Jonathan Keane chasing home glory as Caolan Rafferty eyes second South of Ireland victory at Lahinch
While his father has dozens of trophies for showing his prize cattle, Keane has yet to trouble the trophy engravers, but he's hoping to at least give himself a shot at the title.
'We've loads of the silverware at home but nothing for golf,' joked Keane, who gave up the accordion and the chance to add to Kilfenora's traditional music tradition to focus on his golf.
He certainly has the game and the grit to go all the way.
He played excellent golf to beat Galway veteran Joe Lyons 5&4 in the third round before relying on 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 birdie 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 becoming the first local member to win since JD Smyth in 1968 would be like winning a major.
'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.'
As for winning the title, he knows he can't get ahead of himself against Abom, who made seven birdies to edge out East of Ireland champion David Howard by two holes in his quarter-finals.
'It would mean everything,' Keane said. 'I got to the quarters of the West this year and lost to Dylan Holmes, who was unbelievable.
'But I've been playing decent there with the last four or five months this year, so as always, I will just try and one shot at a time and give it 100 per cent, and whatever happens after that, you can't really do too much about it.'
Abom had to dig deep to beat the talented Roganstown teenager, Mark Cadden, one-up in the morning.
Howard denied him a fraternal quarter-final clash with his younger brother Thomas, the reigning Irish Close champion, with a win on the 20th in the last 16 and he's keen now to earn some family bragging rights by winning a 'major' himself.
'I'd say that was my best performance,' Abom said of his birdie blitz against Howard.
'I feel like I'm playing freely and I'm not worried about the consequences as much.'
Keane or Abom will face a quality player in the final as 2018 champion Rafferty meets another superb ball-striker in Whelan in the other semi-final.
'He's one of the best in Ireland, if not the best,' said Whelan, a former Mullingar Scratch Cup winner, after notching solid 2&1 wins over Connemara's Luke O'Neill and Ballybofey and Stranorlar's Ryan Griffin.
'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 and more mature player now than he was in 2019, when he lost 5&3 to Keith Egan in the semi-finals and he knows what will take to win.
'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.
Former Walker Cup player Rafferty has won the South, East and West of Ireland titles, but while he never tires of winning, fatherhood is now a priority.
'Every championship is the same, it's the best feeling ever,' Rafferty said after a brace of 5&3 wins over Monkstown's Sean Desmond and Athenry's David Kitt.
'That's why we play golf. This will be a wee bit more special, being the first one that the child will be here.
'No pressure, it's another day of golf and just see what happens… 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
Rafferty bt Kitt (Athenry) 5/3;
Whelan bt Griffin 2/1;
Keane (Lahinch) bt O'Hanlon 2/1;
L Abom bt Howard 2 up.
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