Orla Delaney and her Boyne Trophy team braved the extremely tough weather conditions this afternoon when they took on Slade Valley in the last eight stage of this competition.
First to today were Mary Lockhart & Amanda Lawless. Slade Valley had the best of the front nine on a day when conditions significantly reduced any home advantage. The visitors won four holes in a row from the third to the sixth to go four ahead and turned at three up with Mary & Amanda having won the seventh. Ten went to Slade Valley with eleven, twelve and thirteen being halved but Mary & Amanda won the fourteenth to reduce the deficit to three holes with four to play. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be Mary & Amanda’s day as they could only half fifteen and sixteen and the match went to Slade Valley 3&2.
In Slade Valley Orla had put out Deirdre Ahern & Regina Connaughton out first. Deirdre & Regina didn’t get off to the best of starts and were two down after just three holes. The remainder of the front nine proved to be a purple patch for the Greystones pair with a win on the fourth followed by a string of four more wins from six to nine. As they headed to the tenth tee box Deirdre & Regina were three ahead, the tenth and eleventh were halved before another Greystones win on the twelfth was immediately cancelled out by a loss on the thirteenth. This match was not going to be given up easily and while the fourteenth was shared the fifteenth also went to the home team and Deirdre & Regina were now just two up with three to play. We needn’t have worried – a Greystones win on the short par four, sixteenth, closed the match 3&2 and got our first point on the board.
Meanwhile in Greystones, Jennifer Moore and Aine O’Rourke, always a very strong pairing, were out second. They fared somewhat better on the front nine, and were two ahead after nine. Ten was lost but a win on the eleventh restored their advantage straight away. The visitors got some respite with a well played half on twelve before Jennifer & Aine sealed the deal, with wins on thirteen, fourteen and fifteen to close out the match 5&3, very wet but happy !
The second pairing away from home saw Iris Haughton & Grace Dodd in a tight match. Two down after two became all square after five and this is how the match stood after the front nine. Slade Valley went ahead on the tenth but the match was once again back to level after an excellent Greystones win on the eleventh. Twelve was halved but Slade Valley took control at this point and won thirteen, fourteen and fifteen to go dormie three up. Iris & Grace were not going to give up easily and kept their match going with a win on sixteen, however a half on seventeen was enough for a Slade Valley win and for them to level the tie at two all.
Our final home match saw Mary Hutch & Sandra Cotter make a great start, winning four of the first five holes. Six went to Slade Valley but another win on the ninth had the Greystones girls turn at four up. This lead was reduced when the tenth was lost but the ship was once again steadied on eleven with a well earned half. Twelve was a home win and Mary & Sandra got to four up with five to play with a solid half on the thirteenth. Another half on fourteen had them dormie four ahead and the deciding point was tantalisingly close. On fifteen, needing just a half to win their match, and the overall tie, Mary & Sandra went one further and won the hole and the point that would send Orla’s team into a Leinster South semi-final.
Congratulations to Orla, Ger O’Shea, who looked after the team at home today, and all the team.
