Well done and hard luck to our Fred Daly and Irish Junior foursomes teams who headed to the All-Ireland finals in Castletroy on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Our Fred Daly team were up against it from the off having being drawn against Douglas G.C. in the quarter finals. Douglas boasts an impressive Junior section and their Fred Daly team boasted two Irish Internationals including their number one player Jack Murphy who recently shot 9 under at the British Boys.
In an impressive display, our boys saw off Douglas 3-2, including an excellent win from Dylan Holmes (his card including eight birdies) , who beat Jack Murphy 2up. William O’Riordan also won impressively 4&2 and Toby Murphy came from two down with five to play to half the match with a spectacular win on eighteen and go on to win on the 21st hole. Steven Gormley lost 2 down and Jamie Anderson 7&6.
In the afternoon our Junior foursomes played Monkstown G.C. but unfortunately it wasn’t to be our day in this event. Despite our boys putting up a good performance, the Monkstown team were better on the day and our boys went down 7&6. Marc Lawless & Ruadhán Murray were four down through fifteen and Jack McGovern & Milo Doyle were three down at the same point. Conor Dignam was ready for action if called upon as the team substitute.
On Wednesday morning our Fred Daly team faced Lurgan in the semi final and again put up an excellent performance in a tightly contested match. Dylan Holmes, once again put in a stellar performance to win 3&1, Jamie Anderson was three under when his match finished 4&3 and Toby Murphy had finished early, 6&5, after another excellent performance. When called in, William O’Riordan was one down through fifteen and Jack McGovern was three down through fourteen.
Our opponents in the final were the fancied Royal Portrush and, despite excellent wins by Dylan (4&2) who was playing a player who he had faced in the Inter-Provincials last week and by Toby Murphy (5&4), the green pennant and the Trophy headed up North. Jamie lost 5&4, Jack went down 4&3 and William narrowly lost out 2&1.
Heartbreak for the team but we should all be proud of their performances and the manner in which they all faced the challenges of the week. Every Greystones player gave their all to the team.
Well done to Peter Anderson and Karl Holmes for bringing these teams to this year’s finals, a great achievement. Many thanks also to Castletroy Golf Club for their hospitality.
