![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/KQ3B6ZJ3WFFMZH3TTIMUYHMN5M.jpeg\")
Mark Cadden celebrates with his father, Michael. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\nRoganstown teenager Mark Cadden said it was dream come true as he claimed the Connolly Motor Group West of Ireland Men\u2019s Amateur Open Championship in County Sligo Golf Club following a thrilling victory over Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint).<\/p>\n
Nineteen-year-old Cadden showed his class all day but was unable to wriggle free of last year\u2019s beaten finalist. Campbell won the 17th to force the match down the last.<\/p>\n
There were two extra holes before Cadden sunk a 15-foot putt to scenes of jubilation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty emotional now,\u201d said Cadden after the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just put so much time and effort into it, and to finally get something in return, it\u2019s just unbelievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad and mam, just the support they give me is unbelievable, all my family. My sister was watching that match the whole time in Australia, it\u2019s about 2.30am there now, she was in tears on the phone. It was emotional.<\/p>\n
Mark Cadden celebrates with his father, Michael. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\n
\u201cPlayed great all day really, Colm just holed so many putts in the first eight holes and then a few coming in. He just wouldn\u2019t back off, 17 he made some par, every time he had the putter in his hands I was expecting him to make it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I was due a putt and thankfully it just went my way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadden continued his impressive week with a 3&1 win over fellow teenage prospect Alex Kerins (Carton House). The two battled it out and Cadden assumed a 2up lead when he birdied the sixth. He was unable to pull away down the back nine but when Kerins stumbled on 15 it left the door open, and Cadden advanced.<\/p>\n
Campbell was made to work hard for his place in the final by Cian Harkin (The Island). The Donegal native took a 1up lead on the 5th but Campbell bounced back. He went 1up after the turn and although Harkin clawed the deficit back again on 12, Campbell went in front on 16, and moved on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roganstown teenager Mark Cadden said it was dream come true as he claimed the Connolly Motor Group West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10863,61,60,43,10864],"class_list":["post-386863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-bestof","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-topix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}