Fred Daly Team win place in LS final, Irish Mixed bow out in last four

In the first of two Leinster South semi-finals yesterday (24th June), Peter Anderson and his Fred Daly team were up against a strong Elm Park team.  Pete’s team had three matches at home but had the memory of loosing out to Elm Park at the same stage of the competition last year when the last match went to the nineteenth.

Pete has a strong team this year and deployed his players strategically home and away.

At home, our number one player, Dylan Holmes led out the team, taking on the Elm Park number one.  The wind was up in Greystones in the afternoon and a mis-clubbing on the first saw Dylan come up well short of the green and, when he failed to get up and down the hole went to Elm Park. Dylan halved the second and a lovely approach shot on the third set up a win.  Four and five also went to Dylan and he kept the momentum going on the sixth with a great up and down from the bunker for par and a half.  Seven also won the seventh but his second shot to the ninth overshot JD and the green to find the gorse and the hole went to Elm Park.  As they headed to the tenth Dylan was two up.

Second out was William O’Riordan who held a twelve footer for birdie on the opening hole to go one up and followed this up with another birdie on the third after a magnificent second shot to go two up, having halved the second. Will made a great up and down for par on the sixth, to steal a half, after a miscued second seven shot and won seven with another par. A lost ball on the ninth off the tee precipitated a loss and the match moved to the back nine with Will two ahead.

Our final home match saw Jack McGovern take to the course. Jack halved the first and went on to win the second and third, which was won in par after Jack made an excellent ten foot putt. After loosing a ball off the tee on four Jack lost the hole and he also lost the fifth to go back to all square. A very good up and down on the sixth for par was required to win six and further pars on seven and eight got the Greystones man to three up.  A par on nine wasn’t enough to even half the hole but two up going down the lane seemed a reasonable return for Jack’s front nine performance.

In Dublin 4, Steven Gormley was out first and got off to a great start. Two up through three became there up after six and Steven was playing really well. a bad tee shot on eight lead to a loss and Steven’s opponent got a sniff of a recovery and went on a birdie trail also winning nine, ten and eleven. Twelve was halved before the Elm Park man also won the thirteenth. So, from three up to two down in the space of six holes. Steven won the fourteenth to get to one down but was back to two down immediately with a loss on the fifteenth.

Out at number two in Elm Park was Boy’s Junior Captain, Jamie Anderson. Jamie didn’t get off to the best of starts and his problems were compounded as he was playing a gifted twelve year old, playing off 1.7. Jamie found himself two down after four holes, got one back with a win on five, but lost six immediately to go back to two. Wins on nine and eleven squared the match once again.

Meanwhile back in Greystones, Dylan was in control, halving ten before winning eleven and twelve to go four ahead.  On thirteen, Dylan hit three wood off the tee and found himself blocked out short of the green. His opponent pulled his the shot left and when his ball was found he played a great recovery shot to get back into play and then hit a good approach which set up a par for the win. This win only delayed the end of the match briefly however as Dylan’s par on fourteen was enough to win the hole to go to dormie.  A half on fifteen closed the match for Dylan by a margin of 4&3.

At the back of the field, Jack responded to his loss on the ninth with a win on ten and another on the eleventh after an excellent tee shot over the pin to fifteen feet to set up a par. But he wasn’t having it all his own way with his opponent making a birdie on twelve to win the hole. Jack went with driver on thirteen and ended up in the rough short of the water.  His Elm Park opposition had elected to hit iron off the tee and found the green, fifteen feet from the pin with his second. Jack’s pitch came out hot and ran out to twenty feet.  Two good two putts saw that hole halved but Jack made a nice par on fourteen to go dormie four up and when fifteen was halved on bogey the match was done with Jack winning out 4&3.

Their reward for the win was a place in the Leinster South final which is to take place in Greystones on July 24th and a rendition of “Joxster” from The Killer O’Dowd.

Our Irish Mixed team, managed by Amanda Lawless & Paul Keane were out just after the Fred Daly team and came up against a strong Lucan team in the last four of the Leinster South division.

It goes without saying that, with three away matches there can be no margin for error and everyone has to be on their game to have a chance to progress at this point in any competition.

At home today, Amanda & Paul had Lisa Croke & David Byrne out first in an attempt to get a point on the board early. It looked like this might not happen when, after after five holes, the home pair were two down, but wins on seven and nine had squared the match at the halfway point on the course. The back nine started as the front nine had with early wins for Lucan on ten and twelve (where the Greystones pair found trouble in the trees to the right off the tee) going their way, and it took a monumental effort from Lisa & David to wrest control back their way. They won two in a row, fifteen and sixteen, to get the match back to all square, before halving seventeen and eighteen and holding their nerve on nineteen to win an excellent point for Greystones.

This was not in fact the first point for Greystones this afternoon. Amanda Lawless & Diarmaid MacGabhann were out after Lisa & David but were finished ahead of them after a fantastic 4&3 victory. Both players were very much on their games today and turned two up. From this point they didn’t give their opponents any opportunity to get back at them and, having won ten and thirteen, a half on the fifteenth was enough to close the match, 4&3.

Away from home Aine O’Rourke & Adam Packman were out first and were all square through three holes but four, five and six went to Lucan and they were three down heading to the tenth tee box. Aine & Adam had a spirited fightback on the back nine, winning ten, fourteen and the sixteenth but the damage had been done on the front nine and they headed to the last dormie one down, having lost the twelfth.  It was Lucan who recorded the win on the eighteenth and the match ended with a 2up win for the home team.

Match two in Lucan pitted Orla Delaney & Des Hickey against a very strong Lucan pair. Orla & Des were up against it from the get go and turned four down. The back nine was no kinder to the Greystones pair and the match ended with a 7&5 Lucan win.

The Greystones pair for the last, and as it turned out, the deciding match, were Sandra Cotter & Murt Davis. Sandra & Murt had produced a great way win when playing Blainroe earlier in the month when they had staged a brilliant back nine recovery to win one up. Today, the front nine was a closer affair with Sandra & Murt just one behind as they headed for the back nine. At three down, after losses on ten & eleven however, another epic comeback was going to be needed. Twelve and thirteen were halved and a great win on the index 1, twelfth gave some optimism however the match concluded on sixteen with a Lucan win, 3&2.

So the Irish Mixed will have to wait till next year to try to repeat the All Ireland win of 2016.  Hard luck to Amanda & Paul and all the team who put so much into the 2023 campaign.