The Co Kilkenny women looked strong in last month’s quarter-finals, where they beat Foxrock thanks to wins for Maureen Norton and Margaret O’Keeffe, and Margaret Furlong and Ita Madigan.
On their return to Gort Golf Club for the semi-finals last weekend, Castlecomer beat Ennis in extra holes as Teresa Manning and Emma Walsh and Madigan and Helen Murphy came up trumps,
Athenry overcame City of Derry in the quarter-finals before defeating Rathcore 2.5-1.5 in the semis with Ailish Duke and Kara O’Neill and Marian Hosty and Eilish O’Flynn getting important wins.
In the final Murphy and Madigan got Castlecomer off to a great start with a 4&2 win over Hosty and O’Flynn.
Aoife McCormack and Fiona Burke hit back for Athenry with a 3&2 win over Maureen Norton and Margaret O’Keeffe.
Teresa Manning and Emma Walsh put Castlecomer 2-1 up with a 3&2 win over Maria Conlon and Marion O’Brien.
But with Duke and O’Neill beating Joan Brennan and Bessie Brophy in driving rain , it all came down to Manning and Walsh in sudden death, where they came up trumps at the 20th to give Castlecomer’s ladies their first All Ireland pennant.
Despite the weather, Castlecomer captain Honoria Fogarty, could not have been more proud of her team.
“It’s brilliant, brilliant, a dream come true,” she said. “We never expected to get this far. There are no words to explain how the whole team and club are feeling today after this win.
“It was nip and tuck. As one guy said to me, ‘You’re in trouble aren’t you?’ And I said, sure, we’re hanging in there.
“It came to the turn, and I said to two or three of the girls, ‘It’s Amen Corner, you can pull it back’. It crawled back.
“So we had two wins and went down the 19th again as we had done yesterday.
“It was the first time (Teresa and Emma) had gone down the 19th in all the games, so they had experience. I wondered will they stand up to it, and they did, and took it on the 20th.
“SO the same pair weren’t looking forward again to going down the 19th but they came through. Unbelievable. We are not a very young team.
“They’ve been inexperienced, and it’s the first time in the history of Castlecomer Golf Club that we have won an All Ireland ladies’ competition.
“We have been winners of the Mixed alright, but in the ladies, we would get so far, and all of a sudden, back again to next year and start all over. So it’s well deserved.
“There will be great celebrations. It hasn’t sunk in, but it will. One of the girls was away and missed it, and she was nearly crying.
“There is big camaraderie between them. With each game, they were getting closer together.”
Insurance