Leinster title for McNamara

THE SPILLS of rain that threatened to wipe out most sporting events throughout the country in the latter stages of last week drenched Headfort Golf Club"s Rory McNamara in glory as he defied the terrible conditions to claim the Leinster Youths Amateur Championships at Portarlington on Thursday evening. McNamara demolished the hugely talented field to lift the coveted crown with a remarkable score of 205 after 54 holes of gruelling golf in the most atrocious elements. The competition was scheduled as a 72-hole event, but the organisers had to cut the tournament by a round and that probably spared the blushes of McNamara"s competitors as he ran away from the field with outstanding rounds of 68, 70 and 67. McNamara"s eight under par total saw him finish seven shots clear of Omagh"s Niall Kearns and a further shot ahead of Brendan Keenan (The Heath). The win came hot on the heels of McNamara"s fifth place finish at the National Youths Amateur Championships in Lisburn the previous week. The Kells man, who won a u-21 B FC medal with Drumbaragh last year when they defeated St Michael"s in the decider at Pairc Tailteann, was also part of the Irish team that defeated Wales in an international match at Lisburn in the days leading up to the Irish Youths Amateur tournament. 'It is a great achievement for myself to win the Leinster Youths Amateur Championships and it is great to know that all the hard work I have been putting into my golf is paying off and I"m finally getting some where with it,' said McNamara. 'I am golfing every day and practising very hard to improve my game the whole time. When I am at home I don"t really do that much work on the course. I do a lot of practising and I spend hours at a time working on my short game doing a lot of chipping and putting. 'I am only 19 years old, but I"ve already played for the Irish u-21 team against Wales in Lisburn. It was a long week up in Lisburn last week from Monday to Thursday and it was 36 holes everyday, so it was very tiring. 'The golf season doesn"t start to wind down until the middle of September so there are plenty more competitions to enter. 'The next challenge on the cards is the Northern Ireland Championships and I will be hoping to build on this week"s success at that,' concluded the Kells man.