Dylan Holmes becomes youngest West of Ireland Amateur Open winner since Rory McIlroy
Greystones teenager Dylan Holmes finished off a stunning week with a 2&1 victory over the experienced Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) at a rain-soaked Connolly Motor Group West of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.
The 18-year-old was making his debut in men's championships at County Sligo and this sensational triumph means he is the youngest winner of the West since Rory McIlroy in 2006.
Holmes performed heroics to reach the final day and continued that scintillating form on Tuesday morning defeating local favourite Barry Anderson in the semi-finals, before he battled through harsh weather conditions to sink his opponent in the decider.
The Leaving Cert student will now also have a busy golf schedule to look forward to in 2025.
'It's incredible, I didn't really have any expectations coming into this week,' said Holmes.
'I played a great first 13 holes, some of the best golf I have ever played, and then I don't know what happened to the weather but it was worse than the first round which was hard.
'You weren't making any pars out there the last few holes. You are not able to get to any of the greens, it was ridiculous.
'I guess I'm in with a few good names now so it's nice. McIlroy is incomparable.'
Dylan Holmes tees off the fourteenth. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.
Holmes had finished on +10 after rounds of 77 and 75 in stroke play and he improved in the match play. Victories over Adam Smith (2&1), Greg O'Mahony (6&4) and David Kitt (1up) followed, before a gritty win against Jonathan Keane in the quarter-finals, where he only took the lead for the first time on the 19th hole.
Campbell had a similarly impressive run through the knockout rounds, with a 5&3 win against Jack McDonnell yesterday morning and a 2&1 success at the expense of Harry Gillivan in the afternoon. Campbell defeated former professional Stuart Grehan 2&1 in the semi-finals on Tuesday morning but came unstuck in the decider.
A par was good enough for Holmes to take an early 1up lead on the first in the Final and that was a 3up advantage by the sixth. Campbell rallied but fell to a four in arrears by the 13th. The Warrenpoint man won the 14th and 16th holes but it wasn't enough and he shook hands on the 17th green.
Meanwhile, defending champion Brendan Lawlor secured the ISPS Handa G4D at The West title after he finished with a second round of 80 for a +10 total in testing conditions.
Sligo local Alan Gaynor was second in the gross stroke play while Caolan Munnelly (Tullamore) completed the top three.
Mark Clougherty took home the net stroke play title after rounds of 75 and 74 were enough for the Lambeg golfer to finish two shots clear of Paul Kelly (County Armagh).
Jarlath King (Ballinrobe) won the net stableford crown after he accumulated a total of 69 points. Declan Burns (Foyle) was second on 64 points with Timmy Moloney (Co Tipperary) three points further back.
'I love links golf and I don't play much links golf to be honest but when I get out here there's something about it,' said Lawlor.
'I am quite a feel player, so I love feeling those type of shots, six irons from 120 yards, all these different type of shots around links are really joyful to play.
'It was an absolute battle out there, trying to keep the ball under the wind was pretty tough. I played very solid. I had a sweet buffer coming in and it was kind of a match play situation between me and Alan today. So, I'm really happy with the win.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
Kildare's Joe McDonagh dream - 'This was probably only in the far off depths of my brain'
SHORTLY AFTER WINNING the Christy Ring Cup yet again last year, Kildare goalkeeper Paddy McKenna and his colleagues met with manager Brian Dowling to discuss pushing on. No county had won the competition more times and, frankly, none of the Kildare players fancied winning it ever again. McKenna was involved in all five of Kildare's Ring Cup triumphs, between 2014 and 2024, and was desperate to operate regularly at a higher level. Hitting new standards of fitness was a prerequisite, the players felt. A number of alterations were made to Dowling's backroom and perhaps the most significant was the addition of strength and conditioning expert Mickey Gillick. Truth be told, the players were pushing an open door with Dowling who sensed the need for a fresh approach himself. 'He was in agreement with us, he had it pretty much set up before we even went to him,' said McKenna. 'He knew himself that, right, we're going to need something big here going up to the Joe Mac.' It was a tough winter of physical investment but the dividend has been impressive. 'It's the fittest I've certainly ever been anyway,' said McKenna. 