Noren not in nets Hyland €15,000

KIERON HYLAND treated himself to a brandy on Sunday night, and never in the history of fantasy sport competitions, you’d have to assume, was one more needed.

Our Rathfarnham manager, who led Bryan Crowley by 12 points going in to the final tournament, had held on to top spot by just . . . two. It was enough to take our €15,000 first prize, but it was all so close it turned into a Sunday Kieron won’t forget in quite a while.

“Unbelievable,” he said, “after all those weeks and all those points, for it to come down to two. All Alexander Noren had to do was birdie the last for me to be sunk – and he parred it.”

The managers had four players in common going in to the Johnnie Walker Championship, making it a contest between Simon Dyson and Raphael Jacquelin for Kieron and Noren and Marcel Siem for Bryan. Kieron’s pair both missed the cut, reducing his lead to eight points. Bryan’s hopes, then, rested on Siem and Noren doing enough to see him home. It wasn’t to be, though, the pair winning just six between them, Noren finishing a stroke outside the top 20.

Should it be congratulations or commiserations, Bryan? “I’m not sure myself,” laughed our Carrigaline manager. He was away on Sunday, with no access to Sky or the internet, so a few friends “gave me running commentary on Noren coming up the last couple of holes”.

And to think this is meant to be enjoyable.

“It was so tight in the end, but I’m delighted to come second out of so many people in the competition,” he said, his prize being €5,000.

Aideen Flynn of Greystones wins €2,000 for finishing third, overtaking the unfortunate John Paul Scallon, who held the spot last week but dropped to fifth, largely because, unlike most of his rivals, including Aideen, he didn’t have tournament winner Paul Lawrie on board.

“And I never win anything,” said Aideen, who’s now thinking about a winter holiday for her and her family. Kieron’s planning a break too, after he pays some bills, and he might even bring wife Denise and daughter Katie along with him.

“The first few months it was great fun,” he said, “but towards the end it was like having a 1-0 lead in football, you’re trying to defend it all the time.” Defend it he did – just.

We’ve four more prizes to hand out: Darren Howard, John O’Neill and Siobhan Munnelly were the top three in our final monthly competition – they win fourballs at Moyvalley and New Forest Golf Club and a €100 “credit card” for the driving range at the Spawell Golf Centre, respectively – and Jim Harper, who wins golf merchandise for being our final weekly winner.

Congratulations to all our winners, and commiserations to those who just missed out. May you all winter well.