It was down to the wire today (23rd July) for Jacinta Dean’s Women’s Senior Foursomes team. Two last minute cry offs for Jacinta had her pull on the blue shirt herself and join the fray against an excellent Carton House team, whose team included two ladies off +4 this afternoon – reminder – there are no shots in this competition.
In what can only be described as miserable conditions in Greystones, Mary Kavanagh had been drafted in as a late replacement and was paired with Shauna Siefried in our one home match.
Mary & Shauna got off to a flier and won the opening two holes but were really up against it and lost the next two to go back to all square. Both Greystones players were playing very well and were still all square at the half way stage, having lost seven but won the ninth. The tenth was halved and Mary & Shauna got their noses in front once again with a nice par on the eleventh to win the hole but this lead was short lived as they lost the twelfth.
Jacinta, who hadn’t even had a practice round, came in to play with Deirdre Ahern in the second away match and they were up against it from the off. They were playing a really strong Carton pair and were never allowed to settle. Despite this they never gave up and battled hard to the finish with their match ending early with a Carton 8&6 win.
Our first match away was fairing somewhat better. Aisling Marmion & Niamh Kielthy were both playing a blinder. They won the first to set a marker down that they weren’t just there to make up the numbers and stuck at it to get to the back nine two ahead after winning four holes and losing just two on the front nine. This was a tight and exciting match. Another win on twelve gave the Greystones pair a little breathing space and they would need it as Carton came back at them strong to win fourteen and fifteen to get to just one behind. A spectacular win on the sixteenth and we were dormie two up….
It was very much all to play for now with Carton just needing one match but Greystones fighting hard to prevent this happening.
At home, Mary & Shauna halved thirteen and fourteen to remain all square, while In Carton, on the par five seventeenth, both players were on the edge of the green in three. Aisling hit a good chip which was matched by her opponent and Niamh putted to three inches for a bogey. Carton now needed to hole their putt to keep the match alive but it slipped by the hole to give Aisling & Niamh a 2&1 win and Greystones a point to level the tie.
All eyes were now on our home game which was, at this stage all square through fifteen. On sixteen both found the bunker off the tee but it was Mary & Shauna who got up and down to take a one hole lead with two to play.
The drama wasn’t going to end on seventeen however with both players hitting good drives but it was Carton House who were ahead on the fairway. Their third shot just cleared the water while it took Mary & Shauna four to get to the green side. An up and down for bogey was enough for a Carton win to level the match with just the eighteenth remaining.
On eighteen, both teams were on the green in three and with similar putts. Mary was first to putt and just missed, with the next putt conceded. In contrast, Carton’s putt ran on to five feet and when the return was missed it was a 1 Up win for Greystones in the match and a 2-1 win overall !!!
This was a brilliant win for Jacinta and the team, very much against the head with two away matches and last minute team changes.
