Jim Wood, John Burke and their Pierce Purcell team took on Hermitage this afternoon (6th May) in the first round of the 2023 competition.
With three matches away the lads might have struggled but a fine team performance saw them win the tie and move to the next round.
At home Anthony Byrne & Neil Lawless were out first and struggled a bit from the off, losses on eight and an unlikely loss on the ninth, when they appeared to be in pole position had the pair two down heading for the tenth tee. A good two putt on the eleventh brought the match back to one down but from there Hermitage were in full control, winning four on the trot, albeit with the benefit of any good fortune that was going, to close the match 5&3.
Our second home pair of Andy Nolan & Gary O’Connor fared much better on the day. Andy & Gary played excellent golf all day. Holes were generally traded from the off till the sixth at which point Greystones had a one hole advantage but from the seventh on Andy & Gary did very little wrong. Consecutive wins on eight, nine and ten had them four up and when their opposition had to reload off the tee on the twelfth the writing was on the wall. An excellent approach shot by Gary on the thirteenth, followed by a well paced putt from Andy which finished six inches from the cup, was enough to win a point for Greystones 6&5.
Away from home, Gavan Campbell & Rod O’Shea lead the way and were two up through two, turned three up and stormed to a great away win 4&3 to edge Greystones into a 2-1 lead overall. Second out were Michael Keating & Robert Clarke who were in a very tight match alternating from being one up to all square to one down. They found themselves back at one up after a win on eleven, followed this with a half on twelve but crucially they then broke the pattern of the match with another win on the thirteen to into a two hole lead. The pair sealed their match and the tie with a win on sixteen, 3&2.
While all this was unfolding our final away pair of Shane Power & Stephen O’Brien were quietly going about their business. A little flurry approaching the half way stage when they won the sixth, seventh and eight holes helped them move to the back nine with a two hole advantage. They stayed in full control from that point and were dormie four up when called in.
A great team performance overall. Congratulations to Jim, John and all the panel.
