Clean sweep for Maynooth
MAYNOOTH University celebrated a clean sweep at the Irish Colleges Match Play Series at Woodbrook last week.
Following an entertaining day’s play through three nine-hole series – two in match play before a final shootout involving the leading six teams – it was Maynooth C that claimed the bragging rights.
The pairings of Éanna Griffin and Caolan Rafferty and Mary Doyle and Molly Dowling were a combined level par on their foursomes cards for the final series with Rafferty and Griffin’s two-under par effort for the final nine enough to clinch the title on a countback.
That was just enough to pip Maynooth A – TJ Ford and Harry Gillivan, and David Brady and Cian Feeney – who had also combined to win the inaugural Irish Students Sixes Tournament, a six-hole blitz format consisting of six series of matches played over two days at The Heath last month.
With shorter forms of competition golf being encouraged at club level by both The R&A, the ILGU and the GUI, the six-hole and nine-hole formats in Colleges golf have showcased how competitive these formats can be.
Trinity College, the defending champions, made a gallant defence of their title, fighting through to the final shootout before finishing sixth behind Colaiste Stiofain Naofa and DCU (b).
Maynooth B’s combination of Liam Power and Conor Ryan and Aaron Ryan and Gareth Carr clinched the bronze medal. Irish Colleges Match Play Series Group Summary after Sessions 1 & 2 (Note: Group Scores are the aggregate numbers of holes up or down recorded in matches between pairs from each college)
Group A — 1, Maynooth University (a) 11 up (Q); 2, Colaiste Stiofain Naofa (CSN) 2 up (Q); 3, Trinity College Dublin 3 down (Q - on result v CIT); 4, Cork Institute of Technology 3 down; 5, University College Dublin 7 down.
Group B – 1, Maynooth Universiy (b) 2 up (Q); 2, Dublin City University (a) 1 up; 3, IADT Dun Laoghaire 3 down.
Group C – 1, Maynooth University (c) 8 up (Q); 2, Dublin City University (b) 2 up (Q - best runner-up, Group B/C); 3, IT Carlow 10 down.
Finals Shootout (Gross Stableford, combined foursomes scores, Par 36pts) – 1, Maynooth C 36pts (Countback); 2, Maynooth A 36pts; 3, Maynooth B 32; 4, DCU B 31; 5, CSN 29; 5, TCD 21.