Mixed joy for Tullamore
COLM Cassidy and Cait Cooney were the heroes as Tullamore bridged a 17-year gap and notched up their third win in the I Need Spain Irish Mixed Foursomes with a 3-2 victory over Adare Manor at Castlebar.
Having followed their win in the inaugural event in 1972 with a second triumph in 2000, they faced a stern test in Adare Manor, who beat Ulster champions Malone in the Friday’s semi-finals.
Tullamore’s Matthew Grehan and Fiona Flanagan won the first point of a wet and windy day with a comprehensive 5 and 4 win over Alan Purcell and Antoinette Meghen.
The Munster side squared things through Tony Davern and Ina Desmond before Martin Darcy and Eilish O’Connell added a second point for Tullamore with a win over Martin Hayes and Breda Naughton.
Eoin Moran and Phil Mann levelled things again for Adare with a 2 and 1 win over Eoin Flanagan and Emily Donohue leaving the title in the hands of the unbeaten Brian Murray and Deirdre Keating as they faced Cooney, a veteran of Tullamore’s 2000 winning team, and Cassidy.
The Tullamore pair went ahead very early and took a commanding fourhole lead around the turn and sealed an emotional victory on the par-three 16th green next to the clubhouse.
“I’m absolutely elated,” said Cait, the self-confessed ‘granny’ of the team. “It means so much to me to be part of this team this year because I have a lot of memories of 2000, but I won’t go there now.
“I must thank my partner Colm who was an absolute pleasure to play with, and he won this match for me.”
The side was captained by Joe Morris and Una Marsden.
“It’s brilliant!” Morris beamed afterwards. “It’s a wonderful achievement. We knew we had a very strong team when Una and I put this team together. It came to fruition thank god.”
The Tullamore side gelled very well in both the semi-final against Athenry and in the final.
“They gelled brilliantly,” Marsden added. “There’s no real secret, they all bonded very well and practised together, it was great.”
I Need Spain Irish Mixed Foursomes, Castlebar Golf Club.
Semi Finals, Adare Manor 3.5, Malone 1.5; Tullamore 3.5, Athenry 1.5. Final, Tullamore 3 Adare Manor 2 (Tullamore names first): E Marsden & R O’Neill lost to T Davern & I Desmond 2 holes; M Grehan & F Flanagan bt A Purcell & A Meghen 5/4; E Flanagan & E Donohue lost to E Moran & P Mann 2/1; M Darcy & E O’Connell bt M Hayes & B Naughton 5/4; C Cassidy & C Cooney bt B Murray & D Keating 3/2.