Karl Holmes’ Darcy Trophy team remain unbeaten at the halfway point of the first stage of the 2023 competition after a workmanlike win this morning when Powercourt came to Greystones.
Leading from the front today in the singles, Dylan Holmes put up an excellent performance against the number one Powerscourt player. Dylan lost the first but recovered straight away with a win on the second and a win on eight saw him nudge into a one hole lead. This lead looked odds on to double on the ninth green but an excellent up and down from his opponent ended up being enough to win the hole and the pair turned all square. Dylan showed his metal on the back nine however, winning both the tenth, eleventh and fifteenth to win 3&2 after a sub par round of golf.
Dylan’s point was not the first on the board however. Shane O’Connor was out third in the singles this morning and his putter was on fire. Shane held absolutely everything in a fine display to win early doors by a margin of 6&5.
Our second man out, David Byrne was in a tougher match and was without his usual A game today. Despite a great start (two up after three), three losses on the trot from there had him one down. He won the seventh but lost the ninth and the tenth to find himself two down. David being David, he fought back, winning the twelfth and fifteenth to get the match back to all square and a par on seventeen was enough to go one up playing the last. An errant tee shot opened the door for his opponent unfortunately which he duly took advantage of and the match ended all square.
Our two foursomes pairs both halved their matches. Daniel O’Byrne and Niall Gaffney got off to a strong start, three up through three and looked in control of the match at the turn at two up. They were two up again on the seventeenth tee but unfortunately they lost both the seventeenth and eighteenth to halve the match.
In contrast, our final pairing of Adam Packman and Darren McCormack found themselves two down at the turn but they got themselves back to all square after the thirteenth. Holes were traded from there on in with a par on the last for the Greystones pair enough to secure the final half in the match.
Having previously secured a win against Druids Heath away and a half V Woodbrook at home, today’s 3-1/2 to 1-1/2 win puts us in a good position at the half way stage, remaining the only undefeated team in our group.
Well done to Karl and all the players.
