Team Nine still lead the way at Foyle

WITH three cards returned in the Desmond Motors Winter League at Foyle, Team 9 of Ciaran O'Doherty, Ciaran Gillen, Caolan McLaughlin and Ryan Gillen, after recording another fine score of 94 points and having accumulated 290 points, still lead the League by seven points from Team 16 consisting of John McDowell, David Knox, Paddy Coyle and Stuart Gauld with the chasing pack in close contention.

In third spot on 282 points is Team 3 who have Noel Martin, Martin Browne, Roy Martin and Adrian Browne in their side, while in the ladies section Team 17 of Denise Callan, Ann Fulton, Deborah McElhinney and Faye McGrotty lead the way with 250 points, second is Team 14 who have Sheila McLaughlin, Anne Hamilton, Margaret Killen and Christeen McCafferty in their team.

The Turkey competitions were won by Donal Hasson, Bobby Boyle and Kevin McCallion, while Deborah McElhinney won the ladies section after a break of tie finish.

The Desmond Motors Winter League continues daily as does the Turkey competitions.

Meanwhile club members, Stuart Gauld and David Knox, made history recently when placing the Ballyarnett club firmly on the map having claimed the 2010 All-Ireland Holmpatrick Cup competition at St. Andrews - the first time the local club has claimed a national title.

And just to make the triumph even more significant, this is the first time the trophy has been won by an Ulster club since the competition's inception 79 years ago!

Having qualified through club, region and Ulster competitions, the pair produced an excellent performance in the annual All-Ireland Fourball Challenge, the competition providing valuable funding for the N.C.B.I.

The 36 holes final was played at St. Andrew's, the home of golf, on both the Old and New Courses.

In the first round, which was played on the New Course, David and Stuart combined well to return an excellent score of 45 points which gave the local pair and slender one point lead going into the second round which was played on the world famous Old Course.

And having maintained the momentum from the first day, they again played particularly well as a pair to return a sensational score of 48 points.

Indeed, helping that total was Stuart's par at the "Road Hole," the 17th plus a superb birdie at the 18th to win the 2010 tournament by four points.