Banbridge add new chapter to legend of 18th

National Cups and Shields finals: The tale has grown with the passing of time. Legend, or even local lore, has it that when Fred Hawtree designed the course at Lisburn Golf Club, he did so on the back of an envelope as he walked the land.

And it was only when the course architect was revising the layout did he discover that he had created 17 holes rather than 18, and so he was obliged to add another one to his master plan.

As things transpired, the additional hole - the 18th, a downhill par three of 217 yards - developed into a masterful hole, especially for matchplay competition.

And, yesterday, on the first day of the Bulmers-sponsored Irish Cups and Shields, it was the scene of incredible drama as Banbridge, from just a few miles down the motorway, clutched the Barton Shield from out of the hands of Stackstown in a final that was closely contested right to the end.

In the Barton Shield, a unique competition, it is the aggregate score from two foursomes matches that determines the overall result. Sometimes, matches can be won so far out the country that players need a map to find their way home . . . but not in yesterday's final, as the deciding moments were acted out on the two-tier green with Banbridge ultimately winning by one hole.

The first foursomes brought Conor Doran and Kieran Magennis face-to-face with the McDermott brothers, Michael and John. For much of the match, Banbridge were fighting a rearguard action: one down at the turn, they levelled matters on the 11th where Michael McDermott pushed his drive into the trees, only to go one down again on the 12th when it was Magennis's turn to find the trees that line just about every fairway on this aesthetically pleasing course, and Stackstown regained their one hole advantage only to lose it again on the 14th where Doran holed a 25-footer.

On they went, a birdie on the 15th giving Stackstown a one hole lead again. And, then, the real drama started. On the 17th hole, a par four of 449 yards known as "Divis" with the approach shot played to an elevated green, the McDermotts seemed set to increase their lead when finding the front of the green in two, while Banbridge missed it right.

However, just when the time seemed ripe to apply further pressure, the Stackstown brothers three-putted and Doran, a 21-year-old business student at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, played an exquisite pitch that almost finished in the hole. It meant they were all square looking down from the elevated 18th green - but neither Magennis nor John McDermott managed to find the green, going short and right respectively.

Cue a moment of inspiration from Doran, who proceeded to hole his 40-foot putt from off the green for birdie and then watched, as enthralled as the rest of us, as Michael McDermott, a former West of Ireland champion, pitched beautifully only for the ball to rim the cup and agonisingly stay out. By winning the final two holes, Banbridge had won the top match by one hole.

The cheers from Doran's holed-out putt on the last were heard by Stackstown's Mark Campbell on the 16th tee as the Irish international prepared to play his tee-shot. Campbell and Liam Ryan had just birdied the last four holes from the 12th to the 15th to establish a two-hole lead over Rory Leonard and Ciaran McAleavey and, hearing the roars from up ahead, Campbell figured that conservatism was the right approach and switched from a four-wood to a two-iron off the tee.

Unfortunately for Campbell, the decision proved to be unwise as he put his two-iron off the tee five yards across the international out-of-bounds down the left of the 16th. The hole was lost. Still, one up playing the 17th, which was halved, the damage didn't seem to be irretrievable - and, so, the Stackstown pair of Campbell and Ryan, unbeaten throughout their entire campaign, were one up playing the last.

There seemed to be a sense of déjà vu, however, when Leonard's tee-shot finished short of the green and Campbell's finished just off the surface on the right - this time, though, there were to be no holed out shots. Instead, McAleavey's putt finished six feet past the hole, and Ryan's chip finished seven feet beyond. Campbell's putt touched the hole but didn't drop; Leonard's putt rattled into the middle of the cup to halve the bottom match but ensure the overall win for Banbridge, their first senior green pennant since the club was formed in 1912.

Skerries booked their place in today's Irish Junior Cup final - where they will meet Clonmel, conquerors of Castlerock - after David Murray beat Loughrea's Peter Plower at the 19th, to give the north county Dublin club a 3½ to 1½ victory. Clonmel were even more emphatic winners, beating the northerners 4 ½ to a ½ point.