AMATEUR REVIEW:WHEN IRELAND won the European Team Championship last year, there followed a haemorrhaging of the team as, not surprisingly, the lure of professionalism attracted the likes Rory McIlroy and Richard Kilpatrick. It's a familiar problem for golf's amateur administrators, and one they've learned to live with.   

So, given that two of their brightest stars had ventured into the paid ranks, Ireland's achievement in retaining the championship when it was held at Turin in July was arguably even more impressive than last year's feat.

That England - with British Open silver medallist Chris Wood in the team - should be the conquered finalists made Ireland's success all the sweeter in many ways, and reaffirmed the playing strength of the sport here.

Ireland's sixth victory in the European championship was achieved by a team that included Gareth Shaw (who has since turned professional), Niall Kearney, Paul O'Hanlon, Shane Lowry, Jonathan Caldwell and Paul Cutler - who won six matches out of six, including an impressive 3 and 2 win over Wood in the final.

In many ways, this latest European championship triumph was achieved the hard way. Ireland only got through in seventh position in the strokeplay qualifying, but then accounted for Sweden - one of the favourites - in the quarter-final and overcame Germany in the semi-finals, before going on to achieve a 4½ to 2½ win over the English.

Michael Burns, the non-playing captain, remarked: "This is a wonderful result for the team and for Irish golf in general . . . The efforts of all concerned have paid off. Winning two Europeans in a row is something special and shows the depth and strength of Irish golf."

To add further lustre to Ireland's back-to-back wins in the Europeans, Ireland then added the Home Internationals title - winning three matches from three and claiming the Raymond Trophy for the first time since 2003 and only the eighth time in history.

And they displayed strength at the bookends of the age spectrum, also winning the Boys' Home Internationals and the Seniors' European Team Championship.