GOLF: It's in-built in champions, this inner belief that defeat is never accepted; and that the towel is never thrown in.

Yesterday, in the final of the West of Ireland amateur championship at Co Sligo Golf Club, Mark Ryan - a 23-year-old who only last month gave up his desk job so that he could spend his time playing golf - proved there is always a way back when overcoming a three-hole deficit at the turn to take his first major title in senior golf, beating Alan Dowling by a 3 and 1 margin.

In many ways, it was a strange old day. In the morning, Dowling had performed similar heroics to come from four down to beat Darren Crowe in the semi-final, while Ryan had booked his place in the final with a one-hole win over Brian McElhinney. Yet, in the final, Ryan - a winner of the Irish Youths' title two years ago - was the one who had to dig deep.

And, when it counted, the Grange golfer proved he had the necessary resolve that it takes to fashion an unlikely victory.

Ryan's victory was an emotional one.

"I dedicate this win to my dad, Michael, who isn't too well at the moment. He's the one who started me in golf," he said.

In fact, Ryan was introduced to golf as a seven-year-old - in Lahinch on family holidays - and the link with the Co Clare links was maintained in the build-up to the West as he spent a week there practising his chipping and putting "so that I could get used to links golf again", before moving up the coast to Rosses Point.

On another dry day, with nothing more than a breeze caressing the links, Dowling, from Hermitage, was the one who looked most likely to take his maiden title.

The 32-year-old had played beautifully throughout the matchplay stages, rarely missing a fairway and finding most greens in regulation. So it was on the outward nine of the final, as he secured a three-hole lead by the turn that actually could have been more as Ryan made precious par saves.

Those saves were crucial. On the seventh - where he was short of the burn in two - he pitched over the ditch to eight feet, and rolled in the putt. And, on the eighth, where his approach ran 20 yards over the back of the green, he was forced to play a subtle pitch that he was required to land short of the green and some 30 feet left of the flag, then allowing the green's contours to take the ball towards the hole. "It would have been curtains for me."

As Ryan made his way to the 10th tee, he reminded himself of a similarly dire situation he was in during last year's South of Ireland.

"I was three down to Michael McDermott after nine in the quarter-final, and managed to win on the 21st," recalled Ryan.

The fightback began immediately. On the 10th, where Dowling missed a fairway for the first time in the final, Ryan's par was sufficient to reduce the deficit. He won the 11th, too, after his opponent missed the green to the right and, then, brought matters level when holing an eight-footer for birdie on the 12th.

The transformation had been swift, and the momentum was fully with Ryan. He went ahead for the first time in the match when winning the 14th - where Dowling suffered his third bogey in five holes - and, then, went two up when winning the 16th with a par. There, Ryan played a deft pitch from the gully on the right of the green to two feet, and the improvement in his short game - attributed to a session with outgoing national coach Howard Bennett in Portugal last month - was a vital part of his armoury. The task was completed on the 17th green, where another par was sufficient to win the hole and claim the title.

Ryan's decision to give up his job with Goodbody Stockbrokers so he could concentrate on golf has reaped quick dividends. Now, his aim is to claim a green jacket - to play team representative golf for Ireland. "My aim is to make the team for the Home Internationals (in Ballybunion in September)," he said. The plus-one handicapper's win here might help him claim that international call-up sooner, as the European Team championships take place in Holland in July.

THE DETAILS

SEMI-FINALS

M Ryan (Grange) bt B McElhinney (North West) 1 hole;

A Dowling (Hermitage) bt D Crowe (Dunmurry) 1 hole.

FINAL

Ryan bt Dowling 3 and 1.