Rafferty beaten by one hole in South final

​Caolan Rafferty was beaten by a birdie on the final hole in the final of the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch on Sunday.
Local hero Jonathon Keane two putted from the front of the green on the par five 18th to deliver the first home winner in 57 years and deny the Dundalk man his second win in the South.
Rafferty, who won the South in 2018, had another great week over the famed County Clare links. He qualified for the matchplay stages in 16th place after rounds of 69 and 72 left him on three-under, four shots behind the leading qualifier, Dylan Keating of Seapoint.
His clubmate, Ben Cahill, also made the top 64 as he finished 31st on 143 after rounds of 71 and 72 to once again underline his great potential. In the first round of matchplay Cahill beat Sean Barry of Fota Island 1up but then lost 6&5 to Galway veteran Joe Lyons in the last 32.
Rafferty started the matchplay phase against Patrick Curran of Edmondstown and won 5&4 before beating Joe O’Neill of Berehaven by one hole to reach the last 16 where he had a 5&3 win over Monkstown’s Sean Desmond before dispatching Athenry’s David Kitt on a similar scoreline in the quarter-final.
The semi-final paired Rafferty against Jake Whelan of The Grange and saw him record his third consecutive 5&3 win to reach the final where he faced Keane who was a 2&1 winner over Liam Abom of Edmondstown.
Rafferty found himself two down after four holes and was still two down with four to play but won the 15th and 16th to draw level. After a half on 17, it all came down to the last where, watched by a large partisan crowd, Keane got finally got the job done after been pushed all the way by the Dundalk man.