JUST in case there was any doubt about the destination of the 2017 Irish jockeys’ championship title at the start of the week – and there was, a slight one – Colin Keane went to Dundalk on Wednesday evening and kicked three winners home, and all doubt was removed.

“This is Colin Keane’s night,” said Dessie Scahill in commentary as Ben Rumson got up on the far side in the finale on Wednesday night. “This is Colin Keane’s year. He’s gone 10 clear, and that’s the championship.”

It has been some week so far for Keane, it has been some year so far for Keane, it has been some career so far for Keane.

You can chart his rise: first ride for his dad Gerry on King Of Kilberry at Dundalk in October 2010, first winner on No Trimmings, also for his dad, also at Dundalk, in December 2010.

Started with Ger Lyons in 2013, second in the apprentices’ championship in 2013, first group winner on Brendan Brackan in September 2013, first jockey to Ger Lyons in 2014, champion apprentice in 2014. Second in the jockeys’ championship in 2015, second in the jockeys’ championship in 2016.

And this week, a week that will end with his first jockeys’ championship, began with his first Group 1 victory, on Laganore for Tony Martin in the Premio Lydia Tesio at Capannelle in Italy.

Keane has gone from debutant to champion in seven years. Some meteors don’t go that quickly.

He blasted from the gates and got out in front in the championship from early. There was an expectation that the inevitable challenge that would ensue from nine-time champion Pat Smullen would be difficult to resist, and it was, but, with the not insignificant assistance from his boss Ger Lyons, Keane resisted it all right.

It has been a great tussle between the two riders. The Keane/Smullen duel for the championship has been one of the bright lights in a sparkling 2017 flat season.

For a great duel, you need two protagonists. Pat Smullen put up some fight, as you knew he would. He is a great champion, a nontuple champion who has, quite remarkably, finished in the first three in the championship every year since 1999. You know that he will be back. He has lost the title before and come back to win it again.

The role that Ger Lyons played in Keane’s championship bid should not be underestimated. Overcoming’s victory at Dundalk on Wednesday took Lyons’ haul for the season in Ireland to 70, more winners than he has ever had in a season before, second only to Aidan O’Brien in Ireland in 2017.

He had 13 winners in October alone, as against five in October last year. You can be sure that Keane’s championship victory will mean almost as much to Ger Lyons as it will to Colin Keane.

So we will not have the battle between Keane and Smullen that we anticipated at Naas tomorrow.

Instead, it will be a lap of honour for Keane. With 97 winners on the board at the time of writing, three more between Dundalk yesterday evening and Naas tomorrow would bring up a century, and that would put the cherry on it.