Lisburn lose in the Sam Rutherford semi final
The competition is in greensomes format with all matches playing the full 18 holes and result depending on overall holes score.
Trailing by 7 holes to their opponents Mannan Castle following the first leg in Co. Monaghan the task did not seem insurmountable. After 9 holes of the return leg, Lisburn seemed to be in command of the situation with Ivan Leathem & Colin Hill 3 up, Mark Jamison & Andy Parr 2 up and Randal Kernaghan & Paul Watters 4up. Chris Budd & David Armstrong were playing well but lost holes 8& 9 to consecutive birdies to trail 1 down. At that stage Lisburn were leading the overall tie by one hole.
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Hide AdIn the homeward 9 holes, Ivan & Colin lost 4 holes in succession to go one down but fought back to square their match. Mark and Andy were never behind but had quite a tussle losing the seventeenth to go all square. They came good in the end winning 1 up. Although Chris and David were 2 down after 12 they fought back to win 1 up and but for a double hit on hole 17 they could have been 2 up.
The situation, with 3 matches in, left Lisburn needing to win the last match by 5 holes to force a play off over tie holes. Unfortunately the final Lisburn pairing, who had moved to 6 up after 14 holes, lost 3 holes on the trot to be only 3 holes up with one to play. A win for Lisburn being mathematically impossible, Mannan Castle won the overall tie by two holes to move on to the final.