The golfing gods can work in mysterious ways; and Joe Lyons – on the receiving end on many an occasion in this showcase of the inter-club game – could only cast a sympathetic eye in the direction of Paul O’Hanlon. Inwardly, though, there was contentment that his team, Galway, had somehow inveigled a win over Carton House in the semi-final of the Barton Shield on the O’Meara Course as the AIG Cups and Shields national finals got under way in splendid sunshine.
You’ve got to understand the intricacies of how the Barton Shield works, a foursomes cumulative score format which had Lyons and his partner Cathal Nolan losing by three holes to O’Hanlon and teenager Jack Doherty on the 18th yet still winning in the overall match due to the top pairing of Ronan Mullarney and 17-year-old Liam Power eclipsing Gary McDermott and Alan Egan by four holes. No need for actuarial maths: the overall result gave Galway a one hole win.
In the other semi-final, Warrenpoint – with Irish amateur open champion Colm Campbell at the helm – steered their way by Cork by two holes, a match remarkable for the fact that Junior and his playing partner Stevie Coulter won a hole, the Par five sixth, with a conceded albatross two after their opponents were twice out-of-bounds. Of that, more anon!
That first Barton Shield semi-final was such a nip-n-tuck affair where the 472 yards Par 4 18th hole showed wicked inclinations. It was to prove extremely costly to Carton House, performing on home turf but who were twice undone by this sting in the tail which possessed all the venom of a scorpion. Mullarney and Power, who has just started his Leaving Cert year, won the finishing hole to win their match by four holes which would prove integral to the final outcome.
Behind them, Lyons and Nolan – by no means at their best – had battled gamely but were four down on O’Hanlon, a former professional who marked his return to amateur status by winning the East of Ireland earlier this season, and Doherty as they stood on the 18th tee. There, O’Hanlon’s tee shot turned left towards the tree that stands sentry down that side of the fairway and then took a wicked bounce into rough. All Doherty could do was to hack out, some 60 yards short of the flag.
What happened next was like a rom/com transforming into a horror movie, as O’Hanlon’s pitch finished 25 feet from the flag and Doherty’s par effort rolled four feet by. O’Hanlon’s putt for bogey would have halved the match and forced extra holes, but his putting touch deserted him at an inopportune time. He missed; the gallery of Carton House followers were stunned into silence, and the Galway players were respectful in sympathising with their opponents before celebrating their move into the final.
“Nobody wants to see a finish like that,” said Lyons, a 44-year-old career amateur who is finding less and less time to play due to the exciting demands of his role as business development manager with Premier Irish Golf Tours. “I know Paul a long time. I played the Home Internationals with him back in 2007, and you really don’t want to see a match finish like that.”
Still, Lyons – and Nolan – had hung tough when the writing was on the wall and kept the overall match alive ‘til the death. An old hand at these national finals, with three gold medals all with Galway, the Offaly native acknowledged: “We didn’t play well, it’s a real bonus to come through. We snuck this one – but, you know, we’ve lost matches down through the years where we played and felt we’d deserved to win.”
For Warrenpoint, their semi-final win over Cork was hard earned. The top pairing of Paul Reavey and Jamie Fletcher fought back from being two down with three holes to play to get a halved match with Brian Kelleher and Mark Ford on the 18th before the seasoned Campbell – who heads to European Tour Q-school stage one next week – and Coulter got them over the line against Paul Tobin and John Hickey by two holes.
The match had turned in Warrenpoint’s favour early on when conceded the sixth when both Cork players hit their tee-shots out-of -bounds. “I wouldn’t say it was routine, it was a good tight game,” said Campbell.
In the Junior Cup semi-finals, Paul Whelan proved to be Castle’s hero with a 19th hole win over Verners Tess that saw them beat Tralee by 3-2 to set up a final showdown with Lurgan who were impressive winners over Athenry.
Barton Shield semi-finals
Galway bt Carton House by 1 hole (Galway names first) – R Mullarney/L Power bt G McDermott/A Egan 4 holes; J Lyons / C Nolan lost to J Doherty /P O’Hanlon 3 holes.
Warrenpoint bt Cork 2 holes (Warrenpoint names first) – J Fletcher/P Reavey halved with B Kelleher/ M Ford; C Campbell Jnr/ S Coulter bt P Tobin/ J Hickey 2 holes.
Junior Cup semi-finals
Castle 3 Tralee 2 (Castle names first) – K Moran lost to G O’Donnell 1 hole; H Gleeson bt K A Lucey 1 holes; P Whelan bt V Tess 19th; F Moran lost to D Leen 2/1; T Smyth bt T Leahy 3/2.
Lurgan 4 Athenry 1 (Lurgan names first) – K Percy bt D Kitt 3/2; J Horan bt B Penney 2/1; G Hanna halved with S O’Connell; J McKee bt B O’Connor 4/3; A Cummins halved with D Leufer.
THURSDAY DRAW
Pierce Purcell Shield semi-finals
8.00: Castlebar v Castlecomer (Castlebar names first) – P Waldron P Doyle v P Walsh / N Walsh; S Munnelly / T Ruane v P Comerford / J Bergin; D Molloy / P Fitzgerald v N Rothwell / K Hovenden; S Haugh / D Prendergast v R Ryan / M Daly; V Jennings / M McHugh v B Doyle / F O’Neill.
Nenagh v Nuremore (Nenagh names first) – P Kennedy / P Hackett v J Hughes / P Brennan; B Hackett / PJ Hogan v P Hand / B Busby; M Gleeson / J Hogan v A Capaldi / N McNally; T Slattery / J Gleeson v C Lane / P Sheridan; D Hickey / M O’Gara v S Quigley / G Eakin.
Junior Cup Final
10.45: Castle v Lurgan (Castle names first) – K Moran v K Percy; H Gleeson v J Horan; P Whelan v G Hanna; F Moran v J McKee; T Smyth v A Cummins.
Barton Shield final
11.30: Galway v Warrenpoint (Galway names first) – J Lyons / L Power v P Reavey / J Fletcher; R Mullarney / S Brady v C Campbell Jnr / S Coulter.
