We had two inter-club competitions taking place, the Barton Shield and Jimmy Bruen, on Sunday, June 12 th . It turned out to be joy and disappointment for our teams as the Barton Shield team won and The Jimmy Bruen team was defeated. Below is a brief summary of both matches.
Barton Shield vs Co Longford:
The Barton Shield format is two foursome matches, one played at home and one played away. Matches to be played over 18 holes with aggregate score determining the winner.
Our home pairing were Mark Whelan and Vinny Keogh. They continued their great form from the previous match, when they won 7 up, and quickly established a 3 up lead after 4 holes. They turned 4 up after 9 and were playing magnificent golf. A great birdie on the 14 th hole gave them a 7 up lead and they finished out the match with a 6 up victory. Our away pairing, Kevin Robinson and Conor Galvin made the long trip to Co Longford. The match was very tight over the first nine holes with our lads holding a 1 up lead. Match was all square after 10. Then Kevin and Conor went on a birdie blitz, three in a row, to go 3 up. They finished out the match 5 up. A great Castlewarden win (11 up).
Next up, in the quarter final, is a meeting with Rosslare, to be played by June 26 th .
Jimmy Bruen Shield:
This foursomes match was against Palmerstown House, with 3 home and 2 away matches.
Our junior pairing of Eoghan Light and Jake Quinn were first out and it was nip and tuck all the way. There was never more than 1 hole in it for the first 10 holes. Match was all square playing 13 and Palmerstown missed a short putt to lose 13, only to level the match after 14. Our lads regained the lead with a superb up and down on 15 to go one up again. Back came Palmerstown who had a great par on 16 to level the match. Our lads missed the green on 17 after Palmerstown found the green with their tee shot and lost the hole. Unfortunately Eoghan and Jake could not find a win on 18 to bring the match into extra holes and conceded the hole to lose the match, 2 down. A great effort by our junior pairing and they will learn a lot from this match.
Conor Dunne and Shea Phelan were out in match 2 and again it was nip and tuck over the first nine holes, our lads turning 1 down. However, Shea hit a wonderful tee shot on 10 to 2 feet for a conceded eagle to bring the match all square. Undoubtedly, the shot of the day! Palmerstown were undaunted and won 3 of the next 5 holes to be dormie 3. When Palmerstown went out of bounds with their second shot on 16 we had a lifeline but a great chip from the back of 17 by Palmerstown closed out the match with a 2 and 1 victory to Palmerstown.
Last up at home were our seasoned campaigners, Keith White and Dave McDonagh. Playing some very good golf and holing some great putts Keith and Dave were 4 up at the turn. Despite losing 12 and 13 they were always in control of this match and closed it out for victory on the 17 th , recording a 3 and 1 win.
First away pairing was Sean Dunne and Damien Birmingham. Finding themselves 2 down after 3 they closed the gap to the minimum after 6. But they were unable to erase the deficit, falling 3 down after 9, got one back after 10 but eventually lost the match on the 17 th hole.
Our final pairing, away from home, was Gavin Devereux and our super sub, Paul Whelan, who answered a late call due to Damien Brennan’s unavoidable unavailability. After being 2 down early on in the match Gavin and Paul fought back to go 1 up after 11 and increased this lead to 2 up after 14. They held this 2 up lead going down 17 when the match was called in.
A very close match overall and hard luck to the Jimmy Bruen team. Thank you to the members who came out to support the teams on Sunday.
The following is the schedule for the next matches for our inter-club teams:
Wednesday, June 15 th , @ 4.30 pm Senior Cup Q/Final vs Tullamore
Saturday, June 25 th , @ 3.30 pm Metro vs Edmonstown
Sunday, June 26 th , @ 2.30 pm Barton Shield Q/Final vs Rosslare.
All support is greatly appreciated by the teams.
Des O’Neill (Captain)