Castle dig deep to lift All-Ireland Foursomes crown
By Stephen Leonard
HAVING suffered defeat in the Leinster Mixed Foursomes Final on no less than four occasions, Castle Golf Club not only finally raised the provincial crown this season, but continued on to capture the All-Ireland prize as well at Castletroy Golf Club last weekend.
Following their triumph over Fota Island in the Irish semi finals on Friday, Castle carded a 4-1 victory over Ardglass in the decider the following day, but, despite what the final scoreline might suggest, it was far from a comfortable victory.
Castle Golf Club’s Siobhan McCarthy and Fergal Walsh (Joint Team Managers) celebrate with their team after they landed the 2019 Irish Mixed Foursomes All-Ireland title at Castletroy Golf Club. (Photo by Pat Cashman)
After Alan Lowry and Lisa McDonnell were edged out in their opening match, the Leinster champions battled back to take a 2-1 lead following convincing wins for Peter McKeever & Loraine Cunningham and Daniel Holland & Vivienne Cosgrave.
Despite their narrow lead, Castle still looked to be in trouble as their final two pairings both found themselves three down after nine in their respective matches.
Yet they both fought back superbly with Jack Walsh making a tremendous 30ft putt on the 18th to see himself and Justine Agnew clinch that crucial third win for the team.
Meanwhile Ross McKeever and Blanaid Nally delivered a 2&1 win against Johnny Feenan and Orla O’Neill to cap a great day and campaign for the Dublin side.
Indeed the Castle team started out on this journey back in March and finally captured the Holy Grail that was the elusive Leinster title following 5-0 victories over Waterford and Ashbourne.
So proud of seeing his team finish top in a massive competition that involved some 10,500 players, Castle Team Manger Fergal Walsh said “It was great to see them win that title. We used 18 players throughout the competition. The boys and girls are very busy with work and you would have never put them together as a team.
“But together they played unbelievably well and all that hard work paid off. A big shout out too to our supporters. They were amazing” he said.
