Well done to the Irish Senior men’s team who won their opening match play round this morning, beating Spain 3:2.
Alan Condren contributed one of the winning points with a 2&1 win in his match. Joe Lyons and Jody Fanagan also won their matches.
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Hard luck to Women’s Senior Cup team
Hard luck to Jacinta Dean and her Women’s Senior Cup team who fell just short to an extremely strong Munster team from Douglas G.C. this morning in their All-Ireland semi-final.
The match was played in Dun Laoghaire in almost perfect conditions with an early 8 am tee off for the opening match.
Out first were Aisling Marmion & Niamh Keilthy who faced the Douglas no.1 pairing. Aisling & Niamh got off to a slow start and by the time they found their rhythm their opposition had control of the match. The Douglas pair were relentless while the Greystones pair struggled a little on the greens and match finished 9&7.
Match two saw Sophie Lumley & Trish Sheil up against another strong pair. Douglas won the opening two holes, but both Greystones players were playing well and they squared the match with wins on four and five. The match was tied after nine, Douglas having won the eighth after a Greystones three putt for bogey, but Greystones responded immediately with a win on nine. Sophie & Trish then won the tenth to get their noses ahead for the first time in the match but the Douglas opposition threw in two pars in succession to win eleven and twelve to get back ahead.
The third pairing out today for Greystones was that of Shauna Seifried & Mary Lockhart. Shauna & Mary also found themselves two down after two but won the fourth with a par to reduce the deficit to just one. Unfortunately the putts just weren’t dropping for the Greystones girls and Douglas won five and six to get to three up and were starting to look in control. As with our first two pairs, Shauna & Mary were also finding it difficult on the greens and three putts on nine and eleven plus a missed birdie putt on twelve turned possible wins to halves and kept the match at three up to Douglas. Thirteen went to Greystones but Douglas closed out the match and the tie by a margin of 4&3 with further wins on fourteen and fifteen.
Sophie & Trish were back to just one down after fifteen when called in.
It was a great achievement for Greystones to get to the All-Ireland semi-final and the blend of youth and experience has certainly worked this year. Aisling, Sophie and Shauna have certainly been fantastic additions to the team from the junior section and with Junior Captain, Isabella Stewart still to come back into the team the future looks bright.
Well done to Jacinta and all the squad on their achievements this year and here’s to 2024.
Alan Condren is leading Irish player in European team event in Czech Republic
Alan Condren finished third in the 72 hole strokes section of the European Team Championship after a 71 today following his 72 of yesterday for a total of 143. Second best of the Irish team was Jody Flanagan who finished one shot behind after two level par rounds of 72.
With five of the six Irish scores counting they comfortably qualified for the top flight matchplay section of the event and will play Spain tomorrow in the first matchplay round.
Another All-Ireland Semi Final – Women’s Senior Foursomes
Best of luck to Jacinta Deane and her Women’s Senior Foursomes team who take on Douglas Golf Club tomorrow in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The match takes place in Dun Laoghaire Golf Club with an 8 am tee off.
All support will be welcome.
President Marguerites prize to the ladies – Prize giving
President Marguerite’s prize to the ladies took place yesterday in bright sunshine and the excellent scores reflected this.
Seventy one ladies played and the event was won by Deirdre Aherne (16) with 40 points, beating Ann Clarke (29) on the back nine.
Iris Haughton (18) was third with 37 points and Geraldine Nelson (24) was fourth with this same score.
Sophie Lumley (13) took the gross prize with 29 points.
Class winners were, Class 1, Shauna Seifried (11) – 35 points, Class 2, Patricia Moore (27) – 36 points, Class 3, Grace Dodd (30) – 36 points and Kate Bambrick (37) – 31 points.
Despite her driver breaking in two as she addressed her ball on the first, Trudy Bolton (29) managed an excellent 21 points to win the front nine prize and Trish Shiel (16) won the back nine with 20 points.
Niamh Keilthy won nearest the pin on the 14th and Sophie Lumley won the longest drive.
President Marguerite was on hand to present her prize to Deirdre after the prize giving dinner last night.
European Men’s Senior Team Championship
Best of luck to Alan Condren who represents Ireland in the European Men’s team Championship next week.
The event takes place at Royal Golf Club Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic and begins on Tuesday.
