Foyle foiled in semi-final

IT came down to the last putt, in the last match, on the last green.

Foyle Golf Club bowed out of the Chartis Europe Cups and Shields finals at Kinsale recently, after an agonising semi-final defeat at the hands of Connacht Champions Gort.

The Derry outfit had come through a tough campaign to be crowned champions of Ulster, and while they started poorly against Gort, losing the first two matches, rallying wins from pairings Ruarí O’Connor and Ciaran McGuinness and Kieran Bradley and Brian O’Neill, set up a tense finish which was played out in front of hundreds of spectators and fellow players on the 18th green.

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Kevin Crumley and Cormac Cassidy faced Gort’s Gerry Broderick and John Moylan, and the Foyle pair found themselves two-holes up after six but after losing holes seven and eight, the match came back to all square. Gort would go on and win the 10th and 12th, but Broderick and Moylan rallied to win the 13th and 15th holes, levelling the match with three to play.

Gort went on to land the tricky par four 17th, and when they halved the last hole, Foyle’s fate was sealed.

Speaking afterwards, team captain Kevin Dunne paid tribute to his team.

“We’re very proud, we were so close but next year is a new year. The team are heartbroken. A lot of work put into it all year and it came to one putt on the 18th green after five and a half hours, what more can we say.

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“We have a good team coming through. We’ve lost three or four of this panel for handicap purposes but we have a fine crop coming on.”

Maybe 2013 will bring Foyle closer to that coveted All Ireland title.

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