CUPS AND SHIELDS FINAL: IN A different time and in a different context, Sam Torrance made the remark, "Out of the shadows, come heroes". Yesterday, Damien Glynn emerged from the shadows to finally get Galway over the line in a tension-filled semi-final of the Irish Senior Cup, the showpiece of the Bulmers Cups and Shields finals at Tullamore Golf Club.
Galway’s dramatic 3-2 win ended the dreams of Laytown Bettystown, in the club’s centenary year, with the golfing Tribesmen setting up a final duel today with West Waterford – semi-final conquerors of Castlerock – in a showdown that is very much a case of the old and the new.
Galway, founded in 1895, have amassed a plethora of green pennants over the years; West Waterford, a privately-owned course established in 1993, will be chasing their first national title with a team comprised of three teenagers.
Indeed, in a testament to home-grown talent, one of those teenagers, 19-year-old Philip Spratt, is a grandson of the course owner Pat Spratt. The average age of the West Waterford team is 20, while Galway – with an average of 34 – have experience on their side.
That Galway’s semi-final yesterday went to the wire at all underlines the fickleness of matchplay. With Eddie McCormack – who was five-under for 14 holes – and Joe Lyons recording big wins over John McGinn and Pádraig Rafferty respectively, it seemed Glynn too would close out his match when, two up with four to play, he hit a glorious third shot approach to the par five 15th to set up a 20-foot birdie putt.
Rather than tighten his grip, though, Glynn’s birdie putt hit the hole and spun two feet past and he missed the par putt back.
The three-putt bogey seemed to rattle the 23-year-old electrician as he suffered a run home of bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey and Glynn and his stubborn opponent Russell Durnin went to sudden death as South of Ireland champion Robert Cannon, in the top match, and 17-year-old Stephen Barry had claimed wins for the Meathmen.
So it was that Glynn, who’d been through the wringer for much of the previous hour, and Durnin, steadiness personified, marched to the par four first hole for the second time in the day. Under pressure, with Durnin safely on the fairway, Glynn unleashed a terrific drive of over 275 yards and then wedged to 15 feet.
After Durnin’s own birdie putt from 35 feet brushed the hole, Glynn – whose putter had been cold for the previous four holes – calmly rolled in the putt that gave Galway a place in the final in their quest to emulate the achievement of 2006 when they won their one and only Senior Cup.
West Waterford’s route to the final was much less complicated, as Mark Shanahan – who has been unbeaten in six matches – led from the front in defeating David Mulholland by 6 and 5. Shanahan, the old man of the team at 27, was six-under-par for the 13 holes.
Gary Hurley, a 16-year-old with enormous talent, was a two holes winner over Dan Beattie and Spratt sealed the win with 2 and 1 win over Gordon Forbes.
As if the journey hadn’t been long enough already, Letterkenny claimed a first green pennant for the Donegal club with a hard-earned 3-2 win over north Dublin club Corrstown.
The decisive point was claimed by John Russell and Kieran Walsh who eventually got the better of brothers Gary and Jarlath Beagan at the 22nd hole
