Hard luck to Lisa Croke and her Revive Active team who lost out today to Dun Laoghaire in the Leinster South final which was played in Coollattin Golf Club.
The team teed off at 9.30 and while our ladies looked to be in control for the opening couple of hours sadly Dun Laoghaire came back strong on the back nine to claim victory and the GI pennant.
First out today were Niamh Kielthy & Sophie Lumley and they got off to a good start, two up through the opening five holes but from there it was pretty much all Dun Laoghaire. Six, seven and eight went to Dun Laoghaire and a half on the ninth only provided a brief respite for Niamh & Sophie as the Dun Laoghaire pair threw in three more consecutive wins on ten, eleven and twelve to go four up with six holes remaining to play.
Our second pairing was that of Mary Hutch & Sandra Cotter. As with Niamh & Sophie, Mary & Sandra started well, winning three, four and six with their only loss at this stage being on five. Seven, eight and nine were halved and they turned two ahead. The back nine didn’t start well however for the Greystones pair and they lost the opening four holes to go from two up to two down with five to go.
Amanda Lawless & Aisling Marmion were out in the third match and it looked like it might be a very tight one after the opening four holes were halved. Dun Laoghaire got their noses in front with a win on the fifth but Aisling & Amanda dug in to win the next two holes to get ahead for the first time in the match. The match was back to all square after a Dun Laoghaire win on eight but that was to be their last win as Aishling & Amanda turned on the style, winning nine, eleven and then three on the bounce from thirteen to fifteen to win the match 5&3.
Out fourth were Jennifer Moore & Jacinta Dean. Jennifer & Jacinta were up against strong opponents today and four down by the tenth tee. Halves on ten and eleven were followed by a fight back by Jennifer & Jacinta and they won twelve & fourteen to get to within two.
Our final pair this morning was Shauna Siefried & Mary Lockhart who played really well from the get go and were three up after just four holes. Dun Laoghaire won the fifth but Mary & Shauna won the next six holes in a row to close their match 8&7.
It was now two nil to Greystones but it was difficult to see where the vital third point might come from.
Niamh & Sophie had won the fourteenth to be three down with four to play but holes were running out after a half on the fifteenth. The Greystones pair were not going to go down without a fight however and they kept the match alive with a good win on sixteen but could only manage a half on seventeen and the point went to Dun Laoghaire.
Sandra & Mary had steadied the ship with halves on fourteen, fifteen and sixteen but unfortunately they lost seventeen to lose their match 3&1.
Jacinta & Jennifer, having reduced their deficit to two, lost fifteen to go dormie three down and when the sixteenth was halved it was match over by 3&2 and a overall 3-2 victory for Dun Laoghaire.
Lisa and all her squad put a huge effort into this campaign and gave us some great days to enjoy during the year. Hard luck to all involved.
