Offaly golfer through to semi-finals of West of Ireland Championship

AN Offaly golfer has continued his dream return to amateur ranks by making the semi-finals of one of Ireland's most sought after competitions, the West of Ireland Championship.

Played on one of the country's most cherish courses, Rosses Point, a few miles outside Sligo toiwn and nestling up against the Atlantic Ocean, Tullamore native Stuart Grehan will meet Colin Campbell of Warrenpoint in the semi-final on Tuesday morning with a 7.15am tee-off – the other semi-final between Dylan Holmes, Greystones and Cork's Barry Anderson starts at 7am with the two winners meeting in the final in the afternoon.

It has been a great tournament for Grehan who made the huge decision to return to amateur golf this year after almost ten years in professional ranks. A former member of Tullamore Golf Club and now playing for County Louth GC in Baltray – he lives in nearby Termofeckin -, Grehan gave professional golf his best shot and had some great days but was stuck on the subsidiary tours and a big breakthrough eluded him.

One of the best amateur golfers in the country before joining the paid ranks, Grehan has hit the ground running back in the amateur game, winning the Rosslare Senior Scratch Cup and now closing in on a championship that he would love to win – he won the South and East of Ireland Championships as well as the Irish Youths Championship in his previous spell in amateur ranks.

His successes in those resulted in him taking the decision to give professional golf a go but he decided to call it a day after getting married and becoming a father – he is working as a financial advisor with an investment and pensions company in Dundalk.

Grehan came through the two strokeplay qualifying rounds last week on +12, hitting a 78 in round 1 and improving to a 76 in round 2. He has been excellent in the match play stages and has managed his game very effectively on the Rosses Point course, a difficult test of golf with wind nearly always blowing in from the Atlantic.

Grehan has set his sights on making the British and Irish Walker Cup team in the coming years and his performances here are a step in the right direction. He was in complete control in his quarter-final on Monday afternoon as he beat James Fox of Portmarnock with holes to spare, 6 and 5.

He just got through his last 64 first round matchplay showdown, beating Eddie McCormack of Galway Bay on the 19^th hole. He continued his good form in his next outing, beating Jordan Boles of Charleville, 3 and 2 and he went down the 19^th again in his last 16 match before beating his strength and conditioning coach, Robbie Channon of Balbriggan on Monday morning.

The tournament will also have done a lot of good for the confidence of a very promising emerging young golfer. Rahan teenager Evan Monaghan, still a second level student in nearby Killina Presentation Secondary School, actually came through the strokeplay qualifiers ahead of Stuart Grehan in 37^th place on +11: Grehan was a shot back on +12.

Tullamore Golf Club member Monaghan did very well to qualify for the matchplay stages with rounds of 81 and 72. After finding the going difficult on Thursday, he played some super golf when he needed to in round 2 on Friday, marking down three birdies and four bogeys in a one over par round to qualify comfortably.

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He battled with everything he had in his first match play outing before losing 3 and 2 to Ross Latimer of Knock. It will, however, be a great learning experience for Monaghan who has really developed his game in recent years, competing internationally and has a busy summer schedule lined up.