End of the campaign for Women’s Minor team
Hard luck to Regina Barry and her Minor Cup team who just came up short this morning when playing Munster’s Lee Valley in the quarter finals of this competition.
After an excellent campaign to get to this point, Regina and her team came up against an extremely tough team this morning. The Lee Valley side boasted a couple of players whose 2022 handicap bore little or no relationship to their current playing handicap, but, as they say, they’re the rules!
Out first was Helen Creedon who got off to a good start at two up through five and turned three up. The back nine was where her opponent came into her own however and, despite playing some excellent golf, Helen went down 3&1.
Out number three was Patricia Moore who had been called in as cover for the injured Janet Devin. Patricia was two ahead after three but was back to all square at the turn. As with Helen’s match, the back nine was where Lee Valley got going and Patricia’s match ended 3&2 for Lee Valley.
Out fourth was Áine O’Rourke. Áine was up against an extremely powerful young player who made few mistakes and when she did had the power to recover with ease. Áine did little wrong in the first six holes to be fair but still found herself five down. Her opponent had a little wobble on seven and eight and Áine capitalised winning both holes but she had a mountain to climb and her match ended 5&3 to give Lee Valley the overall tie victory and the opportunity to play in the All-Ireland finals in Westport.
Still out on the course at this stage were Joyce Kirwan, who was out second and Bernadette MCGowan who played in the anchor position today.
Joyce Kirwan won the first and was never behind in her match. She turned three up, having won seven, eight and nine, and was dormie one up and in prime position on the eighteenth, when called in.
Bernie was playing a girl who was a full ten shots lower than her competition handicap but Bernadette was in great form herself today and wasn’t going to put off by this. Bernadette went two up through three and turned all square. When called in she was one up after fourteen.
Once again, hard luck to Regina and her entire squad, who put in such an effort over the duration of the competition.
Another big day for Women’s Minor Cup team on Saturday ( 2nd Sept )
Best of luck to Regina Barry and her Minor Cup team who travel to Callan Golf CLub in Kilkenny tomorrow (Sat 2nd) to play Munster’s Lee Valley in their All-Ireland quarter final.
Up for grabs is a trip to Westport to play in the All-Ireland semi-finals & final on 21st & 22nd of this month.
Regina has left no stone unturned in the planning for this match and hopefully we will all be travelling up the N5 later this month to support the team.
Tee off is at 10 am.
Not the result we wanted but a great couple of days in Castletroy
Well done and hard luck to our Fred Daly and Irish Junior foursomes teams who headed to the All-Ireland finals in Castletroy on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Our Fred Daly team were up against it from the off having being drawn against Douglas G.C. in the quarter finals. Douglas boasts an impressive Junior section and their Fred Daly team boasted two Irish Internationals including their number one player Jack Murphy who recently shot 9 under at the British Boys.
In an impressive display, our boys saw off Douglas 3-2, including an excellent win from Dylan Holmes (his card including eight birdies) , who beat Jack Murphy 2up. William O’Riordan also won impressively 4&2 and Toby Murphy came from two down with five to play to half the match with a spectacular win on eighteen and go on to win on the 21st hole. Steven Gormley lost 2 down and Jamie Anderson 7&6.
In the afternoon our Junior foursomes played Monkstown G.C. but unfortunately it wasn’t to be our day in this event. Despite our boys putting up a good performance, the Monkstown team were better on the day and our boys went down 7&6. Marc Lawless & Ruadhán Murray were four down through fifteen and Jack McGovern & Milo Doyle were three down at the same point. Conor Dignam was ready for action if called upon as the team substitute.
On Wednesday morning our Fred Daly team faced Lurgan in the semi final and again put up an excellent performance in a tightly contested match. Dylan Holmes, once again put in a stellar performance to win 3&1, Jamie Anderson was three under when his match finished 4&3 and Toby Murphy had finished early, 6&5, after another excellent performance. When called in, William O’Riordan was one down through fifteen and Jack McGovern was three down through fourteen.
Our opponents in the final were the fancied Royal Portrush and, despite excellent wins by Dylan (4&2) who was playing a player who he had faced in the Inter-Provincials last week and by Toby Murphy (5&4), the green pennant and the Trophy headed up North. Jamie lost 5&4, Jack went down 4&3 and William narrowly lost out 2&1.
