Clandeboye too strong for Banbridge in the Fred Daly

The young men from Banbridge won the home leg 4-3 and that put them on the back foot.

Clandeboye is a long and difficult course and it was asking a lot for the Banbridge lads to win four games out of seven. And so it proved.

Scott Nelson, Josh Crory and Callum Barnes lost the first three games.

Luke Crory was 3 up early on in his game but eventually lost by one hole. That was a cruel blow for Banbridge.

Right behind Luke came Jamie Thompson and he won his game one up. That was a terrific win for Jamie.

The match ended when Patrick McNiff was beaten. He had won brilliantly at home but Clandeboye was just too difficult this time.

Patrick’s younger brother Rory was called in as a late replacement for Rory McMullan. He didn’t get a chance to play a practice round so his chances of winning were slim. The two brothers are great prospects for the future.

So the Fred Daly campaign is over for another year. It all comes too quick, in my opinion. It would be better if they waited until examinations were over and the boys were out playing more.

Banbridge fail to qualify in Junior Cup

The qualifying rounds of the Junior Cup were played last Sunday. The Banbridge team, captained by Rory Madeley, made the short journey over to Edenmore.

Rory’s team, on paper, looked very strong but unfortunately they came up a little bit short.

They would have needed four 84’s to make the top four qualifiers.

Neil Clydesdale and Conor Mulholland reached that target. Jonathan Shannon, William Malcolmson and Mark McCoy did not.

The Banbridge team total was 348, a mere 10 shots too many. The qualifiers were Lisburn 321, Edenmore 322, Lurgan 325 and Spa 338.