Portlaoise proved too strong for our Mixed Foursome team, winning by a margin of 4/1. Below is a brief summary of each match.
Game 1 at home. Keith White & Ruth Lalor.
Keith and Ruth got off to a strong start with par on 1 st and chip in birdie on the 2 nd to go 2 up. Portlaoise fought back straight away and established a narrow lead by the turn. Keith & Ruth didn’t have their “A” game but kept battling away. Portlaoise were dormie 3 and closed out the match with a halve on 16.
Game 2 at home. Conor Dunne & Caroline Sinnott.
Portlaoise were up early in the match and held the lead throughout. Conor & Caroline kept in the game and were 1 down playing 16 when the match was called in.
Game 3 at home. Justin Condon & Aoife Loughnane.
This was a very tight match. A win on 13 had Justin & Aoife in the lead by the narrowest of margins. They were in good position to win 15 when the match was called in.
Game 1 away. Paul Finnegan & Kay Kavanagh.
Paul and Kay got off to a great start, going two up after three holes. However, Portlaoise’s tricky greens were to prove a challenge all day for the Castlewarden players. They were soon pegged back to level after six. Portlaoise went two up after twelve. Paul and Kay battled on and were four down with four to play. They won the fifteenth but could only manage a half on the difficult sixteenth, giving the match to Portlaoise three and two.
Game 2 away. Noel Brennan & Tracey Smith
Noel and Tracey were at a disadvantage even before they teed off, giving a whopping four shots to their opponents. They went two down early in the match and never managed to get back on level terms with their opposition, who used their knowledge of the course to their great advantage. Once again, their opponents’ superior knowledge of the tricky Portlaoise greens was a telling factor. Noel and Tracey went four down in the middle of the match and the game ended on the fifteenth, Portlaoise winning four and three.
A huge effort was put in by the panel, ably managed by Cormac Ryan and Deirdre Sheehy, but it wasn’t to be this year. Hard Luck to the team and panel and we will go again next year.
Captain Des