At long last a green Irish pennant comes to Lisburn

Playing in the Irish Junior Foursomes at the Heath Golf Club near Portlois, Lisburn defeated Connacht champions County Sligo in the semi-final followed by a victory over Leinster champions Carton House.

The Heath course is not long in comparison to Lisburn but judgement of distance and accuracy are of prime importance.

Lisburn had an early start on Tuesday morning but there was good support from members for the semi-final match against County Sligo.

Mark McNellis hit the opening drive. His playing partner Christian Kennedy put the second shot on the green at the par five and Mark holed the putt for an eagle three to go one up. They never looked back to win by 5 and 4.

Aaron Marshall and Josh Robinson in the second paring were also two up at the turn. They won the 11th and the 14th to go four up, guarantee a halved match and seal the issue.

In the final against Carton House, Christian and Mark were three up at the turn. Christian’s long driving aided by Mark’s fine putting put them four up after 14. They lost the next two but Aaron and Josh won 15 and 16 in the second match to go three up with two holes to play and seal the victory.

Afterwards, the President-elect of the Golfing Union of Ireland, Kevin McIntyre presented the Lisburn team captain Mark Jamieson with the trophy and Lisburn’s first Irish pennant.

Irish u16s

Following the Foursomes victory, four Lisburn players competed in the Irish U16 championships on the same course. Kyle Patton finished joint eighth on 227. Aaron Marshall was two behind with Josh Robinson on 231. Jack Shellard just missed the cut.

August Stableford

Aaron Marshall (4) continued his good form and won the August Stableford competition on his return to Lisburn.

He dropped strokes at the first and sixth before completing the front nine with three birdies for 21 points. After a par at the 10th he had three successive threes to go four under par. He completed the round with five pars for a total of 68 and 44 points.

This gave him victory by one point from James Mulholland (14). David Waterworth (18) went out in 39 to lead the field with 25 points. With a ‘ding’ at the 15th he could only manage 16 points on the back nine to finish third on 41.

A round of 73 gave Mark McNellis (5) 40 points, the same score as Ken Burns (11) who won the Sam Wilson trophy.

Juveniles Stableford

1st Matthew Kelso 41pts, 2nd Harry McNellis 40pts, 3rd Callum McConville 40pts.

Juveniles McMurtry Cup

1st Jack Heatherington 44pts. 2nd Matthew Kelso 40pts, 3rd Jason Tsoutsas 39pts.