In the first of two Leinster South semi-finals today (24th June), Peter Anderson and his Fred Daly team were up against a strong Elm Park team. Pete’s team had three matches at home but had the memory of loosing out to Elm Park at the same stage of the competition last year when the last match went to the nineteenth.
Pete has a strong team this year and deployed his players strategically home and away.
At home, our number one player, Dylan Holmes led out the team, taking on the Elm Park number one. The wind was up in Greystones in the afternoon and a mis-clubbing on the first saw Dylan come up short of the green and, when he failed to get up and down, the hole went to Elm Park. Dylan halved the second and a lovely approach shot on the third set up his first win of the day. Four and five also went to Dylan and he kept the momentum going on the sixth with a great up and down from the bunker for par and a half. He also won the seventh but his second shot to the ninth overshot JD and the green to find the gorse and the hole went to Elm Park. As they headed to the tenth Dylan was two up.
Second out was William O’Riordan who held a twelve footer for birdie on the opening hole to go one up and followed this up with another birdie on the third after a magnificent second shot to three feet, to go two up, having halved the second. He made a great up and down for par on the sixth, to steal a half after a miscued second shot, and won seven with another par. A lost ball on the ninth off the tee precipitated a loss there and the match moved to the back nine with Will two ahead.
Our final home match saw Jack McGovern take to the course. Jack halved the first and went on to win the second and third, which was won in par after Jack made an excellent ten foot putt. After loosing a ball off the tee on four, Jack lost the hole and he also lost the fifth to go back to all square. A very good up and down on the sixth for par was required to win six and further pars on seven and eight got the Greystones man to three up. A par on nine wasn’t enough for even a half, but two up going down the lane seemed a reasonable return for Jack’s good front nine performance.
In Elm Park, Steven Gormley was out first and got off to a great start. Two up through three became three up after six and Steven was playing really well. A poor tee shot on eight lead to a loss and Steven’s opponent got a sniff of a recovery and went on a birdie trail to win nine, ten and eleven. Twelve was halved before the Elm Park man also won the thirteenth. So, from three up to two down in the space of six holes while playing well! Steven won the fourteenth to get to one down but was back to two down immediately with a loss on the fifteenth.
Out at number two in Elm Park was Boy’s Junior Captain, Jamie Anderson. Jamie didn’t get off to the best of starts and his problems were compounded by the fact that he was playing a gifted twelve year old, John Moran playing off 1.7. Jamie found himself two down after four holes, got one back with a win on five, but lost six immediately to go back to two. Wins on nine and eleven squared the match once again, and Jamie’s game face was on and he was now hitting the ball well.
Meanwhile, back in Greystones, Dylan was in control of his match, halving ten before winning eleven and twelve to go four ahead. On thirteen, Dylan hit three wood off the tee and found himself blocked out, just short of the river on the right. His opponent had pulled his the shot left but found the ball and then played a great recovery shot to get back into play, followed by a good approach shot which set up a par and the win. This win only delayed the end of the match briefly however as Dylan’s par on fourteen was enough to win the hole to go to dormie. A half on fifteen closed the match for Dylan by a margin of 4&3.
At the back of the field, Jack responded to his loss on the ninth with a win on ten and another on the eleventh after an excellent tee shot right over the pin to fifteen feet which set up his par. He wasn’t having it all his own way however and his opponent made a good birdie on twelve to win the hole. Jack went with driver on thirteen and ended up in the rough short of the water. His Elm Park opposition had elected to hit iron off the tee and then found the putting surface, fifteen feet from the pin with his second. Jack’s pitch came out hot and ran out to twenty feet. Two good two putts saw that hole halved. Jack then made a nice par on fourteen to go dormie four up and when fifteen was halved in bogeys the match was done with Jack winning out 4&3.
Despite the two early wins, the tension among the Greystones supporters was palpable with the three remaining matches so tight.
Will had lost ten to be just one ahead but an excellent tee shot on eleven set up a win for him there. Twelve was halved but thirteen went to Elm Park after Will found the river with his tee shot. The to and fro continued with Will winning the fourteenth after another fine iron shot but the match was back to all square after he lost the fifteenth and sixteenth holes.
In Elm Park, Jamie was one down having lost the fourteenth and had to make an excellent ten foot putt for birdie, to avoid going two down on the fifteenth, after his opponent had hit his second to a foot.
Just up ahead of Jamie on the course Steven halved sixteen and was now dormie two down. He was unlucky not to get a win on the seventeenth and the half was enough to give Elm Park the match win, 2&1.
