round
Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) bt Seán Desmond (Monkstown) 5 & 3; David Kitt (Athenry)bt Jordan Hood (Galgorm Castle) 19th; Ryan Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar) bt Dylan Holmes (Greystones) 21st; Jake Whelan (Grange) bt Luke O'Neill (Connemara) 2/1; Jonathan Keane (Lahinch)bt Joe Lyons (Galway) 5/4; Paul O'Hanlon (Carton House) bt Conor Stapleton (Westport) 2/1; David Howard (Fota Island) bt Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 20th Liam Abom (Edmondstown) bt Mark Cadden (Roganstown) 1 up
Quarter-finals:
Raffertybt Kitt (Athenry) 5/3; Whelan bt Griffin 2/1; Keane (Lahinch) bt O'Hanlon 2/1; L Abom bt Howard 2 up.
Sunday Semi-finals:
8:30 Rafferty vWhelan; 8:45 Keane v L Abom.
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