Castlebar take Irish Junior Foursomes Pennant at Strandhill

On what can only be described as our 'first proper summer's day' at a truly magnificent Strandhill the young guns of Castlebar quite simply played the better golf and were thoroughly deserving winners by 3 Holes over defending Provincial & National Irish Junior Foursomes Holders, Co. Sligo.

Co. Sligo lead the morning qualifying, out in the first groups, with an impressive Aggregate Nett for their two Foursomes pairs of 133.5 over the Par 70 layout. Their first challengers came from Ballina who looked set to take the top spot when their opening pair of Jonathan Doherty & Ronan Tighe shot a blistering 64nett only to be let down at the very last hole when the second pair took a 9 on the Index 1, 18th for a 73.5 Nett and a total of 137.5. It looked for a while that this might remain in second spot, that is until Diarmuid Gibbons (9) and Shane O'Connor (7) quite simply took Strandhill apart in returning a stunning 63nett for Castlebar, and it was to prove a prelude to their play in the afternoon final as they booked their spot therein when Darragh Judge (7) and Mark Jennings (12) brought in 73.5 and allowed them to leapfrog Ballina with an aggregate of 136.5;

Many others tried but none managed as the morning's play concluded to surpass either Co. Sligo or Castlebar and so they were paired for the Matchplay afternoon Final.

Castlebar took the upper hand in both games early on and despite a rally from Co. Sligo's Alan Gaynor & Conor Wynne which resulted in a 1 Hole winning margin at the end, Gibbons and O'Connor continued to tear apart Strandhill and when they concluded their match with Co. Sligo on the 17th Green, 4 Holes to the good they were -3 Gross. Castlebar were thereby crowned winners by 3 Holes.

Castlebar are 2012 Champions and shall now go on to City of Derry in August for the National Finals when Castlebar play the Ulster Champions, Moyola Park at 9:30AM on Monday 20th August.  All support would be hugely welcome.