Athlone Golf Club on the banks of Lough Ree was the venue for the All-Ireland finals with the eigh men’s and women’s regional qualifiers from across Ireland arriving in search of this year’s green pennant.
Dundalk faced Monaghan’s Rossmore in the quarter-final on Friday and the Ulster South champions showed that their regional final win over Royal County Down was no fluke as the match was only decided on the 18th hole of the final match. At that stage the teams were level at 2-2.
Teenager Odhran MacShane secured Dundalk’s first point with an emphatic 5&4 win over Dermot McCrystal having led from the opening hole.
Behind him, player-manager Brian Og Renaghan also got his nose in front at the first and never looked back, eventually winning 6&4 against Ashley White.
The loss of five consecutive holes from the ninth proved to be Conor Murphy’s undoing as he went down 5&4 to Eoin McGinnity, while Gerard Carroll lost 2&1 after being two up at the turn against Darren McQuaid.
It all came down to the final match between Clem Walshe and Daniel McCrossan. There was never more than one hole between them and they were all square when they stood on the 18th tee.
Both found the fairway, with McCrossan enjoying a slice of luck when his drive ricocheted off the trees on the left into the middle of the fairway.
Walshe pulled his approach left of the green, while McCrossan went right into the trees and could only chip out. He then failed to find the green with his next two attempts, and when his sixth shot failed to get close to the pin he conceded the hole and the match.
The win earned Dundalk a Saturday morning semi-final against Athenry who had beaten Masserene 3.5 to 1.5 in their quarter-final.
There was one personnel change to Friday’s team, with Ciaran Traynor coming in for Carroll, while Renaghan took over the number one spot, with Murphy moving to three.
After eight holes it was looking good for Dundalk. Renaghan was two up against Fergal Coyle, MacShane was six up against Jamie Holland, Murphy was one up against Ciaran Coughlan and Walshe was one up against Brendan Dunne.
Traynor, in match four, was three down, though, and by the time MacShane closed out his match on the 13th hole for a superb 6&5 win, Traynor was heading for a 6&4 defeat, while the other three matches were now all square.
In the top match Renaghan lost three successive holes from the 15th to lose 3&1, while Walshe lost 16 and 17 to go down 2&1. Murphy and Coughlan were all square going down the 20th when they were called in.
It was a narrow defeat for Dundalk, but there was some consolation later in the day when Athenry brushed aside Abbeyleix in the final, winning 4-1, with two of the matches called in.
Results
Quarter-Finals: Athenry 3.5 Monkstown 1.5, Dundalk 3 Rossmore 2, Castletroy 2 Monkstown 3, Castle 1 Abbeyleix 4. Semi-Finals: Athenry 3.5 Dundalk 1.5, Monkstown 2 Abbeyleix 3. Final: Athenry 4 Abbeyleix 1.