Ireland improved dramatically yesterday in the sunshine at Karlstad, Sweden, to sweep into the quarter-finals of the Women's European Amateur Team Championship.
They were in a perilous position overnight and needed something special, and they duly produced, to the delight of captain Sheena O'Brien Kenney.
"What a superb, gutsy performance - they kept cool under pressure and got the rewards," said the skipper.
Ireland improved by 11 strokes on their opening-day display, and with five of six cards counting they posted a 36-hole aggregate of 751 - 31 over par - to finish in fifth place in the first flight.
They face the 2003 runners-up, Sweden, today in the first match-play round for a place in the semi-finals.
"Whereas yesterday was a disappointing day, today has been just the opposite," added O'Brien Kenney. "They all meant business and delivered the goods."
England, looking for their first title since 1993, led the qualifiers for the top flight with a 727 total.
WOMEN'S EUROPEAN AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (at Karlstad, Sweden) - Day Two (five from six scores count) - First flight: 727 - England (69 F Johnson,70 S Walker, 74 E Duggleby, 76 F Sanderson, 77 K Smith, disc 78 S Reddick). 728 - Spain. 743 - Germany. 745 - Sweden. 751 - Ireland (73 T Mangan, 73 D Smith, 73 C Coughlan, 75 H Nolan, 76 M Gillen, disc 77 T Delaney); Switzerland. 752 - France. 757 - Finland. Second flight: 760 - Scotland (73 P Feggans, 74 F Lockhart, 76 C Queen, 77 J Wilson, 79 H MacRae, disc 80 A Laing). 763 - Netherlands. 772 - Italy. 777 - Wales (77 N Evans, 77 S Jones, 78 B Loucks, 78 S Evans, 81 J Nicolson, disc 83 L Hall). 789 - Denmark. 793 - Czech Republic. 821 - Iceland.
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