Karl Holmes and his young Darcy Trophy team were at home this morning to a strong Woodbrook team.
First out was David Byrne who had a strong hold of the match early doors turning two up. At this level every opponent is going to be strong and the match was back to all square by the fourteenth teebox. A tap in birdie on the fourteenth saw David go back in front and he held on to win on the eighteenth, 2 up.
Our second player this morning was Dylan Holmes who also turned two up, despite not playing his best golf. A loss on the twelfth, when he found the trees off the tee was followed up by a win on the thirteenth to restore his lead but another loss on the fifteenth cut his lead back to one. His opponent then birdied sixteen and seventeen to go into a one shot lead on the eighteenth tee box. Dylan hit a great drive and, with his opponent within ten feet had to attack the flag. His ball went straight over the pin and rolled off the back of the green. Dylan was away and hit a super chip which found the hole which was enough to halve the match.
Adam Packman was our final singles player today and started with a chip in for two on the first to take an early lead. As with the other two matches he turned ahead in his match one up after nine and doubled this lead with another win on the tenth. A loss on the eleventh stalled his progress and he had to dig in to half the next two holes. A win on fourteen was perhaps the turning point and he halved the next three holes to win by a margin of 2&1.
With two and a half points in the bag it looked like we might sneak a second win on the trot but, as we all know too well, golf can be cruel. Our first foursomes pair of Daniel O’Byrne & Shane O’Connor were in a dogfight all morning and got to the eighteenth all square. Both pairs found the correct level of the green in two and it was Greystones to putt first for the birdie. Shane hit a great putt from fifteen feet that did everything but fall in hole while the Woodbrook man holed his fourteen footer for the win.
Meanwhile Jamie Anderson & William O’Riordan faced a very tough pair and, despite turning all square their match went away from them on the back nine and a loss on sixteen sealed the match 3&2 and the tie was halved two and a half a piece.
In the afternoon our ladies also took on Woodbrook, this time away from home. Woodbrook would have a number of international ladies at this level and our girls more than did themselves proud.
Woodbrook only have twelve holes open at the moment and our first singles player, Aishling Marmion played well but lost 3&2.
Second out Niamh Kielty, also played well but her match finished 4&3 to Woodbrook.
Our third singles match saw Jennifer Moore come up trumps with a great 3&1 win, putting some blue on the board but the tie was sealed when Iris Haughton & Isabella Stewart saw their match end by a margin of 3&2.
Deirdre Ahern & Sophie Lumley put on a great show at the tail end of the field to win their match 2&1.
So a very encouraging performance by the ladies, albeit the tie being lost 3-2.
All to play for by both Men’s and Ladies’ teams in the next round of this competition.
