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Pat O’Dowd  and Joe O’Brien’s Best Cup team took on Ballinascorney this evening (26th June) in the last eight of the Leinster South section.

Jimmy Hempenstall & Tom Purcell were out first and set the tone for the home team on the front nine. After halving the first three holes, Jimmy & Tom upped the anti, winning four of the last six holes on the front nine without reply to move to the back nine with a nice cushion.

Out number two were Joe Grennan & Martin McNulty.  A nice win on the first was negated by a loss on the second but further wins on the third and ninth, without any additional holes conceded to the opposition on the front nine, had the pair two up heading down the lane.

Our final home pairing was that of Emmet O’Brien & Jim Kinsella. Emmet & Jim were in fine form and moved into a three hole lead after five, having won the opening two holes and the fifth.  Our sixth can claim scalps as we all know and neither home player played it particularly well and the hole went to the visitors.  Emmet & Jim bounced back immediately with a win on seven, then halved eight before an unfortunate loss on nine reduced their advantage to two, halfway around the course.

As Joe was going to be delayed this evening and wasn’t going to make the tee off, David J. Kelly stood in to see the matches off the first tee in Ballinascorney. In the first away match, Pat & Joe had selected last year’s Captain’s Prize winner Quentin Teggin, to play alongside Dermot Whiston.  It’s always tough when playing away but with both players in decent form recently they felt they had a chance to nick what could be a vital away win.  The Greystones pair were one ahead through four but lost three in succession to to go two behind after eight.  A great win on the ninth reduced the deficit to just the odd hole and an equally good win on the thirteenth got them back to all square and with all to play for.

Our final pair this evening was George Hughes & Pat Tracey who both know each other’s game very well. This was a tight match with George & Pat two up after the first two holes but pegged back to all square after losses on the fifth and sixth holes. A win on seven for the Greystones men was cancelled out by a loss on the tenth and after a half on eleven they were still as they had started on the first.

Back in Greystones, unfortunately for Jimmy & Tom, the wheels fell off for a time early on the back nine.They lost ten through to twelve to give up all of that nice cushion that they had worked so hard to build up on the front nine.

Joe & Martin started the back nine better and earned a good half on ten before winning eleven to move to three up.

As the home matches progressed the real drama (for now) was taking place in Ballinascorney, where Joe O’Brien was keeping his men focused.

Quentin & Dermot went ahead for the first time since the second hole with a win on the fifteenth but were back all square just one hole later.  Seventeen went to Greystones and got them to dormie but the home pair used their local knowledge well on eighteen to win the hole and take the match up the nineteenth, the difficult index 3, par four. Again, the Ballinascorney players took full advantage of their familiarty with the hole and, despite the best efforts of Dermot & Quentin, the hole was won by the home team and the first match point of the day went to Ballianascorney.

The second away match saw George & Pat sneak ahead with a fantastic win on twelve but the match was so tight, it was no real surprise when the home team levelled it once again on the fourteenth. With nothing between the teams, all the holes from there to the eighteenth were halved and, at all square after eighteen, this match too headed back to the first tee.  This time however, it was the Greystones visitors who claimed victory with an excellent win on away turf.

1 all, away from home.

As this was unfolding in Rathfarnham, back in Greystones, Jimmy & Tom had steadied the ship somewhat and had halved fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, but with a loss on seventeen, they were dormie, one down.

Joe & Martin however were going well after their win on eleven, halving twelve, thirteen and fourteen before a loss on fifteen, to be two up with three to play.  They finished the job on sixteen with a 3&2 win and edged the team ahead in the overall tie.

Having turned two up, Emmet & Jim got to three up with a win on twelve but were back to two after thirteen once again. Fourteen, fifteen and sixteen were halved and the pair were now dormie two up but with the treacherous seventeenth and tricky eighteenth left to play.

Up ahead, Tom & Jimmy had won eighteen to get their match back to all square and headed for nineteen, the third match this evening to go beyond the regulation holes.

Needing just one match from the two still on the course, Pat O’Dowd, faced with the impossible task of keeping tabs on the seventeenth and the first, elected to stay with Emmet & Jim’s match.

In the end it was this pair that got over the line first, with a strong win on seventeen to win the hole and their match 3&1 and secure the overall tie for Greystones.

By the time Pat and Lady Captain Celine, got back to the first, Tom & Jimmy had also won – a brilliant performance – many pairs might well have capitulated after losing a four hole lead.

Many congratulations to Pat, Joe and the whole team, on an excellent evening’s work. A semi-final now awaits.

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