THESE guys play for fun? The hardened, competitive edge which is required to capture titles was demonstrated by a couple of club golfers separated by the generation gap when the Bulmers All Ireland Cups and Shields Finals continued at Tramore Golf Club yesterday.
Michael McDermott, a 16 year old student at Benildus College, was Stackstown's hero when beating Galway Bay's Richard Joyce at the 19th hole in the decisive match to claim the Irish Junior Cup for the club at the foothills of the Dublin mountains, their first national pennant.
Yet, for sheer drama, the Pierce Purcell Shield - the foursomes competition confined to players with a minimum handicap of 12 and minimum combined handicap of 27 - is difficult to surpass. Inevitably, it is this event which attracts the largest galleries and yesterday's final showdown between Beech Park and Shannon lived up to expectations. It wasn't a match for the faint hearted, though, as Beech Park eventually managed to carve out a 3-2 win.
It was an unlikely win, in many ways. When Tom Kelly eyed up a 20 foot birdie putt on the 18th - trailing in his match by one hole - Shannon had already won two of the three completed matches. And the Clare club also appeared to be in the driving seat in the other match at the 19th where the Beech Park pair of Harry Daily and John Caulwell were playing their fourth to the green, while Shannon men Mike Deasy and Des McDonnell waited on the edge of the fairway to play their second.
Flashback to Kelly. He sank the birdie putt and, up ahead, his clubmates salvaged a remarkable win in double bogey six after Shannon's McDonnell used a fairway wood and fired into the trees from where they couldn't recover. Sides level.
The onus fell on the bottom pairings: Kelly and Ray Ryan for Beech Park, Joe McGrath and Chris Harrigan for Shannon. The tension was palpable. The first tie holed was shared in bogey fives, the second halved in par fives. At the par 3 170 yards third, Kelly fired a six iron in to 20 feet, while McGrath's tee shot found a greenside bunker. Harrigan played out to six feet (almost holing the recovery shot); Ryan showed nerves of steel to roll his putt up to the hole and secure the par, and, unfortunately, Shannon's McGrath failed to hole the putt to extend the drama.
So, after five and a half hours on the course, Beech Park were crowned champions - the recipients of another pennant to add to the Jimmy Bruen successes of 1992 and 94.
Stackstown's win in the Junior Cup was also achieved in sudden death. Mark Campbell, the Irish Boys' champion, provided the inspiration with a 4 and 3 win over Nigel O'Connor, son of Christy Junior. It was nip and tuck elsewhere, though, and eventually it all came down to the match between another 16 year old McDermott and Galway Bay's Joyce, which went up the 19th. McDermott showed maturity beyond his years to shrug off the tension and holed out in four, which was sufficient to give Stackstown victory.
Meanwhile, Co Sligo, winners of the Barton Shield on Thursday, stayed on course for one of the most prized doubles in team golf when they beat Scrabo 4-1 in the semi final of the Irish Senior Cup. Royal Dublin, however, relinquished their crown when falling 3 1/2-1 1/2 to Limerick in the other semi final.
The Barton Shield Senior Cup double was last achieved by Tramore at Killarney in 1992 and the Rosses Point club booked their place in the final quite comfortably. Limerick were equally impressive in ending Royal Dublin's reign, a feature of which was when Mike Kemmy, nephew of Labour Party chairman Jim, made it seven wins out of seven in his first season playing Senior Cup when beating Brendan O'Malley 3 and 2.
