Congratulations to our Barton Shield team of Daniel & TJ Ford, Ruairí & Thomas Finnegan, captained by Serryth Heavey on winning the Connacht leg of the Barton Shield for 2019 at Westport Golf Club.
Pairings for the Weekend were Match 1: (semi-final & final) Ruairi O’Connor & Thomas Finnegan
Match 2: (semi-final & final): T J & Daniel Ford
We played Enniscrone in the semi-final, it was a good competitive match right up until the end. We won by 4 holes overall to reach the final.
The Final vs Galway GC Match 1 played Joe Lyons & Liam Nolan. Match 2 played Ronan Mullarney (current Irish Close Champion) & Eddie McCormack.
Both pairings started very well, Match 1 birdied 4 holes in row, 2,3,4 & 5, & match 2 had 2 birdies in the first 4 holes, so we were well up early on but always knew that Galway would come back at us. After 9 holes Match 1 are 2 up & match 2 are 1 down. We get a great half on the 11th hole in match one to stay 2 up, we then birdie the long 12th Par 3 in match one to go 3 up. Match 2 are 4 down playing the 15th and made a 2 putt birdie to go back to 3 down.
After 16 holes Match One are 3 up & Match 2 are 3 down, level overall. Match one win 17th to go 4 up & Match 2 halve 17th to stay 3 down. On the 18th Tee we are one up overall, Galway make birdie in Match one on 18 so we won the first Match 3 up.
Match 2 drove the ball into the Hazard (penalty area!) on 18th & Galway were up the middle of the fairway. Galway laid up 120 yards short of the green. We hit our third Shot to 30 yards Short of the green. Galway were in to 30ft in (3) and we played a great pitch to 10ft, Galway’s first putt went 12ft by but they sank the return putt. With the tension palpable, we now had to hold from 10ft to go down tie holes and we did just that!
On the 19th, we were just short of the green in a great position. Galway hit their second shot in to 20ft and we pitched up to 5ft. Galway miss, we then had a putt to win which was duly sunk and we emerged winners in a very tight game.
Congratulations to everyone involved: Captain Serryth Heavey, Assistant Captain Tom Ford and all of the panel: David Brady, Cian Feeney, Tom Flanagan, Alan Gaynor, Eoin Gaughan, Niall McDermott, Steffan O’Hara & Shane Underwood. It was a real team effort and they played great golf over the weekend.
