Familiarity with a links course can sometimes be like having a 15th club in your bag. Darren Crowe, for one, must feel that way with the Old Course at Lahinch and, perhaps, the 26-year-old Belfastman might also believe this majestic and rugged seaside course owes him a favour or two as he seeks to claim a first South of Ireland Amateur Championship.

Yesterday, just as he has done for the past two years, Crowe negotiated a route into the semi-finals, where he will today meet the Royal Dublin teenager Niall Kearney, an impressive ball-striker who has shown a great maturity in the man-to-man duels this particular event demands of its participants.

Crowe, a beaten finalist for the past two years, enjoyed a 3 and 2 win over The Island's Brendan Walton in a match that only turned as the pair headed for home, while Kearney - the youngest player left in the championship at 19 - won by the same margin over Westport's Cathal O'Malley.

The second semi-final will be a battle of the thirty-somethings.

Castletroy's Stephen Moloney, another player extremely familiar with the course, having played in the South every year since 1990 without ever enjoying a run such as this, faces the West of Ireland champion, Joe Lyons.

On another fine and dry day, with a breeze coming in off the Atlantic to accentuate the challenge, Crowe - who gave up thoughts of Walker Cup and a possible career as a professional when he joined the family construction business two years ago - has a goal to win each of the four domestic majors in his career.

"I've plenty of time for that," said Crowe. "I'm enjoying my golf since I started working and, you know, every match you win means another day off work."

In the morning's fourth round, Crowe (26) turned on the style early on against the American teenager Brendan Tracy with a birdie-eagle-par-birdie start on the way to a 6 and 5 win.

Then, in the quarter-finals, the Dunmurry clubman got the better of Walton in a much tighter affair.

The pair were level after 10 holes, but Crowe secured victory with a run that saw him win the 11th, 14th and 15th holes to book his place in the last four.

Kearney, a current Irish international, had a great old battle with Peter McGibney in the fourth round, securing the win with a 20-footer for birdie on the 17th.

In the afternoon quarter-final, the Irish boys champion of 2005 was one down early on to O'Malley, a student at the University of Alabama (Graeme McDowell's alma mater), but recovered to be one up at the turn and claimed the 10th and 11th holes to get a stranglehold on the match.

"I was disappointed with my performance in the other championships this season when I lost early on and couldn't get any momentum going," Kearney said.

"I wanted to do well this week. I like Lahinch, it has similarities with my home course (at Royal Dublin) as the greens are undulating."

In fact, both courses have been remodelled by the architect Martin Hawtree.

Moloney, a 34-year-old bank official, has marked his 18th straight appearance in the South with his best performance. In an all-Limerick quarter-final, he accounted for Cian McNamara, the champion in 2004, by 4 and 3. The Castletroy clubman got off to a great start, winning the first and eagling the second, hitting a four-iron approach to 30 feet, to be two up.

He was five up at the turn and six up after 11 and eventually finished matters on the 15th green.

That 15th green had minutes earlier provided Lyons, a 35-year-old official with the HSE based in Galway, some consternation when he three-putted from four feet to see his match with Shane Horgan go back all-square.

Lyons had a few words with himself on the way to the 16th tee, and calmly proceeded to hit a seven-iron to 10 feet on the par three to set up a birdie that gave him a lead he held to the end.