'That's probably an easy enough feat as a goalkeeper but for the lads out the field, they're all in great nick as well. And they're wanting more too. That's what we wanted really.' It hasn't been quite a straight line between last year's Ring Cup win and qualifying for tomorrow's Joe McDonagh Cup final against Laois though. In fact, when Kildare began this season's competition with a Round 1 defeat to Kerry, it looked as if their old habit of falling flat on their faces at the higher grade was repeating itself. Advertisement McKenna lifting the Christy Ring Cup last June. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO That was Kildare's ninth ever game in the McDonagh Cup, across three different campaigns — 2021, 2023 and 2025 — and their ninth consecutive defeat. Seven weeks and four unlikely wins later, McKenna is on the verge of the most significant achievement of his career. Truth be told, just staying up in the second tier of hurling this year would have been progress. 'This was probably only in the far off depths of my brain at that stage,' said McKenna of a Croke Park final fixture after the defeat to Kerry. 'Thankfully we didn't make it to 10 losses in a row. Look, it was just getting back to basics, realising that we had to show up for every single game.' So when exactly did Kildare start to think of actually winning the competition and of an audacious bid for Leinster SHC activity in 2026? 'Probably when we got the result in Carlow, to be honest, that was a big monkey off our backs,' said the five-time Ring Cup winner, referencing their Round 3 win. 'Carlow have had some massive results in the last few years, drawing with Kilkenny in the Leinster championship last year, beating Waterford in the league earlier this year, maintaining their status in Division 1B. 'That's the standard we want to be competing at regularly so we knew that if we were able to get a result against them…and beating Laois and Westmeath as well, the three teams that had been up in the Leinster championship, that's kind of where we got the drive and the realisation that, yeah, it could be on for us.' Kildare manager Brian Dowling. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO The thing is, Kildare didn't just sneak into tomorrow's Croke Park decider. They topped the group while it was Laois that had to conjure the late goal just to draw with Carlow and nudge the Barrowsiders out on scoring difference. Laois are still favourites to win and to make up for last year's final loss to Offaly. Three of their starting defenders – Lee Cleere, Padraig Delaney and Ryan Mullaney – along with half-forward Paddy Purcell, lined out in the 2019 final win. Several more 2019 performers are retained on the bench for this season's final. But what they hold over Kildare in experience and hurling tradition could be trumped by the sheer desperation of Brian Dowling's Lilywhites to make the most of this rare opportunity. 'It's going to be tough and I'd say Laois will have their homework done on us,' said McKenna. 'I'd say they found out an awful lot about us when we played them in O'Moore Park a couple of weeks ago.' The one certainty is that Kildare will play Dublin or Tipperary in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final in Newbridge next weekend. Win tomorrow and their dubious reward will be a date with Tipperary. Lose and it will be the Dubs coming to the redeveloped St Conleth's Park. For some, parachuting the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists back into the race for the MacCarthy Cup is unnecessary, even unfair. Reigning All-Ireland champions Clare are gone from the competition already after all, along with Waterford, Wexford, Offaly and Antrim. 'I can see both sides of the coin on that,' said McKenna. 'The fact that the Joe McDonagh is its own competition and, like, there's no other competition in the GAA where the winners of it go into a separately run competition that you could possibly win without playing the earlier games in it. A general view of the Joe McDonagh Cup (file photo). James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'But then it's a great carrot as well, knowing that we have another two weeks of this and you're summing hurling as well which is great. That's when hurling is at its best.' Kildare have already been promoted to Division 1B of next season's National League. Getting to the Leinster SHC would cap their greatest season in decades. The last time they competed in Leinster was 2004. McKenna is confident that the success is sustainable, pointing to the growth of hurling around the county. 'There's hurling again in Round Towers, for example,' he said. 'A lot of south Kildare would have had a tradition of hurling when it was strong in the '60s and '70s and they're coming alive again. 'Towers, Twomilehouse, there's even hurling going on in Kilcullen as well, and Moorefield are after going senior now which is huge. That would be a so-called football club, with Leinster club titles, but they're showing that they're well able to hurl as well. 'For hurling to be sustainable in Kildare, we need every club going like that and making players available and that's what's happening.'
