The JB Carr team kicked off the knock out stages of inter-club matches on April 29th with an away match (all 5 matches) against Craddockstown and had a great win. JB Carr is Scotch Foursomes for members over 60 years of age.
The first match featured Peter Sinnott and Tommy Meredith who was making his debut in inter-club competition and took to it like duck to water! They raced ahead with some great golf (pars and birdies) and secured a 5 and 4 win.
Next up was Michael Kiernan and Larry Jordan who came up against a very strong pairing, one of whom had a handicap index of 4.6. Craddockstown won this match by a 5 and 4 margin.
Third match out for Castlewarden had Paul Whelan and another debutant to the inter-club scene, Vincent Kirby. This was a very tight match with Craddockstown eventually prevailing 3 and 2. We were now 2-1 down with two matches to play. Fourth match, Tony Clarke and Kieran Macklin, raced into a commanding lead of 5 up after 7 but were pegged back to be 2 up with two to play. Anchor match had John Beirne and Peter Charles together and they were 2 down with three to play. Tony and Kieran couldn’t secure the vital halve over the last two holes so that match went down the 19th. A great chip in for birdie from John on the 16th and a good win on the 17th brought their match all square going down the last. Peter just missed a par putt to win that hole so this match also went down the 19th. Tony and Kieran secured the win with some steady play on the 19th. A great second shot by Peter put Craddockstown under pressure and they pulled their third shot, to the par 5, left and it trickled down to the water edge. John hit a fine third shot to the centre of the green. Craddockstown failed twice to reach the green from a very difficult position with the ball eventually going into the water. Handshakes all around! So, great fighting spirit shown by Castlewarden and we await the winners of Palmerstown House vs The Royal Curragh in the next round where all 5 matches will be played in Castlewarden.
Well done TEAM!
Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for all our inter-club teams this year.
The takeway from this match is never give up, keep battling until the very end!
Des O’Neill (Captain)