On a beautiful sunny day our Senior Cup team were hoping to have a long day ahead of them.
First up were Blainroe in the semi final. The format was five singles matches with first to three points advancing to the area final in the afternoon. Karl Holmes selected the following team David Byrne, Alan Condren, Dylan Holmes, Darren McCormack and Jamie Anderson.
Alan produced the first point winning 7 & 6. Another point followed when Dylan won 4 & 3. The final was within touching distance. Jamie lost his match 4 & 3. Now 2-1.
Darren had battled back from 3 down to be all square at the turn. However he was two down after 14. Meanwhile David had been in a to and fro battle where there was never more than two holes between the pair. David closed out the match and the tie by winning the 18th to go 2 up. At this point Darren was called in from the 15th at 2 down.
So the team were through to the final where regular opponents Dun Laoghaire awaited.
A change in personell and order were made and the following team represented Greystones in the final: Jamie Anderson, David Byrne, Alan Condren, Dylan Holmes and Will O’Riordan.
This was always destined to be a close and hard fought encounter and so it proved to be.
At the half way point Jamie was 4 down, David 2 up, Alan 1 down, Dylan 3 up and Will all square. As it stood the match was level and it was all to play for on the back nine.
Jamie started his fightback with wins on 10, 11 and 13 to get back to one down. He kept the pressure on his opponent and finally got back to all square on the 18th.
While Jamie went to the 19th David who had been pegged back to one up after 15 was playing the 18th and was one up. Both David and his opponent hit great drives and approach shots to the 18th. At this point word filtered back that Jamie had won on 19 to put Greystones one nil up. David went close with his birdie attempt but his opponent also missed to give Greystones their second point. The blue pennant was tantalisingly close.
Dylan was 3 up after 14 holes but opponent kept fighting and had got it back to one down after 17. Will had been all square after 12 and after a succession of halved holes he edged ahead on 17.
At this point Alan was playing 18 and was one up. Alan and his opponent both hit fine drives and approach shots to the green. The Dun Laoghaire man needed to win the hole to extend the match. He missed the put and conceded the match to Alan. So that was 3-0 and another pennant for the club. Dylan and Will were both called in while one up.
Congratulations to Karl and all the players and assistants who have contributed throughout the year. Thank you to the caddies today Craig McCormack, Peter Anderson, Dan O’Byrne, Eddie Lonergan, Adam Packman and Ray Crotty.
It was great to see so many supporters there today and just to mark your card the All Ireland finals will be in Carlow from 28th to 31st August. Further details will be forthcoming when times and dates are confirmed.