The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
'I still very much have the grá for it. People say it's a sacrifice, but it's a choice'
IT IS ALMOST 11 years since Caoimhe Costelloe conducted her first feature interview with this writer. Signposted for superstardom, she had just turned 18, already had All-Ireland intermediate and minor medals in her pocket and was looking forward to making her debut in what is now the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie championship. What's more, her Leaving Cert results had provided the Adare tyro with the points she needed to get into the teacher training college, Mary I. What strikes you reading that On The Ball article back, and a few more from the next four or seasons, is the incredible maturity of the Adare teenager, the obvious leadership skills and the fierce ambition. She was in it to win it. Now, ten days removed from her 29th birthday, and remarkably, having played in every championship game since – she didn't start once ten years ago due to a broken thumb but came on – Costelloe grins ruefully when considering her veteran status. 'You kind of think you're still the youngest in your head, but I think I'm like third or fourth eldest now,' says Costelloe. 'Some days I feel it, I definitely think I've abused my body now, a few aches! 'When I look at some of the girls that have got injured down through the years, I've been lucky touch wood. I broke my thumb in 2015 for the first round of the championship. I came on as a sub, I think that's the only championship match I didn't start so I have been lucky that way.' There were some All-Ireland quarter-finals along the way but largely, it's been more anguish and despair than exultation and joy. Inconsistency has pockmarked what the Shannonsiders have done and many of the historic minor-winning outfit of 2014 that came through and offered great hope for the future are no longer involved. Costelloe remains though and admits that her mindset is very different now to when she was interested only in winning senior All-Irelands with Limerick. But one thing, the core element, has never changed. Advertisement In action against Waterford's Bevan Bowdren last year. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'I think maybe time has made me a realist. At 17, I was probably confident that we could push on and, challenge for an All-Ireland, because underage, we've done that. But I probably, at that time, didn't anticipate how much it takes and how many things just need to fall into place for that to happen. 'But, I still very much have the grá for it, you know? I love going training, I love meeting new girls that come into our panel, and seeing the progress in them over a little while. 'Obviously, I would love to have challenged a bit more. And we probably had teams that were capable of challenging a bit more, but the grá hasn't gone away… I enjoy the company that the girls give. And it's nice sometimes, that younger generation has maybe a different attitude maybe to what I had, and they're a little bit more carefree. And I love watching that. 'People say it's a sacrifice, but it's a choice. I love challenging myself against the very best. I love going training and then challenging myself to try and get better. And you're looking at your stats and you're watching the video, and you're like, 'How much more could I have done in this situation?'' This latter element, this ability to measure contribution and improvement is one of the major changes in the world of inter-county camogie in the past decade. 'When I first came on the panel in 2013, we didn't have an S&C coach. There was no video analysis. It was a case of, 'Go out and win your own ball.' When I reflect back, I think how far we have come as a group and as a sport. Like, before, I remember being told at 13 or 14, that any ball inside the four white lines is a good ball. You'd get crucified if you went and did that now!' Much is altered but, life is still good. She began teaching in her alma mater, Our Lady's Abbey Girls NS and remains there. That means she is still living at home. Adare won a Munster junior title in 2022, which meant the world. Costelloe was nominated for an All-Star that year too. And she has had a ball immersing herself in the experience of being a devoted supporter of the hurlers, who changed the face of Limerick GAA forever in recent years, captained for all of that time until this year by her clubmate, Declan Hannon. 'I'm a Limerick fan first and foremost. I have loved going to Croke Park and seeing the boys succeed the way they have. And the family memories that we've created because of it.' The Limerick hurlers celebrate after last year's Munster final. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO By the time John Kiely's mob bid for a seventh straight Munster title this evening, Costelloe and her teammates will know exactly where they stand with regard to the Glen Dimplex Championship, because their Group 1 derby with Clare at Biomet Zimmer Páirc Chíosóg this afternoon [throw-in 2pm] is to all intents and purposes, a knockout game. They have both beaten Wexford, and with all-conquering Cork and last year's Division 1A League champions Tipperary also in the group, the consensus is that it is between this pair for the third knockout spot though a Wexford defeat of Tipperary at Chadwicks Wexford Park [4pm] would launch a couple of cats among the pigeons. Clare had a bye last week after winning their opener, while Limerick are playing their third game in a fortnight. They recovered from a chastening 38-point defeat by Cork in the first round, to edge out Wexford by a goal last week at Mick Neville Park. But Joe Quaid had the team very focused on the games that would matter in this period and there was no damage done by that initial hammering. With Costelloe scoring eight points, her clubmate Sophie O'Callaghan dominant in the middle, Laura Southern grabbing the goal and goalie Sarah Gillane making a great save, Limerick delivered. There is a good vibe around. It was Quaid that called Costelloe into the panel in 2013 while the current lead coach, Willie Banks, was a coach of the minor-winning squad the following season. It feels like things have gone the full circle for Costelloe. Certainly, there is no mistaking the excitement she feels ahead of a big game. 'We knew that the two games against Wexford and Claire were going to be huge. And I'm sure they were thinking the exact same thing. We and Clare know each other going back a long, long way now at this stage. It's great that this is probably a preliminary quarter-final in many ways. It's gonna be pure shoulder to the wheel for as long as we can and hopefully that will get us over the line.'
