Our Junior Cup team played their Leinster South semi final this afternoon (Sat 9th July), their third in three years, this time against Blainroe. The management team of Brian Frawley, Collie Dunne and Ray Crotty have an excellent squad to pick from, all who have been putting in the work for the past six months or so.
With Ray out of the country and Collie caddying in Blainroe, Brian Frawley looked after the away team while Paul Keane stepped in at home. We had three matches in Greystones today and there was an expectation that all three matches could be won. Like football however, golf can be a funny old game…
First out at home was Harry Kirk, who despite a loss on the first, was two up after four today. Losses on the next two holes had the match all square and so it remained for the balance of the front nine.
Will O’Riordan was out next and he won the first but was out of his normal rhythm and was three down at the turn.
Out last at home today was Chris Boylan, who was teeing it up against a promising young Blainroe player. Chris wasn’t going to give any quarter to the young man in this match and stormed into a four hole lead through six and had extended this lead to five up by the tenth tee.
Meanwhile, in Blainroe, Cian Gilmore was out number one and started birdie, bogey, birdie, eagle to go two up. He lost five but won eight and was two ahead after nine.
Our anchor player away from home today was Toby Murphy, who had made his Senior Cup debut in Blainroe only yesterday. Toby got to two up after three but was pegged back to all square by the seventh and the match was still level as the pair headed to the tenth tee box.
At home, Chris lost the tenth and the thirteenth but never really looked like he wasn’t in control. He made a great par on the fourteenth from the left edge of the green for a half and closed his match out on the next hole 4&3. One up for Greystones.
In Blainroe, Toby was taking his match by the scruff of the neck, winning ten, twelve and thirteen to go three ahead with five to play before making par on the tricky, par three, fifteenth to secure Greystones’ second of the day, also by a margin of 4&3.
The back nine in Greystones was not kind to Harry today. He lost ten but bounced back straightaway winning the eleventh. Twelve and thirteen were halved and an mis-clubbing on the fourteenth, where he cleared the green completely gave his opponent a one hole lead. On fifteen, with the Blainroe player partially blocked out left after his second shot, Harry could only find the bunker on the right hand side of the green with his third from the middle of the fairway. This made his opponents shot a little easier and his approach, through the trees ended up on the back left of the green. Harry played a good bunker shot to fifteen feet while Blainroe’s chip was very average running out to more like twenty feet. There was nothing average about his putt however which hit the middle for the hole for par and a win. Sixteen was halved and an excellent Blainroe birdie on the seventeenth closed the match out 3&1.
With two matches left on the course we needed just one point to get a spot in the LS final, after having come so close for the last two years.
Away from home, Cian wasn’t having it all his own way on the back nine. Having started on the tenth, two ahead, he lost the tenth and twelfth to go all square. He was one up again after thirteen but that tricky par three again, the fifteenth, claimed another Greystones loss and all was back to friendly once again with just three to play. A par on the short par three, seventeenth was sufficient for Cian to get his nose in front again as he headed for the par five eighteenth, one ahead.
Will was turning his match around on the back nine. Two unanswered wins on ten and twelve were followed by a brilliant birdie on the thirteenth, where he had to hit over the trees from the right hand side of the fairway, having looked like he had no shot, to level the match. This good work was partially undone by an uncharacteristic three putt from twelve feet on the fourteenth to hand a hole back to his opponent. The status quo was returned when he won the fifteenth. Will restored a one hole lead when his Blainroe opposite number, mis-clubbed on the sixteenth, found himself under the tree behind the green and failed to get up and down. On seventeen, both players hit good tee shots but Will’s bounced right and nestled up against a tree just short fight of the green. He had to take an unplayable and, to be fair to the Blainroe man, he held his nerve on his approach, finding the fringe behind the green and won the hole with a conceded par.
It could hardly be closer. One match at home all square playing eighteen with a second, away from home, dormie one up, also playing the last.
At home Blainroe hit an iron off the tee up the right hand side of the eighteenth, finding semi-rough a hundred and forty yards from the pin. Will screamed a drive up the right hand side leaving himself seventy yards. Advantage Greystones perhaps ?
In Blainroe, Cian had found trouble off the tee and had to hack out but hit the left hand side of the green in four with his opponent yet to play his third.
Back in Greystones, Will’s opponent hit a great approach from the rough on eighteen which just failed to reach the putting surface. This was followed by a sublime pitch by Will to six feet above the hole. A putt for the match perhaps ? Perhaps not! The Blainroe man elected to putt his next shot and it looked hole-bound from the moment it left the face of the putter. Good putts make noise, and this one did – birdie. Will was now faced with a six foot, downhill putt for a half and to keep the match alive. As he had done in a recent Fred Daly match, Will held his nerve and slotted the putt home and the gallery and players headed back to the first.
The Blainroe player was still first to play on the first and his tee shot landed in the bunker on the right of the green. Will then hit a magnificent seven iron, into the wind, to ten feet. His opponent played a decent bunker shot but was still away and failed to make his par putt. With two for the win, Will stroked his putt to the hole side to secure the vital, tie winning point for Greystones.
Cian was called in at one up playing the last away from home.
Well done to Ray, Collie, Brian and all their squad on reaching the Leinster South final which will be played in Wicklow G.C. at the end of the month.
