The Pierce Purcell team kicked off a very busy weekend, on Saturday afternoon, for the men’s members on the inter-club scene. Managers, Keith White and Luke Minogue, assembled a team with a mixture of seasoned campaigners and debutants (4 in total) and they gelled very well together to record a fine win with an official score line of 3.5/1.5. Below is a brief summary of the matches:
Match 1 home: Paul Birchall & Marc Corcoran.
A new pairing took a while to get going with The Heritage taking an early lead and turned 2 up at the turn. Paul and Marc (making his debut) then took charge on the back nine, levelling the match after 12. They went ahead for the first time in the match by winning the 13 th but were pegged back to all square after 16. Showing nerves of steel they won the 17 th and closed out the match on the 18 th .
Match 2 home: Keith Barnes & Richy Quinn.
Keith and Richy (making his debut) took an early lead and did not loss the honour until the 14 th hole during which they were 4 up after 10. They comfortably won the match on the 15 th with a 4 and 3 win. An inspired pairing by the managers!
Match 3: home: Dave McDonagh & Pat McGrath.
The golf in this match was of a very high standard. The Heritage holed their second shot on 3 from 160+ yards for eagle to go 1up. Dave and Pat (making his debut) quickly erased that deficit and went 1 up after 5. They maintained that 1 up lead at the turn, after halving the 8 th in birdies. They then won 12 and 13 to go 3 up and kept that advantage to be dormie 3. Match was won on the 16 th with a 3/2 win.
Match 1 away: John Beirne & Jay Mulligan.
Another pairing of a seasoned campaigner, John, with a debutant, Jay. This proved to be a tough outing for John and Jay. A very even match in the early stages with Castlewarden going 1 up after 4. However, a very capable pair from The Heritage with great play and superb putting skills (and some good luck) gained the upper hand and went 4 up after the 9 th . Despite CW lads’ best efforts, they were unable to get the match back and lost this game to two very strong golfers.
Match 2 away: Brian O’Driscoll & Ian Bolger.
Brian and Ian went 1 up after 2 nd and gained on their lead to go 4 up after 9. Nip & tuck through 10 th – 14 th with some good play by The Heritage pair brought the game back to 2 down on the 15 th with a difficult and excellent 20-yard putt to 6 inches winning this par 3 with a par. However, our lads were in control on 16 th when match was called in following our three home wins!!!!!!!.
A great win for the Pierce Purcell team who now go on to play Portlaoise in the next round which has to be played by June 5 th