Teams update and pictures on Captain Philip’s Prize weekend….

A mixed bag in terms of both weather and results over the weekend of Captain Philip’s prize.

Thursday saw Liam O’Shea and his super, Super Seniors travel to Delgany for their second fixture in this event having secured a great home win earlier this month.  It is so hard to win five away matches and this tie ended up as tight as could be.  First out were Ray Hogan & Julian Pollard who played great golf and finished with pars on 16 and 17 to win the match.  Cathal Cooney & Jerry Teehan never gave up and their match ended in a half. Our third pair of Pat O’Regan & Pat Raftery played great but unfortunately lost on the 16th.  1 1/2 each and it couldn’t have been tighter.  It took two strong wins, one by Jim F. Ryan & Alan O’Sullivan on the 18th and the other by Eddie Joynt & Denis Cromie,  also on the 18th,  to seal this very exciting tie.  Next up is a tie away to Woodenbridge.

On a very pleasant afternoon on Friday Tom Byrne’s Senior cup team took on Wicklow with three matches away. As most golfers will appreciate it is never easy to win any match in Wicklow, and the senior cup team were well aware of this having lost to Wicklow last year. Daniel O’Byrne got off to a slow start in Wicklow, never really recovered and eventually lost 5&4.  Tom had Gary Dunne out on the third match in Wicklow. Gary has recently returned from the US and has been shooting some great sores but on the day his opponent kept clear air between them and eventually Gary lost out 4&3.  Meanwhile at home, Adam Packman was storming ahead. Two up after two, he never looked like he was going to loose and eventually ran out a comfortable winner by a margin of 7&5.  Our first match out at home saw Shane O’Connor 1 down through 6 holes, at which stage he hit the Pro button and won 4&3.

It all came down to our first man out in Wicklow, Niall Gaffney.  Niall found himself 1 down through 11 and in a ding dong battle for the tie. At 1 down through 15 and on an away course, it didn’t look particularly good, however Niall played some excellent golf to win 16 & 17 to win the match and the tie.

Congratulations to all, next up is a home tie against Dun Laoghaire.

On Sunday Colm Mulcahy’s Junior Cup team took on Dun Laoghaire. On a horrendous day weather wise it was always going to be a struggle but Colm had a very strong team out and hopes were high. At home, our third match out, the normally unbeatable Alan Keane found himself 2 down through 5 holes.  He fought back to all square through 7 but lost 8 to go one down.  A bad run through 12, 13 and 14 saw the match go Dun Laoghaire’s way as they won out 4&3.  In Dun laoghaire our second match out saw Jamie McDonald struggle from the get-go and unfortunately Jamie lost 5&4.  With two matches in the bag Dun Laoghaire needed just one to win the tie.  At home Diarmaid MacGabhann was in control of his match, albeit by small margins and was 2 up after 14 holes.  Dylan Holmes, in the second match was fighting hard in an up and down match and was all square through 16.  In Dun Laoghaire Harry Kirk came from two down after 6 to be all square standing on the 18th tee box.  Needing all three matches, it was unfortunate for Harry and the team that he got stuck under the lip of a bunker on the 18th and ended up loosing the hole and the tie went Dun Laoghaire’s way.

Hard luck to all involved, a huge effort was put into this competition by Colm, Eddie and the players.