“I still had a lot of chances in the first three rounds, just didn’t hole a lot, so I said if they start dropping, which they did early on we’d be all good.”

It was in his final round where the Irish international showed the class that had made him a West of Ireland and South of Ireland champion in the past, carding an impressive -7 round of 65. However, flashbacks of the play-off in 2023 must have been ringing around in the Dundalk golfer’s head as a bogey on 18 almost let his nearest competitor in.

“It’s one of them, you just put so much into it and then keep falling short, and then when I done what I done on No. 18 I was like don’t tell me I’ve done it again,” said Rafferty

“I just had the ball below my feet, went with a three wood, probably shouldn’t have done it. I had no idea of the scoring but played it as if I’m one behind. Let’s press and make birdies, so I went with three wood, hit an awful three wood,” said Rafferty.

Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy was the man who fought all the way to the final hole, birdies on 15 and 16, putting pressure on the leader. Coming down 18, a birdie would have been enough to force a playoff, but when his six-foot putt for a four came up just short, Rafferty emotionally embraced his parents, Ciaran and Carol-Ann on the practice ground as the new East of Ireland champion.

“Made hard work of it on the last, but it was nice to get it over the line. They played really solid today. They didn’t do anything really wrong and just held a lot of putts. I just went out with the mindset of needing to shoot a low one,” said Rafferty. 

While Rafferty felt his ball striking was not at its best this week in County Louth his new putter and time spent on the practice ground paid dividends in the end.

“I drove the ball poorly all week, found a bit of a groove on the last few I suppose but down to striking wise it wasn’t one of the better weeks or one of the better rounds,” said Rafferty.

“I changed the putter two weeks ago, spent three and a half hours on the putting green which I’ve never done in my life and we figured something out that might just give me a bit of feel and a bit of confidence and just today I read the greens really well.”

In coming so close in 2018, 2022 and last year relief and delight were etched across the champion’s face. The celebrations for the 32-year-old cannot come fast enough.