Jamie was on the green on the sixteenth in two while his young opponent, John Moran, was faced with a very difficult thirty foot bunker shot for his third. The young lad hit a brilliant shot to six inches and Jamie had to make a good two putt for the half. Both Jamie and John hit excellent tee shots on the par three seventeenth and the hole was halved in par. Both players hit fantastic tee shots again up eighteen and after John hit his approach to ten feet Jamie hit his to six – brilliant golf.
Back in Greystones Will’s tee shot on seventeen was just sixty yards from the pin, however his opponent had hit screamer to be in the rough just short of the water. Neither player was able to convert the birdie and the pair moved to the eighteenth tee, still all square. With the pin bottom right, Elm Park’s drive was in the perfect position, thirty yards short of the green on the right hand side of the fairway. Will had driven up the left and was left with, perhaps, thirty five yards to the pin, but with an awkward angle. The crowd were on their feet when he hit a brilliant low pitch which checked on the second bounce, and came to a stop just five feet beyond the hole. Will’s opponent was not to be beaten easily however and he hit an equally brilliant shot under the circumstances to a foot which was conceded. Will now faced a five footer with break to keep the match alive and there was a collective sigh of relief among the Greystones supporters when his ball found the bottom of the cup. The supporters then rushed back to the first, as unwelcome memories of the 2022 loss on nineteen to Elm Park came to mind once again. The Elm Park tee shot missed the green right, leaving a straightforward chip and Will’s took a bad bounce on the left of the green, running through to leave a more awkward ship from over the green on the left hand side with the pin on the left of the green.
As this drama unfolded in Greystones, it was getting even more dramatic in Elm Park. On eighteen, Jamies opponent’s putt looked like it was heading for the hole but just ran out of steam and skimmed the hole edge. Elm Park needed both remaining matches while we only needed one of the boys to convert. Jamie duly obliged holing his six foot birdie putt to finish in style and close the tie out 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 for Greystones.
Their reward for the win is a place in the Leinster South final which is to take place in Greystones on July 24th when they will play either Bray or Stackstown, sure to be another tough assignment either way.
Congratulations to Pete and all the team, a great performance. Thanks also to Elm Park for the sporting way the matches were played.
Our Irish Mixed team, managed by Amanda Lawless & Paul Keane were out just after the Fred Daly team and came up against a strong Lucan team in the last four of the Leinster South division. With three away matches the team faced a tough challenge with very little margin for error.
At home today, Amanda & Paul had Lisa Croke & David Byrne out first in an attempt to get a point on the board early. It looked like this might not happen when, after after five holes, the home pair were two down, but wins on seven and nine had squared the match and they turned all square. The back nine started as the front nine had, with early wins for Lucan. Ten and twelve (where the Greystones pair found trouble in the trees to the right off the tee), went their way and it took a monumental effort from Lisa & David to wrest control of the match back. They won two in a row, fifteen and sixteen, to get the match back to all square, before halving seventeen and eighteen and holding their nerve on nineteen to win an excellent point for Greystones.
This was not in fact the first point for Greystones this afternoon however. Amanda Lawless & Diarmaid MacGabhann were out after Lisa & David but were finished ahead of them after a fantastic 4&3 victory. Both players were very much on their games today and turned two up. From this point they didn’t give their opponents any opportunity to get back at them and, having won ten and thirteen, a half on the fifteenth was enough to close the match, 4&3.
Away from home Aine O’Rourke & Adam Packman were out first and were all square through three holes but four, five and six went to Lucan and the Greystones duo were three down heading to the tenth tee box. Aine & Adam had a spirited fightback on the back nine, winning ten, fourteen and sixteen but the damage had been done on the front nine and they headed to the last dormie one down, having lost the twelfth. It was Lucan who recorded the win on the eighteenth and the match ended with a 2up win for the home team.
Match two in Lucan pitted Orla Delaney & Des Hickey against a very strong Lucan pair. Orla & Des were up against it from the get go and turned four down. The back nine was no kinder to the Greystones pair and the match ended with a 7&5 Lucan win.
Out last, and as it turned out, in the deciding match, were Sandra Cotter & Murt Davis. Sandra & Murt had produced a great away win against Blainroe earlier in the month when they had staged a brilliant back nine recovery to win one up. Today, the front nine was a closer affair with Sandra & Murt just one behind as they headed for the back nine. At three down, after losses on ten & eleven however, another epic comeback was going to be needed. Twelve and thirteen were halved and a great win on the index 1, twelfth gave some optimism however the match concluded on sixteen with a Lucan win, 3&2.
Hard luck to Amanda & Paul and all the team who put so much into the 2023 campaign.