The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
'I was thankful that we got out with a point': Red card in rearview mirror as Barrett leads Cork into battle
HAVING BEGUN THE Munster senior hurling championship on a low note, Cork attacker Shane Barrett could yet end it by captaining the winning side in the final. If the Rebels are to win a provincial title for the first time in seven years, it will be Robert Downey lifting the Mick Mackey Cup in the Mick Mackey Stand but, as the Glen Rovers man has been limited to a place on the substitutes' bench due to a hamstring injury, his vice-captain will lead the side out. For 24-year-old Barrett, it was an honour to be asked by manager Pat Ryan but, equally, something he has tried to take in his step. 'Pat said it to me at the end of year review, would I be interested,' he says. 'I asked him who the captain was going to be, but he wouldn't tell me – I had a bit of an inkling and then I found out it was Rob. It is an honour to be asked especially when Rob was going to be captain. 'It is a nice honour but hopefully I won't have to do it too many more times this year and Rob will be back. Advertisement 'When I get the chance to do it, you are not really thinking about it at the moment but afterwards you reflect on it and it is a nice thing.' Reflection of the less-nice kind was required after the Blarney man's red card against Clare at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in the first round of fixtures. 'Look, I suppose it happened,' he says, 'and I was thankful that we got out of Ennis with a point. 'If we had lost up there, we would have been under a lot more pressure and I would have been feeling a lot worse but once we got a point and Tipp and Limerick also drew, no team was worse off. 'It cost us a point in Ennis and very regretful but we weren't any worse off than when we got up there. Pat had said beforehand that he would have taken a point against the All-Ireland champions.' Barrett tries to escape the attention of Limerick's Will O'Donoghue. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO The indiscretion meant a watching brief in Cork's next game, the routine victory over a Tipperary side that were themselves reduced to 14 men after Darragh McCarthy's first-minute dismissal. 'It was my own doing, so I couldn't really give out to anyone else,' Barrett says. 'I probably hadn't watched a game like that in ages, so it was an experience I hadn't got since I was about 18. I didn't think of it much before the game but at the game it was horrible, but the lads were brilliant on the day and put the game to bed in the first half. 'So, I enjoyed the second half.' While the second half of the 16-point defeat to Limerick at TUS Gaelic Grounds three weeks ago was better than the first period, nobody in red was enjoying it. However, there wasn't any dwelling on it, either, given the need to respond a week later against Waterford. For Cork, the Monday gym sessions bring as much mental as physical benefit. 'That is the case,' Barrett says, 'especially when you have the back-to-back games and say you have been playing on the Sunday. 'You come in on the Monday and completely park that game. In our case it was Waterford this week, so you don't have time to be dwelling – you are just fully focused, about being back around the lads and getting our work done, getting ready for training on Tuesday and the match at the weekend.' And, given the chance to avenge that earlier defeat, where does Barrett identify the major areas for improvement? Related Reads 'It was a whole new world for me': Limerick-Cork Munster final memories 50 years on 'That narrative has been debunked now' - Limerick boss hits back at end of an era talk Pat Ryan: 'Some of our own people writing off Limerick. Are they off their game?' 'Everything, really,' he says. There wasn't anything we could have taken as a positive, they blew us completely out of the water. We had no answer for them whatsoever. 'I think we improved on a lot of things against Waterford, that weren't there in the Gaelic Grounds, but we just had no answer for them up there. 'Limerick are an unbelievable team. You just have to respect what they've done over the last seven, eight years. They're an unbelievable unit, a well-oiled machine. They know each other inside out. 'It's about weathering the tough moments against them, and trying to impose your own gameplan on them.'
