Junior Cup team win Leinster North pennant
Dundalk Golf Club captured the Leinster North Junior Cup pennant on Saturday at St Margaret’s when they proved too strong Laytown & Bettystown as they ran out 4-1 winners.
The win sends Dundalk into the All-Ireland series for the first time since 2015 when they lost to Westport in the semi-final and makes up for last year’s Leinster North final defeat by Corrstown.
It’s often said that a good start is half the battle and Dundalk got off to the perfect start as all five players won the opening hole in each of their matches and that set the tone for what followed.
Aidan Thornton certainly had the pedal to the metal as he was five up after six holes and after losing the seventh his response was to win the next four and close out the match on the 11th for an 8&7 win.
Brian Og Renaghan opened up with two birdies to take an early lead but fell one behind after six holes. However, after halving the seventh, he won three in a row to go two up and eventually won 4&3.
Chris Clarke was another who got off to a flying start and was five up after six. His opponent battled back to win the seventh and eighth but Clarke responded by taking the next three to go up six up with seven to play. It looked all over at that stage but the Laytown man refused to lie down and proceeded to birdie the next three holes to halve the deficit with four play.
Clarke managed to stem the tide with a half on 15 and then won 16 to close out a 4&2 victory.
Those three wins gave Dundalk the overall win but they were also in command in the other matches as Rickie Newell was one up and Ben Cahill was three up when called in.
Dundalk now head to the All-Ireland finals which will be held in Trim at Knightsbrook Golf Club. In the quarter-finals on Saturday, September 17, they will face Co Sligo who beat Athlone 4.5 to 0.5 in the Connacht final in Athlone. Should they advance, the semi-finals and final will be played the following day, Sunday, September 18.
Joint mangers Conor Curran and Ronan Farrelly were presented with the blue Leinster North pennant after Saturday’s win and Farrelly said they were delighted to have taken the regional title.
“It’s taken five matches to get through our region and into the All-Ireland quarter-finals and it wouldn’t have been possible without the commitment shown by all the players on the panel and their caddies as well as the support we have received from everybody in Dundalk Golf Club. We’ve got a few weeks now to prepare for the All-Ireland quarter-final and we intend to give it our best shot.”