Irish Cups and Shields finals: The homeward stretch of holes along the coast here at Enniscrone is as tough an examination as there is to be found anywhere, with one towering sand dune somewhat appropriately named Cnoc na gCorp - the Hill of the Bodies - although that has more to do with the legend that it contains the bodies of vanquished Viking invaders of long ago than hinting at any golfing mortality.
Limerick, however, may not agree, for it was on this particular run of spectacular coastal holes where their interest in the Barton Shield was finally terminated, as Co Sligo - champions for three successive years from 1995 to 1997 but without a victory in the unique foursomes team event since then - yesterday claimed the first green pennant of this year's national festival that is the Bulmers Irish Cups and Shields finals.
On a day when just a gentle breeze worked its way over the links, Co Sligo had a much easier time than they could ever have envisaged in defeating Limerick by seven holes in the Barton Shield final, while Banbridge staged a great fightback to overcome Castle in the final of the Irish Junior Cup to win this particular piece of silverware for the first time.
For three members of the Co Sligo team, it was a case of once again savouring victory in the Barton Shield. Serryth Heavey (39), David Dunne (31) and Ken Kearney (38) were all members of that three-in-a-row winning team, with Keith O'Neill (23) the only one experiencing the novelty of winning for the first time.
Heavey and Dunne work together in the same finance office, and their partnership on the course also proved to be an effective one as they ran out winners by three holes over Dermot Morris and Michael O'Kelly, while Kearney, who has his own golf course design company, and O'Neill, who works in the computer industry, emerged as winners by four holes over Pat Murray and Michael Kemmy.
Although Heavey and Dunne got off to a flying start by winning the first two holes, they got an immediate wake-up call when losing the next three holes to be one down.Walking on to the 13th tee, the Co Sligo duo were still in arrears only for the match to transform over the stretch of holes from the 13th where Heavey and Dunne contrived to win four holes in succession, turning a one-hole deficit into a three-hole advantage. As if to underline the toughness of this stretch, all four holes were won in par.
Kearney and O'Neill had a much smoother journey. The Co Sligo pair won the first three holes: on the first, Murray, using an iron off the tee, found out-of-bounds; on the second, they won with a birdie four, and then Kearney hit a lovely three-iron tee shot on the 208 yards third to 10 feet which O'Neill sank for birdie. Although the Limerick duo reduced the deficit to two holes with a birdie on the 11th, Kearney and O'Neill won the 12th and 14th to seal the overall team victory.
Banbridge demonstrated that perseverance is a noble trait when emerging as 3-2 winners over Castle in the final of the Junior Cup. Although Castle seemed to have the upper hand for much of the contest, Ross McCandliss tied matters at 2-2 when fighting back to beat Ross Kinsella by 2 and 1 after Jonathan Burns had given them their first point with a 6 and 5 win over Omar Bhamjee. And, then, Trevor Woods clinched the victory for the Ulster club with a 19th hole win over Ronan Burke.
Woods won the 18th with bogey to force the match into sudden death, and then secured the victory at the first tie hole after Burke three-putted.
Charleville and Loughrea defeated Woodlands and Tandragee respectively in the semi-finals of the Pierce Purcell Shield. Loughrea were 4-1 winners while Charleville's semi-final win was only decided after a tense play-off with Tom Barrett and Steven Moloney defeating Jim Russell and Tadgh Butler at the 20th when a double-bogey seven was good enough.
