The winds of change certainly helped Ireland retain the Governor Hugh L Carey Challenge Cup with victory over the MGA of New York at Portmarnock yesterday.
Down 3-5 after the first day, Ireland almost made it a clean sweep when winning the singles 7-1/2 to 1/2 for an overall victory of 10-1/2 to 5-1/2.
And central to Ireland's win was the change in conditions. After the calm of the first day when the MGA whitewashed Ireland in the foursomes, it was Ireland's turn yesterday when a strong southerly breeze made club selection a little more difficult.
By the time Irish strokeplay champion Noel Fox had secured a half in the top match against Peter Meurer, Ireland were well on their way to reversing the first day's result. Tim Rice was always ahead in beating Casey Alexander 4 and 3 and when John Foster ended his match with Austin Eaton on the 17th it was left to Beaverstown's Gary Cullen to put Ireland ahead with a 6 and 4 win over David Kwon.
Stephen Browne was equally impressive in seeing off Joe Sommers 6 and 5 while Adrian Morrow eagled the 16th on his way to a 2 and 1 win over George Zahringer.
