Hard luck to Davie Lewis, Ben Crowley and their great under 15 team who heartbreakingly came up just short today for the second year in a row as they lost in the Leinster final to Roganstown Gold Club.
Davie and Ben have had a tough couple of weeks. Our first leg, played at Greystones two weeks ago left us facing a 3:2 deficit before today. On the upside we were welcoming back our lowest handicap player, Jack McGovern who had been unavailable for the first leg, which would move the playing order for the remaining matches and there was a great confidence in the squad.
Unfortunately, Jack injured his wrist during the week and ended up with a heavy strapping and had to withdraw. To make matters worse our number three player, William O’Riordan injured his hand on the morning of the match and ended up needing stitches. This of course where having a squad comes in and Davie and Ben had no hesitation in calling Ruadhán Murray and Conor Dignam back to the match day team both having played very well in previous rounds.
Out first was Conor who played well but faced a player who played away beyond his handicap today. Conor never really got a grip on the match and turned five down after nine holes. He never gave up and certainly didn’t make it easy for his opponent, however it was first blood to Roganstown on the thirteenth by a margin of 7&5.
Milo Doyle was out third today. Milo has been great all through the campaign and faced the same opponent he faced in the first leg of the final. On that occasion Milo came out on top, however today it was a different outcome. At five down through nine it was clear that it would be a struggle for Milo to get anything from the match and so it turned out to be, with Roganstown running out winners 7&6.
Two nil to Roganstown early doors and now they only needed one more match to lift the title while we needed to win the remaining three to force a playoff.
Our second player out today was Ruadhán Murray and he got off to a fine start, winning the first three holes. He was still three up after seven holes but was back to just one up after losses on the eighth and ninth and then on the tenth Ruadhán injured his back and it looked briefly like he may have to concede his match. He lost the tenth to go all square but he worked hard for two halves on the next two holes and, as his back pain eased he played great to win the thirteenth and fourteenth to go back to two up. Despite a loss on the fifteenth he didn’t panic at all and a half on the sixteenth followed by an excellent win on the very difficult par 3, seventeenth closed his match out 2&1.
Marc Lawless was out in fourth position. Marc had come from three down with three to play in the first leg only to lose on the nineteenth and today he found himself two down after just three holes. Wins on four and five leveled the match and holes were traded over the rest of the front nine and the match turned, as it had began, all square. Marc won the tenth to go one up and had a good opportunity to double his lead on the eleventh but he three putted in the wet and windy conditions to halve the hole. It was a similar story on the par three twelfth where Marc’s opponent had found water off the tee and had to take a drop. Mark failed to capitalise however and the hole was halved. He did win the thirteenth to go two up but lost fourteen and sixteen to find himself back to all square. The seventeenth was halved and the pair headed to the eighteenth where an excellent birdie, Marc’s fourth of the day closed the match with a Greystones win, 1up.
Meanwhile, Toby Murphy of anchor man today was having a ding dong match. Toby struggled off the tee a bit on the front nine and it was only his never give up attitude that had the match at just one down at the turn. The Roganstown lead was doubled with a win for them on the tenth and it was nip and tuck on eleven which was halved. On twelve, Toby made an incredible up and down for another half from over the back of the green and thirteen was also halved.On the fourteenth Toby looked in a strong position to win the hole with his opponent facing a tough bunker shot and Toby within ten feet however, as often happens in matchplay, the Roganstown man held the bunker shot and Toby had to hole a ten footer just to half the hole. The match went dormie after we lost the sixteenth. Toby won sixteen with a shot and hit a great tee shot, right over the pin on the seventeenth. His opposition’s shot was equally good and, crucially was under the hole. Toby’s putt didn’t drop and ran out to two feet after the Roganstown player had putted to six feet. To be fair to the player he was equal to the task and rolled in an excellent putt to half the hole and win the Leinster pennant for Roganstown.
Congratulations to Roganstown. Greystones had put up and excellent fight, in very difficult conditions and look forward to next year’s campaign.
Special mention of Davie and Ben and all the work they put in this year.
