Irish Luck Sinks Devastated Scots

The grand finale of the televised Home Nations Junior Team Golf championships at La Manga Club in Spain proved to be one that few present are likely to ever forget. Co. Sligo came into the finals as favourites, courtesy of the typically strong squad that the Irish champions always bring out to Spain.

This year was a debut appearance for the Co. Sligo. They qualified for the event by winning the Fred Daly Trophy at the end of August and were in fact the first team from their province, Connacht, to achieve this honour.

Co. Sligo’s first day opponents came in the form of the English champions Hallamshire from Sheffield. The English side crumbled under the superior fire power of their Irish counterparts, who comfortably won five of their six medal match play matches, to secure their first point of the championship.

Ireland’s second day opponents were the Welsh team Carmarthen, who coincidently had lost by the same score to Scotland, as Co Sligo had won theirs on the previous day. Co. Sligo went into the match as strong favourites, but were actually made to work extremely hard for their win.

Carmarthen came in unbeaten in their first three matches with the rest looking extremely tight. The steely determination of the Irish under pressure however, saw them through this relatively bad start, with an eventual win of 4-2.

This victory set up a fascinating final day’s play against the well the equipped Scottish champions Craigielaw. Ireland went into the contest half a point ahead, just needing to draw the match as, Craigielaw had only managed a draw the previous day, against Hallamshire.

As anticipated, the encounter was a very tight affair with, both teams looking like potential champions. However towards the final holes, it seemed that Craigielaw were managing to gain the upper hand and looked the more likely winners. The first three matches came in with Co. Sligo going down 2-1.

However things took a dramatic twist, when it was discovered that Scottish player Myles Cunningham, playing off one, had in fact been disqualified for signing his card containing an incorrect score. This meant that the tables had been turned and it was now Ireland leading 2-1.

Despite the Irish’s good fortune, they lost their next three matches and therefore appeared to have lost the match 4-2 and therefore the Championship.

However, while the Scottish celebrations were underway, more dramatic events were unfolding in the scorer’s tent. It had been discovered that the same incident that earlier disqualified a Scottish player, had been replicated, this time to the Craigielaw number six Scott Speakman, in the last group. The same ruling was made and with this second disqualification, the match was tied 3-3.

As the news spread, the devastated Scottish abruptly ceased their celebrations and it was suddenly the turn of the Irish to be jubilant. Craigielaw’s dropped half a point on the previous day, proved costly as Co. Sligo’s win was achieved by that very same margin.

Co. Sligo’s number one, Rory McNamara, playing off scratch, earned himself a personalised Cleveland pitching wedge for being the player with lowest single round net score for his team, which he achieved in his last round when shooting a net 71.

The very proud junior organiser of Co. Sligo, Gerry McManus said after Ireland’s victory, “Nobody likes to win a tournament like this, but I guess the rules of golf have to be followed. I felt we played well enough to win anyway, but the performance from Scotland today was outstanding.

“This is an amazing tournament to be part of, we have met a lot of people from other countries and made a lot of friends, which is what this event is all about. It has been a great success.”

Co. Sligo headed home to Ireland, euphoric after winning this prestigious title and are proudly showing off their latest piece of silverware, which is taking pride of place in the club’s trophy cabinet.

Pictures © Gary Prior
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