Heartbreak for the team but we should all be proud of their performances and the manner in which they all faced the challenges of the week. Every Greystones player gave their all to the team.
Well done to Peter Anderson and Karl Holmes for bringing these teams to this year’s finals, a great achievement. Many thanks also to Castletroy Golf Club for their hospitality.
Junior Cup team win through to All-Ireland Semi-Finals
Many congratulations to Brian Frawley, Ray Crotty, Collie Dunne and all their squad on their win yesterday afternoon( 27th August) in Youghal against an excellent Monkstown (Cork) team.
In this, the first of the quarter finals Greystones had put a strong team out in William O’Riordan, Harry Kirk, Jack McGovern, Toby Murphy and Chris Boylan.
Early in the match it looked like it could be a fairly straight forward Greystones victory however nothing could have been further from the truth as it turned out.
The golf played by all the players, from both teams today was of an exceptionally high standard. To illustrate, only one player (Monkstown) failed to par the first hole and both Toby and Chris made birdies to both go one ahead.
William came out of the traps fast after his half on the first and was four up after the front nine before winning ten to further extend his lead. He got a little unlucky on the thirteenth to lose the hole and he also lost fourteen but closed out his match 4&2 on the par three sixteenth with a par after an excellent tee shot.
Toby’s birdie win on the first was followed by two more wins on the next two holes but he stuttered a bit at this point, losing four and six before taking control of the match once again from there to secure an excellent 5&4 win, and a second point for Greystones.
Chris was in a tough game and despite winning the opening two holes found himself one down after nine but got ahead by two once more with wins on the tenth, eleventh and fourteenth holes.
Harry Kirk’s match was of an exceptionally high standard indeed and was all square through nine before Harry won ten, eleven and thirteen to move to three up.
Jack McGovern was playing very well also today but still found himself three down after the front nine, just a couple of putts that didn’t drop and couple of lucky bounces for the Monkstown man being the main differences between the two players. Jack started the back nine well, winning ten with a par before birdieing twelve and thirteen to get back to all square. Another win on fourteen saw Jack ahead for the first time in the match.
While it all looked good at this juncture for Greystones, within a half hour there was a very different complexion to the tie.
Harry’s opponent won fifteen with a par, after Harry’s approach to the small green had run off the right hand side. Another Monkstown win, this time with a birdie, on sixteen, had the match back to just one up for Greystones with two to play. A half on seventeen had Harry dormie one up and he played the eighteenth perfectly, picking up his ball for a par after a lovely approach and putt on the par four hole. His opponent had also played a good approach to fifteen feet and rolled his putt in for birdie to take the match to the nineteenth – the roar from the Monkstown crowd was probably heard in Cork, all very exciting. On nineteen, both players were on in regulation two but Harry’s first putt ran four feet past the hole and he failed to make the one back while his opponent got down in two to win the hole, and the match.
While this drama unfolded, Jack was in a bit of bother. Fifteen went to Monkstown to level the match, and sixteen was halved in pars but it was the Monkstown player who crucially got his nose back in front with a win on seventeen to go dormie one up. Jack’s approach to the back pin on eighteen ran through the green and, in the end he could only manage a half which was enough for another Monkstown win and a 2-2 scoreline overall.
At the back of the field Chris was in a tough match. He was two up with four to play after a good start to the back nine. Fifteen was halved but his opponent held a twenty footer on sixteen to reduce his lead to just one hole. Chris pulled his long approach to seventeen and found himself forty yards left with little of no green to work with while his opponent had found the left edge of the green. Chris’ pitch to four feet was magnificent but his putt to win the match slipped agonisingly by the hole and the hole was halved in par.
It all came down to the eighteenth. Both players found the putting surface in two with Chris thirty feet from the hole and the Monkstown man in to fifteen feet. Chris hit a great putt, particularly under the circumstances, to a foot and was in for his par.
After what had happened in Harry’s match, the entire gallery held their collective breath to see if Monkstown could find a second birdie on eighteen, however it wasn’t to be and the match, and the tie went to Greystones.
This was a brilliant tie with some excellent golf played by both sides.
Well done to Brian, Ray and Collie and the entire squad – a brilliant squad effort again today.
Next up is a trip to Knightsbrook on the 14th & 15th September for the All-Ireland finals.
