Our first match this afternoon had our men’s Junior Cup team, who are managed by Brian Frawley & Ray Crotty face Killiney. With three matches in Killiney against, what is always a very tough opponent in this category it was going to be a big ask to win this one. The team had prepared well but it would come down to how the lads would perform on the day as usual.
Tee off in Killiney was fifty minutes ahead of the Greystones start time.
First out in Killiney was Cian Gilmore and it was hoped that his ferocious length might pay dividends today. It definitely looked like this wasn’t going to be the case after nine holes where Cian found himself five down.
Second out in Killiney was our Postman, Jamie Anderson who, despite losing the first, played great golf for the front nine with wins on the eight and ninth to have him turn one up. He continued his excellent performance on the back nine to go dormie four up. A hiccup on the fifteenth proved to only be a blip and he closed his match out 3&2.
Our third match away saw Collie Dunne face a tough opponent. The front nine were shared with three wins a piece and the back nine was equally tight but Collie found himself one down with three to play after a loss on the par five fifteenth.
Back home the matches were underway and our first man out was Alan Keane. Alan looked like he meant business from the off and five wins on the front nine, including wins on eight and nine had him three up heading down the lane to the back nine. He continued where he had left off and never took his foot of the pedal and won, convincingly on the fourteenth, 5&4.
Our anchorman, Diarmaid MacGabhann was out last and met an opponent who was having one of those days when a ball heading for awful trouble somehow ends up in play. Despite this Diarmaid and caddy David Kirby remained calm, played solid golf and hoped that the luck might change sides at some point. Two down through nine became three down after the tenth.
With two points already on the board but with Diarmaid three down through ten holes and it was unclear where Greystones might find the elusive third point to win the overall tie.
Better news began to emerge from Killiney however. Cian had found his mojo at the start of the second nine and won ten, eleven and twelve on the trot to reduce the deficit in his match to two down. He was back to three down after the thirteenth however and was again in need of a special response if he was to salvage anything from the match. This is exactly what he provided, winning another three holes on the bounce to bring the match to all square after sixteen for the first time since they teed off on the first. The seventeenth was halved and Cian had a great chance to win on the eighteenth however a three putt from just off the green saw the match go back to the first tee.
Meanwhile Collie was digging in with wins on the sixteenth and seventeenth to go from one down to one up at the most critical time in the match.
Diarmaid was also turning his match around with a win on the thirteenth followed by a great up and down on the fourteenth for another to get back to just one down.
Back in Killiney, Cian wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to win a second time and a par on the dog legged par four second won him his match, one up, while almost simultaneously Collie held a twenty footer on the eighteenth to win his match, two up.
The final score in the match was 4.5 to Greystones 0.5 to Killiney. An excellent performance by the whole team.
