North West's Kyle McCarron came from five shots off the lead at halfway, following a morning 72 in tough conditions with the only sub-par round of the entire day — a one under 69 — to win the Irish Youths Amateur Close Championship by a stroke at Ardglass.

Overnight leader Chris Johnston (Perranporth) shot a third round 75 to lead by a shot from Castlerock's Andrew Mulholland with a round to go with McCarron a shot further back on 12 over par after a 72.

But Johnston faded on the back nine, dropping 13 shots in an 11-hole stretch in the middle of the round en route to an 83 and 

And it was McCarron who took advantage in conditions that , making two birdies on the front nine to take the lead before coming back from a triple bogey six at the 10th with birdies at the 15th and 16th for a 69 to set the clubhouse target at 11 over par 291.

Esker Hill's Alan Lowry birdied the last two holes for a 72 to take third place for the second year running.

Detailed scores

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Irish Youths Amateur Close Championship, Ardglass Golf Club (Par 70)

Final Scores

291 Kyle McCarron (North West) 76 74 72 69

292 Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock) 74 75 72 71

295 Alan Lowry (Esker Hills) 74 73 76 72

298 Bill Murray (Waterford Castle) 78 73 71 76

299 Peter Kerr (Royal Portrush) 77 69 80 73, Ronan Mullarney (Galway) 75 72 76 76

300 Marc Nolan (Delgany) 81 69 79 71, Tommy O'Driscoll (Ring Of Kerry) 79 70 75 76

301 Owen Crooks (Bushfoot) 80 75 75 71, Matthew McClean (Balmoral) 77 74 77 73, Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 75 72 77 77

302 Sean Flanagan (Co. Sligo) 72 76 78 76

303 Ben Murray (Waterford Castle) 79 71 79 74, Ross Steedman (Courtown) 77 75 73 78, Chris Johnston (Perranporth) 75 70 75 83

304 Ben Graham (Scrabo) 77 69 82 76, Thomas Mulligan (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 70 76 82

306 James McVicker (Knock) 81 73 78 74, Neil McKinstry (Cairndhu) 74 75 78 79

310 Stuart Bleakley (Shandon Park) 80 75 74 81, Matthew Murphy (Clandeboye) 79 76 83 72, Jamie Stothers (Tandragee) 75 78 76 81, David Carey (Carton House) 74 74 87 75

314 Michael Burke (Ballinrobe) 78 72 81 83

315 Liam Grehan (Mullingar) 80 74 83 78

316 Jamie Fletcher (Warrenpoint) 80 73 84 79, Alex Gleeson (Castle) 75 76 83 82

317 Dan Hinds (City of Derry) 82 71 82 82

319 Niall Foley (The Island) 74 79 90 76

320 Mark Kerrigan (Old Conna) 82 72 86 80

321 Ross McKeever (Castle) 83 71 89 78

322 Mark MacGrath (Limerick) 81 73 92 76

Missed Cut

156 Rob Brazill (Naas) 85 71, Ryan O'Doherty (Enniscrone) 83 73, Craig Melvin (Corrstown) 79 77, Eoghan O'Donovan (Craddockstown) 78 78 

157 James Lindsay (North West) 84 73, Brian Crowdle (Kilkenny) 83 74, Evan Farrell (Ardee) 82 75, Luke Cummins (West Waterford) 82 75, Jake Whelan (Newlands) 82 75, James Hewitt (Tandragee) 81 76, Dominic Pollock (Belvoir Park) 81 76, Conor Coyne (Youghal) 80 77 

158 Gary Ward (Kinsale) 84 74, Dale Jackson (Massereene) 82 76, Peter McKeever (Castle) 81 77, Harry Scott (Castle) 79 79, Rory Williamson (Holywood) 78 80 

159 Aaron D'arcy (Ballinrobe) 83 76, Andrew Keenan (Dundalk) 81 78, Adam Mulhall (Ardglass) 80 79, Jack McDonnell (Forrest Little.) 79 80, Liam Harnett (Milltown) 78 81, Ted Collins (Dun Laoghaire) 77 82 

163 Alan Fahy (Bray) 85 78, Keith Coyle (Athlone) 84 79 

164 Cathal Butler (Kinsale) 86 78, Sean O’Connor (Carton House) 86 78, Alec Myles (Newlands) 86 78, Eoin O'Brien (Clontarf) 83 81, Luke Robinson (Bundoran) 82 82 

166 Karl Eccles (Clandeboye) 88 78 

167 Darragh Fitzgerald (Limerick) 87 80 

168 Devin Morley (Oughterard) 87 81